Easter 2011

Boy, am I way behind or what!!! Easter? Well, we have the auction behind us and now I will try and catch up. So yes, Easter! So this was Mekie and Ash's frist Easter and first time coloring eggs.

Mekie being a little "Princess" as we call her.

Ethan silly as usual!!

Garrett and Daddy were arguing back and forth about being a smurf! So the history behind being a "smurf" is that one year when Garrett was around 3 he spilled blue dye on himself and Derek called him a smurf. So every year Garrett wants Derek to spill blue on him so Garrett can call daddy "Papa Smurf". But it hasn't happened yet!!

This was Easter morning!

This was our annual Easter picture! So happy Easter (a few months behind)

More to come on our silent auction so stay tuned!

Spring planting!

I had an idea to plant some seeds as a fun activity for the kids. So we picked up these greenhouse start-up kits. They each got to pick out their own seed packets. (We have radishes and no one likes radishes! But that's what you get when they can't read the package so we will be trying radishes later this summer!) So above Daddy is explaining what we are doing.

Ethan is dropping his seeds into the holes. So we have some carrots, peas, flowers, tomatoes, and radishes.

Later that day, it got warmer so the kids got their water guns out. They went crazy squirting each other. By the end they were soaked! They had so much fun.

As you can tell from the background, it was early spring and there wasn't even leaves on the trees but for some reason it was hot that weekend. So I am trying to catch up to recent photos! I will get there some day.

So the next set of pictures will be Easter! Yes, I know I am way behind!

We have been really busy with working on the fundraiser. We hope that you all make it. So make sure you have the date saved on your calendar, FRIDAY, JULY 8TH 6:30-9:30. We are finishing up getting donations in and I am so excited for all of you to see the generosity of so many companies and people. Derek and I are now working on advertising. We will be setting up booths this weekend and speaking at a church to get the word out.

Just another Saturday Morning...

The morning starting off with donuts and cartoons, what could be a better start to a Saturday than that for kiddos?

Ethan turns out to be the messiest one of all!Ash has his smile mostly all day long!

But here below was the true realty for Ash and Mekie less than a year ago!

This was their food every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No options, they eat it or go hungry!This is their choice of drink, WATER! No orange juice to accompany their donut, no milk to quench their thirst but dirty lake water with who knows what is in it!

And below is their style of house, no heat on cold nights, no air on hot days! No basement, no bathrooms, no seperate rooms for the kids and parents, all on one big bed (not the kind that is soft with pillowtops or down feathers, no it's the kind with sticks and straw). That's where my babies are from, that was their typical Saturday morning and every other day! Just say a prayer for the children in the 3rd world countries tomorrow as you click on the Saturday morning cartoons and have 100's of options on what to eat and drink for breakfast!!!!

Trip to Botanical Conservatory

My brother and sister-in-law came up for the weekend awhile again (and haven't had time to post) but we went to the conservatory downtown. We have lived in Fort Wayne for 4 years and haven't visted there yet. So we went one afternoon and had such a good time. The kids actually had a fun time looking at the flowers and they had a peter pan exhibit there.

At the entrance was a large tree and Mekie had fun opening the door and playing peek-a-boo!

This was the Peter Pan Exhibit. There was a large boat with some slides. The big kids, that was us, sat and watched them play for a while! Like usually, Ash was quite reserved about crossing the water to get on the boat. But he warmed up and had so much fun!

Little Ethan had a hard time climbing up the steep boardwalk to get to the slides so he hung out below the deck!After the boat, we went to the waterfall area. It was so peaceful and the waterfalls were so pretty! The kids all sat down on benches and just watched the waterfall for a while.

The kids at the top of the waterfall.

I couldn't help but take pictures of flowers. They were so pretty!

Then we went to the worm area and the kids crawled through this tunnel that resembles a worm hole. That is what Garrett is looking through. The ceiling had what vegetables look like under ground. The kids had fun guessing what they were.

Ash got tired of walking around and found a bench to take a rest while we were looking at flowers.

More flowers!

It was a pretty fun! Then when we were trying to decide what we would do after for dinner, I was looking for my keys. I couldn't find them anywhere. So guess what Wendy did? That's right, I left my keys in my car downtown in the parking garage! I was so nervous but there was my durango, untouched! So after I said a little prayer and thanked God, we headed to the Amish resturant in Grabill. I have heard of this resturant but been scared to go because it is at an Amish house and they only offer food on Fridays and Saturdays. I felt ackward going into someones house and eating. So I got brave to go since my brother was here. But when we got there, it was actually not in the house but in a seperate building that looked like a barn. It was buffet and there was actually quite a lot of people in there. The food and service was great. I would recommend that place to anyone. Tyler and Elissa really enjoyed themselves. So thanks to Tyler and Elissa for coming and spending the weekend with us!