Easter dinner

The table is set for the family dinner. It's just the four of us and Allison's family, which gives us lots of room at the dinner table.

I think this was the first time I've used my spring napkin holders. They're probably close to 20 years old and from Lillian Vernon. Not even sure whether they're still in business.

I bought this small pot of tulips on Thursday and they opened up just in time for Easter.

Easter at church

Easter Sunday means it brunch time at church. Andy and B went in early to make pancakes as they have for years. I made a breakfast casserole and L made these sugar cookies:

After brunch, the kids go outside for an Easter egg hunt. B was drafted to help hide the eggs. Here's L with her friend, R, ready to begin the hunt.

And the hunt is on!

B didn't participate in the egg hunt, but since he knew where they were all hidden, was able to pick up a couple after the hunt that went undetected by the younger kids.

The other night, L blew out eggs and filled the with glitter. Here she is breaking one on R's head ...

... and then it was R's turn to return the favor for L.

We let B drive home and skip church.

Service ends every Easter with singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus."

How cute?

This photo of B and his friend, IB, was taken in spring 2007. They were in second grade, on a field trip. They have been good friends since first grade, maybe kindergarten. I've been hanging on to this picture to do a "remake" of it 10 years later.

IB slept over last night and I finally got my remake photo! It's been such a joy watching these two grow through the years.

Where did the time go?

This beautiful girl is 20 years old today! Her birthday dinner will be waiting for her when she gets home in a few weeks for summer break.

So young

Found this while sorting through some things the other day. Hard to believe our student IDs used to have our Social Security number on them, and the only proof you were a current student was a little sticker. Times certainly have changed. How cute is he, though?

Lamb butter

When I asked the kids what they wanted for Easter dinner, L said, "The lamb butter." She's not a big ham eater, so I guess her Easter dinner will be rolls and butter. And she might make macaroni and cheese - from scratch!

Moms Day shirts

Not that I needed more T-shirts, but I added two to my collection last weekend at U of I. On the right is the Moms Day shirt E got for me from her sorority. On the left is one I saw at the bookstore and bought because I thought the back design was interesting.

I'll try to get over the use of the apostrophe in Mom's since, according to AP style, moms in this use is descriptive and therefore doesn't need any apostrophe, like farmers market and teachers union.

My green thumb

So I ordered some wheat grass seed from Amazon, intending to grow it for the cats to chew on. I didn't know whether it would grow or not. Wednesday night I soaked the seeds in water overnight, and planted them Thursday.

This is how it looked Friday morning.

... and Saturday morning

... and this is Sunday afternoon. Wow. That was fast.

Interesting day

We got up early to visit Mom before heading back home. She loved L's bird blanket and the cards the kids gave her. When we were approaching Litchfield, where we stopped to get gas, we saw five military helicopters flying over. They might have landed at the airport there. I'm not sure. I'm assuming they were from Scott Air Force Base (and not Russia!)

It looked like the town was being invaded.

And what are the odds that when we pulled into the gas station, a school bus from Fenwick, the Catholic high school in town, was at the next pump over?

We stopped in Normal for a light lunch and to pick up gondolas for dinner. We tried their new cheese balls. Very tasty.

And this is the progress on the Totoro dress Allison is making for L. It's coming along!

Moms Day!

Andy and I left about 7:30 this morning for the drive to U of I where I was meeting E for her sorority's Moms Day brunch. Andy dropped us off, then went golfing while we had brunch and roamed the campus. We walked through the Illini Union where they were having a huge craft fair. Anything you could think of that was orange and blue was there. I was able to snap this picture of us when I got E to take break and sit down. I have a blister on my foot to prove that she made me walk too much. I'll admit I was wearing stupid, flat shoes. We went to all the T-shirt shops and one was giving out free corsages. We walked over to the apartment building E is leasing next fall. Here are pics of a model living room and bedroom:

We got a free T-shirt, goody bag, food, pop, a carnation! It was well worth the walk. We even got a $45 gift card just for doing the tour, even though she told them she had already signed a lease. They couldn't have been nicer.

Once we met back up with Andy, we did a little more walking. E wanted to show us her sorority's office. They don't have a house, but they have an office in the Engineering Building. It was nice to see the composite picture of all the girls.

We decided to use that $45 gift card for dinner, which was at Destihl, the same restaurant where we had the brunch to start off the day. E and I just wanted appetizers so we got cheese curds and pretzels. Andy had a skirt steak. Service was really slow, but the food was pretty good. I think they were a little short-staffed considering it was Moms Day. After dinner, we dropped E off at her dorm and drove to Gillespie to crash at Cindy's for the night.