Spring Break

It's been a cold, rainy week.  Not very ideal for Spring Break.  We did make the best of it and enjoyed sleeping in, reading books, and doing some craft projects.

This past Thursday the sun actually came out and the sky was so clear.  It was a perfect day to go into the city so that is what we did.

At the top of the Willis Tower (current tallest building in U.S.)

Such a great city. 

Our 2 yr old and 8 yr old on the Sky Deck.  Scarey! (The sun was in his eyes.)

Fam pic of those willing to have photo taken (had nothing to do with being afraid).

The unwilling participant.  

Hosanna!

'Palm Sunday.

Hosanna in the highest!

Food fun.

Having the kids help me in the kitchen can be stressful.  But it is also a time of fun and learning.  We learn how to follow directions, we learn how to work together, take turns, and learn how things separately might not be so good but together they can make something wonderful.  (Some deep stuff going on let me tell you.)

Here are some of the simple stuff we did together recently.

Isaiah's favourite letter this week is "B".

Pancake mix in a squeeze bottle provides such creativity.

Can you tell which muffins belong to whom?  

These two helped me make a couple batches of cookies this  past week.

Crazy California Mommas

March 5.  Snow day.  What to do?  Meet in the middle of the lake!!!!

Yes, two mommas from California whose midwest-born husbands gave them the green light, bundled up our kids (she with three, me with my three plus the neighbour kid) and met in the middle of the lake for a time of snowball fights, snow angel making, and just plain fun.

Meeting up.

They have wanted to do this since Kindergarten.

The California Mommas.

Pretty surreal to be out in the middle of the lake.

The kiddos.

Pulling up to the dock.  Ha!

Sof's routines

I finally figured out how to post video of Sofia's routines.  
Family enjoy!  And friends, too.


Vault Routine:  Vault is Sof's most difficult apparatus.  She is slowly building her confidence and hopes to not have her coach spot her at her next meet.

Uneven Bars Routine:  Definitely Sof's favourite appartus.  She loves the feeling of flying.   You would be amazed at the amount of strength it takes to do a kip (getting up on the bar).  Sof is a strong little girl.

Beam Routine:  Oh this was hard to watch.  The girl hardly ever falls during practice.  But as the coach said, come competition that 4in beam seems to shrink ever so much.

Floor Routine:  Sof earned her highest score of the meet on this exercise.  Sadly as you will see, momma needs to work on her videoing skills.  I got caught up in watching and missed some of the routine.  Oops!

Fun on the frozen lake.

I enjoy watching my children engage in activities that I never experienced as a child.  One of those is ice skating on our frozen lake.  

Today is an Illinois holiday, Casimir Pulaski Day.  The sun is out, the lake is frozen, and our neighbours have cleared a place on the lake for skating.  Time for some fun.

And fun we had.

Who needs ice skates?

"Swimming" on the water.

Sof said she was "walking on the water just like Jesus".  Ha!

Ice skating fun!

The award for accepting.

Sofia attends Woodland Elementary West.  They are the Wildcats.   Even more specifically, Sofia's class is part of the Leopards.

The school encourages positive behaviour.  The core values spell out ROAR.
Be Respectful.
Take Ownership.
Be Accepting.
Be Ready.

Each month students from each class are selected as ROAR students.  In December Sofia was selected as a ROAR student and recognized for her behavior in BE ACCEPTING.

Today was the quarterly assembly.  As a family we were invited to attend.  It was pretty special.   After all the classes had assembled, music swelled and Principal Brown led the parade of the ROAR students.  What a moment of pride.  The students marched around the gym while the classes cheered for them.  

One of the most proud moments I had today as a mommy was seeing Sofia in action.  A video that they showed on accepting had clips of Sofia helping a special needs student during gym class.

As parents, we are appreciative of the ROAR Behavior program.  What's pretty cool is that during a past conversation with the principal he stated that it's pretty obvious where these values and principles originate (...the Bible!).  

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow.

Our dry winter turned into a very snowy February.  This past week we received another foot of snow.  Here are some pictures of what we've been experiencing.

The birds have been very thankful for the feeder.

Selah and Isaiah enjoy playing in the snow.

Selah sledding with her friend, Aubrey.

She's queen of the snow hill.

Mommy and Isaiah enjoyed sledding together.

Snowplay!!!!

Sofia and Miranda bundled up and heading to the bus stop.

Our beautiful neighbourhood.

The frozen lake.

His nose.

Isaiah really banged up his nose Saturday night.  Poor guy.  And how did he do it?  Falling off a bike?  No.  Getting sucker punched by his sister?  No.

About 1:30 in the morning I heard a big thump.  I ran upstairs to find Isaiah had fallen out of bed.  He was wimpering a bit but he climbed right back into bed, settled down and was out.

It wasn't until he came downstairs the next morning that I saw his nose.  Whoa!  His bedding didn't have any blood on it so it seems as if he suffered rug burn.  Poor guy.

I think the worst of it all was having to put up with all the comments at church Sunday morning.  Ha!

Competition Time.

Sofia entered her first gymnastics competition this past weekend.  After 11 months of training it was time to put it into action.

Cheesy photo op for mommy.  She looked so cute in her competition  leo.

Time to warm up.  She was a little nervous.

This is a pic of her warming up on the beam.

Checking in at the judges table.

And the results.....she earned second place in the Level Five GIJO ages 8-9 division. 

We are very proud of her.  The one thing we desired of her was to do her best and to have fun.  She accomplished both.

Winter Play

After a dry winter last year and hardly any snow this winter, we are so excited to receive quite a bit of snow this month.  A prediction of 2-3 inches of snow on February 7 actually produced close to 10 inches.  This meant lots of outside play that day and the days to follow.  Here are some pictures.

Selah and Isaiah helping to shovel the driveway.

Selah figured out how to roll a snowball.  

Sof carrying her snowball to the snowman.

Snowman!!!

Sister and brother walking to the sled hill.

This girl is a maniac when it comes to sledding.

And down the hill they go.

Nothing better than warming up with hot chocolate.

Winter wonderland.  Oh so gorgeous.

Psalm 67

"....Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy....."  Psalm 67:3-4a

Last night Kevin began our family devotion time reading the entire Psalm 67 passage.  As individuals, a couple and as a family we desire for the nations to be glad.  We desire for the nations to worship our Lord and Savior. 

After reading the psalm, we shared with the kids that we believe God has called us not only to pray for the nations but to GO to the nations. 

And that going may be sooner than later!

Sledding at Recess

I'll never forget when Sofia came home from school one day last year and shared with me that when it snows they get to go sledding during recess.  There is a pretty decent hill in the school yard that is just perfect for sledding.  Being a girl that grew up in the Caribbean and California I myself thought this pretty cool.

Well, last year was a winter that never gave us much snow.  Sofia was so disappointed.  When we did get a snow, it just wasn't enough to cover the hill.

This year's winter began even more dismal than last year.  We broke records for the going the longest amount of time without a snow.

But alas, last week it snowed.  One inch here and another inch there.  Then Friday night it snowed quite a bit.  And Sunday night it snowed a bit more.

Needless to say, yesterday Sofia came home from school so excited because she went SLEDDING AT RECESS!!!!  How fun is that.  Of course, this has meant making sure she has her snowpants, snowboots, hat, gloves and jacket.  But it is all worth it.