More Spring Fun

In the spring I went to the Heart at Home conference again this year, which I love! It's a "Moms Conference", but you get to hear a lot of great speakers and bond with other moms. It is a lot of fun. This year, it was a bit stressful leading up to the conference and I was feeling like I shouldn't go because it was just getting to be too much. My wonderful husband really insisted that I go and then sent me flowers to my hotel! What a great guy! It was another great experience and I am so glad I went. Thank you Paul!!

We had some fun outside with the great weather.  The boys loved playing soccer together in our back yard, which warms my heart!

And we made a fire in our fire pit and tried out some of the camping gear that Paul got for Christmas this year.  The kids loved the new marshmallow sticks, which were also used to cook hot dogs over the fire - how fun!

Of course we later used those sticks to make smores.  Good job Matthew!

Yum!

Juliette's Daisy troop took a field trip to Feed My Starving Children to do some service.  It is an organization that packs meals and ships them to countries fighting poverty.  When we were there, we packed meals being sent to Haiti.  It was a really great experience.  The girls had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and walked away feeling great.  We will definitely be back!

What a great group of Daisy's!

Selfie with my girls.

Ben drew this amazing picture in school.  They were each assigned a station of the cross during Lent and this is what he did - amazing!

Just a cute picture of my baby relaxing on the couch watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - his favorite show!

When the girls were little and Abbey was in a toddler bed and Juliette was in a crib, Abbey used to climb into Juliette's crib so they could sleep together.  I have so many pictures of the two of them asleep in the crib.  They still sleep together!  They would do it a lot more, but we limit them to non-school nights to make sure they are getting good sleep during the week.  Sometimes though, they still sneak into each other's beds after being tucked in to comfort each other and I find them like this when I go to check on them before I go to bed.  It's so sweet.

We went to the spring choir concert to hear Abbey sing!

Matthew just loves to be outside.  He loved to go on walks or play with outside toys.  

Spring Activities

After we got back from spring break, it was time to jump right into spring activities! Abbey has been singing in the school choir all year and they got invited to sing at a Chicago Wolves (minor league hockey) game. Our whole family went (minus Matthew who stayed home with a sitter since the game started right around his bed time) and had so much fun.  Here they are singing "Best Day of My Life".

You can see them on the jumbo-tron!

One of Abbey's friends in her class's Dad played for the Wolves, so after the game he came out to meet them and sign autographs, which was really fun. 

Ben also had an exciting opportunity.  Because his soccer team won their division in the league (and went undefeated, I might add), they were invited to a Chicago Fire (professional soccer) game where they would be recognized on the field for their accomplishment. So again, we took the family (minus Matthew) to a Chicago Fire game!  

We had great seats and got to sit with his team.

Go Arlington Aces!

Hard to see, but there they are on the giant soccer field!

And you can see the Arlington Aces symbol on the Jumbo-tron!

It was a very cool experience.

Just a cute one of Matthew and Mommy time while the kids are at school.

While we prepared for Abbey's First Communion, Juliette tried on my First Communion dress and loved it.  I am not sure she would wear it for hers next year (or if it would even fit her then), but I loved getting this picture of her in it, headband and all.  My little mini-me!

And although all 3 older kids played soccer this spring, I apparently only got a picture of Juliette ready for one of her games.  We spend Saturday's racing between games and often have conflicting games so Paul and I divide and conquer, which means pictures don't get taken I guess.  Too busy living life, but I did want to acknowledge that they all had great spring soccer seasons!