A few more pictures to wrap up April

Just a few more random pictures from my phone... 

Snuggles with my favorite unicorn lover

Helping Daddy with the brisket for Brett & Sandi's birthday party

All the kiddos at Brett and Sandi's party

Buc-ee's shirts with Mama and Papa

Yoga with Brownies

The girls finally got to do their yoga class with the Brownie troop after a few reschedules. Beautiful day for it!

Expander

Avery got her expander put in at the orthodontist today. She was very nervous about it. First, they told her she would have to swish for a whole minute with the peroxide mouth wash. She was really freaking out about this one. Then, she was just worried about getting the expander and if it would hurt and didn't know what to expect.

Ready for this to be over

Metal mouth!

Before picture to compare to the after picture in a few months

*I'm not going to lie... this was quite an adjustment for her... and for us. For the first 12 hours or so, she didn't know how to swallow with this on the roof of her mouth and there was a lot of slurping. There are so many foods she can't eat. And the ones she can eat kept getting stuck in her expander. She also worries a lot about choking, so she kept feeling like she was choking. :(  And then, there is the "cranking" we have to do each night before bed. They gave us this tool to turn the expander each night. The first week, I had the worst time getting the thing to crank all the way around. We ended up back at the orthodontist twice to get help with it. But, the second time, the woman gave me some great tips and after that, we were all set!

Painting with the Brownies

The girls had a painting party with their Brownie troop. It was also Gwen's birthday, so lots of fun!

Staff Party at Karate

Similar to what they did for the light saber party, they had a staff party for the kiddos. They each got a staff to decorate and they did some karate practice with them. Morgan and Grayson went. Yikes!

They first practiced with pool noodles! 

Then, they got the real deal!

It's soccer season!

Morgan is so excited that soccer has started back up again! She is on a team with a combination of girls from different schools. The coach is the dad of a girl from her class. This year, she is not the tallest girl on the team. There is another girl who is a few months older than Morgan and is a head taller and super fast! Morgan likes the competition... they always race each other during the warm-up runs! :)

Getting vaccinated!

We finally were able to book an appointment to get our first vaccines! DMG set up a vaccine clinic in an old business building in Lisle. There were areas to sit to wait to be called, then cubicles like in an office where you go in to get the shot. Afterwards, you sit in the waiting area for 15 minutes to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction, socially distanced of course.

Happy birthday Mama Ruth!

Grandma Ruth came over to celebrate her birthday with us! We had treats and yummy food! The girls even got "kid wine" to cheers to Ruth! :)

Pretending to be on her cell phone drinking wine - ha!

Before Grandma came over, we got a little silly and decided to dye hair again. Avery went for a double hair color this time and Morgan went with purple.

 

Hike with the cousins

It was a nice day, so we went to Gilbert Park with the boys. But first, we had to be silly in the driveway!

The kids were finding walking sticks. Morgan yells to me, "hey mommy, I found one!" Turn around to see her lifting a tree! Ha!

 Such a gorgeous day!

Testing week at Karate

They test every few months for lower level belts at karate. We had just joined after the last testing, so this was our first belt testing. They spend a week evaluating the kids and then have a ceremony to award the new belts. 

The kids also get to do some fun things like break a board. This time it was with your foot. You'd be surprised how many kids get up there and get scared to break the board. I wasn't sure what Morgan would do, but she crushed it! :)

 

They have quite a lot of levels for the younger kids before they hit yellow. I think this is so the kids feel like they are accomplishing something and moving up without just doing the solid color belts. You can see the belts up on the wall above the mirrors.

Morgan moved up to the yellow/orange striped belt. I thought this was really great after being there less than two months! She talks about getting her black belt and really enjoys karate. :)

After the testing, they hand out trophies for kids who have done well with their paperwork (like reading logs, chores at home, choosing healthy foods, etc). Morgan really wanted a trophy, but I told her that she most likely wouldn't get one because we hadn't really turned in many sheets this time. But, she got the healthy eating trophy! :)

Great job, kiddo!

Bowling

Took a break and headed to the bowling alley! They love bowling, the pink lemonade, but also love the arcade and trying to win prizes!

Hoping for some hummingbirds

We had a few hummingbirds that consistently visited us last year, so we are hoping they come back for our new hummingbird feeder!

 

Sweet treats!

The ice cream truck driver is a smart guy... drove past school getting out on the first week back to full days in person learning! The girls always hear the music, but we never make it to the actual truck. Well, today was their lucky day! :)

 

Another first day of school

First day of full day school for 2nd Grade! And a new teacher... Mr. Swade! Good luck girls! :)

 

Easter Weekend

We had a relaxing Easter Weekend with family. On Saturday, we went shopping with Mama and then stopped off for ice cream at one of our favorite spots Every Day's A Sundae.

So messy!

On Easter, the girls had to find all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid. They did really well!

Hiding in Daddy's office under a unicorn

The Easter Bunny brought new lego sets for each of the girls, so of course they had to work on them immediately! We love legos!

Ruth stopped by for a visit as well

At the Wilkens', we had a delicious lunch with some fun cupcakes for dessert courtesy of Mama. Then, the kiddos had a big egg hunt! The weather was gorgeous!

So many awesome treats!

Aunt Sandi made cousin shirts for all the kiddos

Mama got bunny pigtail holders for the girls

Mama playing Mother May I with the kids

Aunt Sandi also made cool personalized water bottles for each of the kids

Chalk time

Morgan's chalk drawing of a shark