Easter Sunday

Happy Easter, everybody!

We have had a nice Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny was good to Braden and Madeline, we worshipped with our Lakeview family (and missed those of you who were elsewhere this year), and even enjoyed an Easter egg hunt after church...

...INDOORS. And here's why:
Above you see Braden, our building and our car on Saturday morning. That's what Good Friday brought us! So the church auditorium had to make do for the egg hunt. We couldn't have all the new dress shoes soaked by the inches of snow still on the ground!

Not exactly the kind of Easter Roger and I remember from our childoods in the South (where there was rarely a need for a light sweater, much less snow boots), but lunch at Cozy Noodles almost made up for it!

Spending Time in Tennessee

Braden, Madeline and I just got back from spending time with my family in Columbia, Tennessee. We had a great time!

The flight to Nashville was a little tough. Braden said the plane wasn't going fast enough, and Maddie was having a hard time being in a new situation. One thing I learned on this trip: Madeline needs familiarity! I could always take Braden anywhere and he was fine. Madeline doesn't like anything new. She became very attached to me while we were in TN. Luckily, she did much better on the flight back to Chicago.

Some highlights from our trip:

Braden and I went bowling with Seth and Emily:

I think he was a little disappointed in the game. It was his first time bowling, and I don't think it was what he had imagined. He did, however, come in second!

We visted with Mema and Grandaddy at their house:

They got a smile out of Maddie, and Braden wanted in on the action.

Mur came to Nana and Papa's:


Braden enjoyed exploring on Papa's land and built a campfire for Seth:

He and I went on an adventure and followed all the deer and cattle paths through the woods. It was a beautiful day - only a slight chill in the air.

We had a BBQ lunch with aunts, uncles and cousins:

Almost everyone on the Anderson side of the family was able to make it. I was so glad, because we missed spending Christmas with them this year. And it's always fun for us cousins to get our kids together. They have the best time-they're all buddies. Luckily, after lunch, there was plenty of time for them to play:

Notice that Braden is still the only boy!!!

And Marsi and Brianna came for a visit the day before we left:

One week never seems long enough in Tennessee - there are so many things to do and people to see - but we needed to get back to Roger and school. When I picked Braden up from school yesterday, his first day back, he told me he had missed his friends. And to think the day before, he was crying because he wanted to stay in Tennessee forever!