catching up

It's been awhile, again. At least I have a good excuse this time, LOL! This has been a house of sickness for about 2-1/2 weeks now ~ ugh. First Emmalie got sick, then we headed to Iowa for spring break, and Nick got very sick there. Since we've been back, Benjamin became sick, and then me, and then this nasty cold finally caught up to George, too. Head congestion, sore throats, high fevers, bad coughs... not fun. :( I think we're finally on the mend, though, thank goodness!

I thought I'd post some pics from the last few weeks, to show what all we've been up to (when we weren't busy being sick!):

First of all, here are my 3 lucky charms on St. Patrick's Day: Here is birthday girl Emmalie, with Ben and E's friend Tori, about to have cake:
On our way to Ames, we stopped at the Iowa 80 truck stop and met my friend Mandi and her two kiddos, TY and Olivia, for lunch:
We arrived in Ames on the 24th of March, Dad's 60th birthday! We had a little celebration for him that night:

Here Benjamin checks out Grandpa Rick's big red truck:
While in Ames, I met up with my friend Jen at a park. We had a nice time visiting, and our kids had a blast playing:
While we were visiting with Grandma Fran and Grandpa Harold, Grandma taught Ben how to finger paint. (Aunt Julie is in the background.) He loved that!: On the 31st of March, I took Emmalie and her friend Tori into the city, to spend the day at the American Girl Place, for Em's birthday. The girls had a wonderful time shopping (and shopping and shopping!), watching their dolls get new hairdos at the salon, and getting their portrait taken together. Here they are outside the store:
I don't have any pictures to share from Easter yet, but we did have a nice holiday... all except for George, who was still feeling pretty miserable yesterday. Benjamin LOVED hunting for eggs and eating the goodies (mostly raisins and goldfish crackers) inside! :)

A belated Happy Easter to you all!