Happy Birthday Brian!

Happy birthday to my Brian! Brian is more than I could have ever hoped for as my husband and dad to our kids. He loves the Lord, he works hard to provide, and he is completely dedicated to our family. We love you!

We had a fun time celebrating Brian on his birthday. The night before he and I went out on a dinner date to the restaurant Fhima's in Minneapolis. It was delicious. On his birthday, the kids and I made him a fancy breakfast. We took the day off from school work and played a bunch of board games as a family. For dinner we went out to a Sushi and Hibachi Grill. We had a great time. We picked up an Oreo ice cream cake at Cold Stone Creamy for dessert. 

 

The kids playing with the Wellman kids, it is such a blessing to have them right next door!

The other day we had Bella over for a playdate with Greta. They enjoyed dressing up together, making cards for each other, and playing dolls. Eli and Asa went with Greyson to Grand Slam to practice batting at the batting cages. Greyson is on Eli's baseball team this year. Eli and Asa met with their baseball coaches and teams this week. They are excited for a great baseball season!

I sure love these three!

We had Papa over for dinner on Sunday. He is reading through The Sliver Chair with the kids. We played several board games with him. We love spending time with Papa!

Asa is getting so big!

Asa and Greta reading a book together. 

Jesus is Risen! Happy Easter!

We are so thankful for the hope we have in Jesus. We had a beautiful Easter celebration as a family last weekend. We went the Good Friday service at our church on Friday evening. On Saturday, we had an egg hunt in our yard and the kids dyed Easter eggs. On Sunday, we went to church with Papa, Karen, Kristi, and Ben. After church the kids participated in our church Easter egg hunt. They had a blast! Then we went over to Papa's house to have Easter dinner with Papa, Karen, Kristi, and Ben. It was a wonderful weekend filled with thankfulness to God and time with family. 

The kids found their Easter baskets Easter morning and they found a few more surprises! Greta got a horse for her dolls Beth and Belle and the boys each got a new bike!

They had fun dyeing Easter eggs!

All ready for church and Easter baskets!

I made the rainbow jello cake for Easter dinner dessert. It feels good to keep this tradition that my Mom started going each Easter.

I love it when Eli reads to his siblings.

Greta loves her horse Buttercup!

Greta got Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse at Disney World! 

 

Our Amazing Family Trip to Disney World

We had the most amazing trip to Disney World as a family! We are thankful that we were able to stay for a whole week. We stayed at a resort in Disney Springs, which was close to the parks and had a lovely swimming pool. We soaked in the Florida sunshine and the weather was beautiful every day.

The first day we went to Magic Kingdom. We loved taking in the views of the castle during the day and especially at night during the gorgeous fireworks show. We watched a parade that included many of the Disney characters that the kids love. We went to most of the rides at the park that first day and walked 10 miles total! The kids are at the perfect ages to go and they did great! We agreed that Splash Mountain was our favorite ride at Magic Kingdom and it is the same from when I went on it when I went with my family to Disney Land in California when I was a girl. It was my favorite ride when I went and it was fun to see my kids enjoy it just as much! That 50 foot drop is real!!

The next day we enjoyed a relaxing pool day at the resort and then ate dinner at Chef Art Smith, which is a restaurant in Disney Springs. The rest day was just what we needed! The following day we went to Animal Kingdom. It is a beautiful park and we loved the Avatar ride and the safari ride. Greta asked on the safari if we would see cheetahs and right after she asked we saw two cheetahs up close! We also got a close view of the lions, which was super neat. We had another rest day after that and enjoyed the sunshine and the resort pool. We went to dinner at the Boathouse in Disney Springs that evening. 

Then we had a day at Hollywood Studios. We loved the Rise of the Resistance Star Wars ride! It was an amazing experience for our family. It was fun to drive the Millennium Falcon as a family and walk through the Star Wars land area. Other highlights of that day were The Indiana Jones Stunt Show, the Mickey and Minnie ride, the Beauty and the Beast Musical Show, Toy Story Land, the Tower of Terror ride, and Slinky Dog Dash ride. It was a great day!

For our last day at the parks we went back to Magic Kingdom! We were able to go on all of our favorite rides again, Splash Mountain for five times total, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Space Mountain. We enjoyed dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant and Greta was thrilled to wear her Belle dress. It was a beautiful and delicous experience! We ended the night by getting a great spot to enjoy the fireworks show. We are thankful for an amazing family bonding trip and fond memories!