Easter Weekend

We just had a wonderful Easter weekend at home. Grandma Reinsel came up to visit for a night, and of course the kids loved that! The boys played games, played hide and seek in the basement, watched Tangled, and all of us went to the park this afternoon.

Here is Emily, getting into the cars. She of course has tons of baby toys around to chew on, but she will always make her way over to the boys' stuff to chew on that instead.

The boys playing with Grandma

Emily chewing on a teething while we ate dinner.

Andy always has a hug for his baby sister

Jack getting ready to go for a run :)

Exploring at the park this afternoon

Jack and daddy checking out the mini-waterfallGrandma and Andy sitting on a stump chair Jack "Spiderman" Reinsel sliding to the rescue

Jack on a big kids' swing

Andy got going pretty fast

Emily at 8 months old

This weekend, Emily turned 8 months old. She is such a sweetheart. Sleeping about the same - usually waking up once per night, but then sleeping until 7:30, which is great with me. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but I can feel a bottom middle one just about coming through. So it will be soon, I bet. She is chewing on anything she can get her hands on. She's eating oatmeal, rice cereal, and pretty much any of the Stage 2 Fruits and Veggies. She isn't crawling, but is rolling wherever she needs to go now. She can pretty much sit on her own but sometimes needs a steadying hand. She looks at you when you call her name and continues to find Andy & Jack completely entertaining. So far she has enjoyed going to parks and going for walks - getting fresh air and swinging on the swings. We're looking forward to getting outside more with her as the weather gets nicer. Here's Emily in her Easter outfit...

Another trip to the Building for Kids

Well, after trying to think of some different things to do today during the snowy weather, we decided to go to the Building for Kids again in Appleton. The boys loved it as usual... I took a few pictures, and I can't believe how much older Emily is looking compared to our pictures in visits past.

Here's Emily all ready to go

And once Andy saw me taking pictures, he needed one with Emmie

Jack wanted his picture taken on the couch... but didn't want ANYONE sitting with him :)

Captain Andy and Captain Jack, ready for take off

Emily on the airplane

Andy and Mommy

Emily sitting so nicely in her own seat :)

Emily and I, courtesy of Andy

Fireman Jack, riding the truck

The boys created some great art masterpieces today

Andy working on creating a vehicle

Builder Jack hard at work

When April gives you snow....

Make a SNOWMAN!! Yep, late April and over a half-foot of snow here. Kind of depressing when we were playing at parks last week. But, it will melt quickly so we decided to take advantage of it today during Emily's nap. It was nice playing outside, since it wasn't too cold. Andy and I made a Snow Batman...

Here's Andy working on lifting some giant "boulders" for our snowman

Jack mainly just oversaw our progress while working on the snowman

We made a big snowpile and Andy threw snowballs at me from his fort. (he's getting very accurate and throwing them farther now... he especially loved it when I would throw snowballs back at him. I was nice though and avoided his hat-free head.)

Jack liked climbing in the snow

Aiming a snowball...
Fire!!!
Our snowbatman has already toppled... the boys are okay with that though. They want this snow gone just about as much as Chris & I do!

Andy and Jack's Birthday Party

We celebrated Andy and Jack's birthdays combined last weekend. With a busy May ahead (Aunt Sarah's wedding and Brad & Karissa's baby due) we figured it would be great to have both at once. The boys didn't mind sharing the spotlight with eachother at all. Twice as many presents, and they easily agreed on a Super Hero Squad theme. We had a wonderful weekend - the boys had so much fun!! The most exciting gift was the astronaut helmet - something that either Jack, Andy, or Ben was wearing every waking moment. The kids were even able to get outside to play a bit on Sunday. I can't believe I have a 5 year old and almost 3 year old! They are getting so big! Thanks to Grandma Graham for working on all of the party prep work at her house :)

A Few More Pictures from Today

This is the last blog post of the posting marathon tonight. A few more pictures from today... Andy enjoying cupcakes with friends at the park. Checking out the turtles at the nature center

Hiking on a new meadow trail we found

Trying to find a great hiking stick

Hmmm... Jack is checking this one out

Awww... what cute little hikers

Emily Meets the Easter Bunny

Emily got to sit in the Easter Bunny's lap today while we were at the mall picking up Andy's cookie cake. She was getting a little antsy and hungry while we were in line, but she was great when she got to sit with the big furry bunny. And I even got her to smile for her picture :) After seeing these pictures, Andy and Jack are eager to go see the Easter Bunny too (just to say hi to him, not to sit in its lap!) A little blurry, but a cute smile!

Some of our Favorite Places

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so we visited a couple of our favorite outside places to be: Heckrodt Nature Preserve, downtown Neenah, and the Rocketship Park. The kids loved it and now we are even more excited for summer... to be able to get outside to these places every week! Jack climbing up the Eagle's Nest stairs Playing out on the trails

Yum! Pad Thai noodle picnic in Neenah with Jack

At the Rocketship Park, trying out the cannon

Best Brothers

Emily liked stretching out on the faux grass

Enjoying the warm weather

The Rocketship Park is one of the boys' favorite parks now. Last year it was a little too big for Jack, but this year he's the one leading the way up to the top of the ship and sliding down. It still makes me nervous, so I kept a close eye on him. Here's Andy up high...

And Jack at the top. He LOVED the huge slide down. Becoming quite the little daredeveil.