A Walk in the Woods and Trampoline Fun

This past weekend we had some really nice weather and took full advantage of it. Friday evening our little family went for a quick walk in the woods near our house. There is an old mill and a pretty river trail to walk along. C had fun exploring all the budding flowers, leaves and whatever else she could find along the riverbank.

Saturday we picked up our friends Ana and Kristina and took them to the Arboretum for the morning. C found a toddler maze and had a good time walking around in it. And the girls both enjoyed watching the other kids and seeing some of the spring flowers.

Yesterday we went to a barbecue at our friends Heidi and Lee's house. They just got a new trampoline and invited us to try it out. C loved it. And mommy and daddy did too.

Kitchen

It is a cold and rainy day outside. We spent the morning shopping for the perfect purple tie for M. Who would have thought that there are so many shades of purple out there? So why a purple tie? Well, this Saturday M and I are going to the Managers' Ball for Kellogg business students. It is a black tie event where professors and students from the various part-time MBA programs Northwestern has to offer all come together at this charity event. We went last year and had a very nice time. As I remember, the food is delicious and M's school buddies are all very nice. It should be another wonderful evening. Needless to say, M would like a purple tie to represent one of Northwestern's school colors. We looked everywhere and came home with two options. Both are nice ties, but the purples are two completely different shades. Now he will just have to choose one. Both of them will go nicely with my navy blue evening gown.

We got home and C took a nap. Since I knew we would be stuck inside for the remainder of the day, I decided to pull out that kitchen set I bought at the resale a few weeks back. I had to do some serious scrubbing to clean it up, but I think it turned out really nice. I thought it would be nice for her to have something "new" to play with this afternoon. I was right. C loves it. She woke up from her nap, saw the kitchen and started playing immediately. I had to tear her away to get her afternoon snack. Right after snack time she said, "kitchen" over and over again. So we went back up to her room so she could continue playing.

Pretty in pink

This year's Easter celebration was extra special for us. We started the morning by going to church as a family. But on the way home we were two more than usual. We brought home two Chinese exchange students so they could experience an Easter meal. Our good friends Jason, Ana and their daughter Kristina joined us after church too.

We gave C a yellow baby chick Easter basket and let her collect plastic eggs in the back yard before lunch. She had so much fun doing this that we had to take all the eggs out of her basket and redistribute them around the yard two more times. She loved this activity and her happiness brought us all a little more joy on this special day.

The best part about hosting two Chinese students was the opportunity to share the truth about Jesus' death and resurrection. Vicki had never been to church before today and Victor visited our church only twice before. They have a limited knowledge about Christianity and how extremely important this season is for our faith. As Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:14,17, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith...And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." So praise God we were able to express how much Easter Sunday means to us.

[Our little girl likes resting her finger on her nose. There's not much we can do about it.]

Happy Easter! Christ is risen...He is risen indeed.