Easter Weekend

Joel and Silas attended an Easter party last Thursday at Joel's preschool. This lamb cake was the centerpiece on the table that day, and Silas just fell in love with it. After the party Joel's teacher said they could bring the cake home with them. They came over to our house for dessert Friday night after the Good Friday service at church and brought their precious lamb cake so we could all see it and even sample some. On Easter Sunday everyone came to our house for dinner. Jim's folks had driven down from Milwaukee for the weekend; and on Sunday after church Annie, Justin, and Claire arrived; and then Jorie, Mark, Joel and Silas. The boys had a blast looking for Easter eggs that Grandpa Jim and Justin had hidden outside. Sorry, the event was all over with before I had a chance to get my camera in gear!

Claire made a huge hit with her Easter dress, shrug, headband, and little black patent leather shoes. Why are baby girls so much fun to dress??

Of course, both Grandpa and Grammy had to have a turn posing with her!

As stated in earlier entries, Joel just delights in going into the backyard woods with Grandpa. When he found out that Grandpa would be raking there on Friday, he was eager to get in on it. Grandpa gave him an old broken rake handle to use as a special walking stick.

They both worked hard - I think Joel spent 3 hours working with Grandpa on Friday. He loved his reward - soaking in the hot tub with Gramps to soothe those aching muscles when all that hard work was done!

Wheaton Weekend and My Dad

Jim and I spent last weekend in Wheaton visiting our good friends, Glenn and Judy Bredfeldt. We had so much fun catching up on each other's lives. A highlight was attending a play together in Chicago. It was a comedy, "Don't Dress for Dinner," performed at the Royal George Theater in the Lincoln Park area. Afterward we enjoyed a wonderful meal at an intimate little Italian restaurant down the street from the theater. We enjoyed worshipping with them at Wheaton Bible Church on Sunday morning. This was the first time we had attended a service in the gorgeous new building on North Avenue. It was fun to run into several other old friends at church and to hear Rob Bugh preach.



While in Wheaton we made a point to stop and visit my dad a couple of times. We had a little scare with him the day before we arrived. He had been taken to the ER at Central DuPage Hospital on Friday morning. The nurse at Windsor Park Manor where he lives suspected he may have had a stroke and wanted him checked out. It turns out that everything seems okay. Dad has had problems with dizziness since some TIA's a few years ago, and he may have just experienced a more serious dizzy spell that morning. We were glad to see him pretty much "himself," and were happy that we could be there to make sure everything was okay. Dad seemed in good spirits - even told us a couple of good jokes - something he has always enjoyed doing.

April Fool's and Easter Eggs

My day with the boys began with them playing some cute April Fool's jokes on me. I was finishing up removing my nail polish at the kitchen counter. Joel said to me,
Grandma, just keep doing what you're doing; we'll be right back." They headed down the basement together. I wasn't sure what they were into down there, but I do keep several of their toys in the basement, so I assumed they were just looking for something to play with. Soon they came upstairs and Joel reminded me again, not to look, but to just keep working on my nails. After a few minutes he shouted, "Grandma, there's some huge spiders in your house," so I jumped up, and sure enough, there were three LARGE black (plastic) spiders on my carpet. After I expressed fear and shock, Joel shouted "April Fool!" Then Silas (who has been the process of potty training for several months now - has mastered peeing in the toilet, but still prefers to "poop" in his diaper) ran up to me and said "Sorry, Grandma, but I pooped in my big boy pants!" He KNOWS this would not please me. I said, "Oh, no! You did??" to which he smiled and replied, "No, April Fools!" So, so cute. Later he told me Mommy gaved him the idea before they arrived, but he remembered it on his own, and certainly pulled it off without a hitch.

Our special activity today was dyeing Easter eggs. The boys loved this and did an awesome job being patient while I set things up, and following my directions. We had no broken eggs, arguing over colors or tools to use, or any other scenarios one might expect doing such an activity with 4 1/2 and 3 year old boys. They were SO GOOD, and their eggs turned out very well.

The first ones were done with regular dye.

Then we tried decorating with paint and glitter. Silas was a very careful painter.

Joel concentrates as he adds blue to the pink he already painted on.

The boys proudly display their finished products.

More of Joel and Silas

I wanted to record a couple more cute things that the boys have said recently during their visits with me. A few days ago I was telling Joel something about when his mommy, Auntie Annie, and Uncle Jason were still little and growing up. Joel asked me then "Grandma, why don't you have another baby?" I explained that my body isn't able to produce any more babies. Of course that was followed, by a "Why not?" To which I replied that God planned for me not to be able to have any more babies now so that I could spend more time with my grandchildren. That seemed to satisfy him. Later that day, he and Silas had both climbed onto a chair to be able to reach the key on my antique desk. They love to play with that. The chair is also an antique, and I told them that only one of them should be on the chair at a time because it was old and a little rickety. Then Joel said, "Grandma, why do you have so many old things in your house?" I guess my answer to that was that since I am also old, the things Grandpa and I have had a long time are old, too.

Silas is so excited about the baby brother or sister that is on they way. Seriously, every single time I see him he says "Mommy has a baby (in her tummy)." Followed by "I'm a big boy now; I'm not a baby any more. I can help Mommy with her baby." He then loves to tell me all of the things he plans to do for his new little sibling. I have no doubt that he will be the sweetest big brother by the way we've seen him act with his cousin Claire, who is four months now. He loves to pat her and kiss and hold her.

Silas and Claire

The Eye of the Beholder . . .

I have the sweetest grandsons. They always greet me with "Grandma!!" in a super-animated voice, and most times the greeting is accompanied by a kiss or hug. Even if it's only been a few hours or only one day in between times together, the greeting is equally exhuberant. They just seem to think I am wonderful, and of course, that's fine with me!

And they say the cutest things. I have to mention a quote from Joel said last Monday. He and Silas had spent a fun morning with me. When Jorie picked them up, and Joel (4 1/2) was on his way out the door, he said "Goodbye, my beauty!" Followed by, "You know why I said that Grandma? Because I think you're beautiful." Well, I'm sure that any beauty I may have once had is quite fleeting, but in the eyes of an innocent child, that meant the world to me.

New Pictures of Claire

I spent today in Iowa City getting my Grandma Fix with Claire Grace.

Would you believe this outfit belonged to her Mommy 27 years ago?? It's just as cute now as it was in 1982!!

You have to love those chubby cheeks!

Two pretty girls.

Dinosaur Birthday

Grandpa Jim and I attended Silas' Dinomite Dinosaur Birthday party a couple of weeks ago. He was three years old on February 13, and his party was dinosaur EVERYTHING. He and Joel looked like two paleontologists as they greeted me and Grandpa at the door.

Two other families complete with 6 kids ranging in age from 2 - 4 1/2 attended. I think the highlights for the kids were the awesome dinosaur cake, complete with two roaring dinosaurs on top; and the dinosaur egg hunt. It was pretty crazy with 6 little ones running around.


Unfortunately Auntie Annie, Uncle Justin, and cousin Claire couldn't make it because about two hours before the party started, it began snowing like crazy and didn't stop until about 9:00. The roads were so slippery that even though they started on their way, they saw cars in the ditch everywhere and decided to turn around. It took them an hour to get back home from Dubuque Street, which was only a couple of miles from their house.


Silasaurus seemed to like the Elmo backpack (with toys inside) from me and Grandpa. We thought he might need that when he starts preschool in the fall. With the party just down the street, even a raging snow storm couldn't keep us from joining in on the fun!