april shower (of photographs)

Not surpisingly, the second half of April was just as busy at our house as the first half! And I took a bunch more photos....

On the 14th, I went to the 4th showing of Phantom of the Opera. I sat closer to the stage this time, and got some better pictures:

Christine, singing "Think of Me":
Phantom's lair:
Masquerade. Emmalie is 3rd from the left here:
"Notes":
Curtain call (Emm is in the middle, in white):
I went again on the 15th, and sat even closer ~ front row! This is the opening, Hannibal scene. Again, Emmalie is in the middle, in white:
She is 3rd from the right here:
The ballet dancers and John Buquet:
The Il Muto scene. Emm is on the right:
A closeup of the phantom and Emm's gargoyle:
Masquerade, again. Emm is on the right:
Raoul and Christine:
Rehearsing Don Juan Triumphant. Here Emmalie's on the left of the group:
On the 16th, I took the boys to church for a special Easter activity. The older kids went on a treasure hunt, but the younger kids had an egg hunt. It was raining that day, so all the eggs were "hidden" inside. Ben had fun looking for them!



After that, we had a snack, made some crafts, and listened to the Easter story. The boys also got to dye 2 eggs each:

That night, George and I attended the finale of Phantom. We were so proud of Emmalie and all the kids who participated ~ they really did a fantastic job every night!

After the show, there was a cast party at CiCi's Pizza. Here is Emm with her friend Lidia:
Emm convinced some of the other girls to do their dance from Masquerade in the middle of the restaurant with her:

We were all quite surprised to wake up on the 18th to snow! Luckily, it didn't stick around too long....
The Easter wreath I put on our door:
On the 22nd, the kids and I headed to church for the Crosswalk passion play. We came home for lunch, and then I took the boys over to the Egg Dive. Nick was too old to participate this year, but he came to watch Ben and to swim afterwards.

The staff released eggs into the water before each age group: The 4- and 5-year-olds wait their turn. (Ben is on the far left, next to the slide.):
Gathering lots of eggs!
His "basket" (colander) was literally overflowing with eggs!
Ben and his haul:
Let's see what's inside.... (Lots of cheap, plastic toys, LOL!)
Nick swimming in the big pool:
Ben, playing after the Egg Dive:
Ben and Nick:
On the 23rd, we dyed and decorated eggs:


Ben lost his 2nd tooth at lunch that day, so I told him to smile big and show off his jack-o-lantern grin! :)

We filled up another carton with decorated eggs, too:
Nick and his multicolored eggs:
Emm shows off her Phantom egg and her Japanese egg:
Ben with some of his eggs:
Among other things, I made a penguin egg:
On Easter morning, the kids were very excited to come and see what the Easter Bunny left them in their baskets! They each received a DVD, a stuffed bunny, seeds for the garden, and candy. In addition, Ben got some Hot Wheels cars, Emm got a book of Suduko puzzles, and Nick got some more Triops eggs:


Then the kids went on their egg hunt:
Emm found one in the pantry!

After breakfast, we all got ready for church and I took a few pictures. Here are the kids in their new outfits, holding their new bunnies:
Another one by the forsythia bush:
After church, the five of us went to Walker Brothers for lunch. Yummy!

This is the lily I bought through church, in memory of Grandpa Bear & Granny, Grandpa Fischer, and George's dad, Harold:
Benjamin Bunny with his new friend, Crisp. :)
On the 27th of April, I helped chaperone the preschool field trip to Cosley Zoo in Wheaton. I'd never been there before, so was excited to go! It was kind of a dreary day, but we stayed mostly dry, despite a few sprinkles toward the end. Here's Ben on the bus:


Ben loved this old caboose that's been converted into a building:

I loved this raccoon:

and this fox!:
The farm animals were fun to look at, too:

And Ben thought this water wheel by the duck pond was very cool:
Even though April hasn't been as warm as it is some years, there are still signs of spring everywhere! :) And I've been photographing them!

This is Nick's pot of clover he received on St. Patrick's Day:
Periwinkle in bloom:
Forsythia:
I have lots of grape hyacinth scattered throughout the front yard:

The little magnolia tree that we bought last year is beginning to bloom:

Lungwort in the backyard:
More daffodils:

And some bleeding hearts:
Welcome spring!!