Our Last Messterpiece Visit

Make-A-Messterpiece is closing! At least for now.  Hopefully they will re-open soon and be better than ever.  We were able to make one last trip with my parents.  Although at the time we didn't realize it was the last time.

 The boys love doing the kitchen station.  Probably because it deals with food.

 Then they found the face crayons.  They love coloring on their faces.  I'm actually surprised and very pleased they've not tried to use markers to do this at home.

 John was coloring on his own Groucho Marx glasses.

 Anders wanted to be Leonardo.

 It took a bit of scrubbing to get this all off.  It doesn't help that my children have very light skin.

While we didn't know it was our last visit to Make-a-Messterpiece, it certainly was an excellent last visit.

My 3 Handsome Boys

The boys determined that they wanted to wear a vest and tie again this year for Easter.  They really do like dressing up and they still like to dress a like.  I'm going to take advantage of that for as long as possible.

This is typical Anders.

 They really do love each other.  Although I'm pretty sure there was some punching after this photo.

 Gus was pretty much done with the photos after the first one.

 This is a face Gus has often.  I have to admit it is pretty cute when he is in a tie.  Nothing seems to ever go Gus's way.

 Now all three of them are done with pictures.  It didn't take long to get to this point.

This one ended up being my favorite of the bunch.

Easter

We had a house full of people this year for Easter.  We had a few of Hans' cousins and their kiddos here for a few days.  The house was full of cute kids.  All of whom had to get used to our horse of a dog.  It made for a very exciting weekend.

 Our new church building was not ready for services yet.  After services in the old building we had our fellowship hour and egg hunt in the new space.  If I can't get my 3 kids to stand for a pic there is no way I was getting a whole group of kids.  Somehow I missed the other half of kids.

 The kid enjoyed hunting for eggs on the playground.  One of the boys (not one of mine) would not put an egg in his bag if it was dirty.  He would just pick it up, inspect it, and then drop it back on the ground if it was dirty.  It was very cute.

 This is Gus' best friend, Logan.  Gus has been talking about Logan all year and we just started getting together with his family right before Easter.  What a small world this is because Logan's family are also Lutherans and had been looking for a church!

 Leah and Andrew and their two cuties.

 Lisa and Christian with their 4 cuties. Kristine, their oldest daughter, loved Fritz.  She welcomed him following her around the house and LOVED telling him what to do.

 We didn't even attempt to get a nice picture.

One of Hans' other cousins, who is a pastor in Iowa, came to our place later that day with his family.

 Beautiful Sophie!  I just love this girl.

The boys love her too.
I have to brag about this girl for a second.  She is one of only three 6th graders to make it to state for track this year.  She is fast!  I wish I could be there to see her run, but Anders is there cheering her on.

Birthday Fun

My parents flew in specifically for Gus' birthday.  Turning 5 is a big deal in this family.  When my parents asked Gus what he wanted to do for his birthday he said, "Go to Chuck-E-Cheez-Its and eat ice cream."  I love my son and would gladly take him to get ice cream, but I tried to talk him out of Chuck-E-Cheese.  But my mom told me I couldn't do that.  And I still listen to my mom.  So off to Chuck-E-Cheese we went.  On a cool morning, during spring break.  I was gearing up for a mad house.  But thankfully it wasn't that busy.

 The boys loved this roller coaster simulator thing.

 Anders liked the bike that rises when you peddle.  Except that he couldn't reach the peddles so he got Grandma to do the hard work.  She didn't seem to mind though.

 The nice thing about going to Chuck-E-Cheese for Gus is that we didn't have to eat there.  That weird and crazy 5 year old does not like melted cheese, so pizza is a big NO.

So we went to Chick-Fil-A, because I'm a good mother and have taught my kids to appreciate the awesomeness of Chick-Fil-A.  Then after we finished there we went to Oberweiss for some ice cream.

 Anders is really concentrating.  You can tell by his tongue.  Although I do have to brag for just a moment and show off his mad coloring skills.  He does pretty well at staying in the lines for a 3 year old.

 The birthday boy.

He always looks sad to me.  But I assure you he is not sad here.  He is anxiously (yep, that is his anxious face) awaiting his ice cream cone.

 Hans and I gave Gus a skateboard for his birthday.  This picture cracks me up!  While I would never allow him to ride his skateboard in just his underwear outside, I laugh at the thought of him falling.  While his head would be perfectly safe, he could potentially have road rash over 90% of his body.

Gus wants to be a police officer when he grows up.  More specifically, he wants to be an officer with a K9 partner.  My mom found him this awesome police uniform which Gus wears with pride.  Here he is saying, "Stop in the name of the law."

I'd say this kid had a rather awesome birthday spread out over 2 weeks.

Ed Debevic's

My parents thought it would be fun to take the boys to Ed Debevic's.  We spent the way to Chicago explaining what kind of restaurant Ed Debevic's was and how the staff is rude to the patrons.  John had a hard time wrapping his head around this concept.  But he was excited to give it a try.

When we were seated our waiter threw some hats on the table and said he was busy so he'd be back later.  John just looked up with his big eyes and said, "boy, that was rude!"  Then John started getting in to it and began talking rudely to our waiter.  Although every time he said something he would lean over to my mom and say, "was that okay?"

I love that being rude does not come easy to him.

 Hans asked the boys to give him their best Ed Debevic's rude/angry face.

 This would be a great place for Gus to work someday.

 Every hour the waiters dance on the bar.  Our guy is the one in the middle.

 The boys thought this was hilarious.

John just loved this place.  He said his favorite part was when the waiter said, "Shut up, kid".  When we left John told the waiter "I hope you have a lousy day" then he ran up and gave him a hug and told him thank you.  Such a sweet boy.  Such a fun place to go with the boys.

I'm actually in a picture!

Our New Church Building

Things have been super busy around here.  I haven't posted much because I haven't been able to sit in one place for more than 5 minutes in the past 3 weeks.  On April 9th our church closed on its new church building!  So, if I'm not at work, you are sure to find me there.

Every room needs some tender loving care.  I have spent most of my time in this lovely room that is no longer green.  This is my Swaddling Clothes room.  Which no longer looks like this.  I've had tons of help from some wonderful people in the congregation and the room looks fantastic!  So you'll just have to check back later for more current pictures.

In the meantime, bear with me.  I just need to make it through Saturday, which is our first Swaddling Clothes event in the new space, and then I might start relaxing.