Preparing for Christmas

One week until Christmas, and today was my last day of school! Our Advent has been pretty hectic, but wonderful, and hopefully the girls are feeling the great anticipation of Christ's birth. Today our beautiful Nativity finally made it out of the attic, and the Advent candles arrived last week, so it's looking a little like Christmas at our house. I love all of our Christmas traditions, and the girls seem to be enjoying them too.... 

We started Advent with a fun family evening decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. This year the girls were old enough to really decorate the tree with only a few directions from me. I did the fragile ones and they took care of the rest with some reminders that it usually looks better when there aren't 3 ornaments on the same branch. I have so many fond memories of tree decorating with my family growing up, and I hope that my girls will some day too. 

Of course St. Nicholas arrived on his feast day with a few pieces of candy for the girls, and my mouth watered while they ate their Reese's. 

Then we made a surprisingly successful trip to visit St. Nicholas. Last year neither of the girls would sit on his lap, but look at the picture we got this year! I made a huge deal about them showing their baby sister how to do it, and man did they deliver. They happily walked up, sat on his lap, said cheese, and walked away. This is our 4th year going to this Santa at Bass Pro Shop, and he is the best. We also go on a weekday afternoon when everyone is in school... there was 1 person in front of us in line, the whole thing was free, and then we got to go visit the fish afterward. 

Some women collect shoes or purses, but I collect Advent calendars. Every year the Officer has to remind me that we don't need another one, but I always find an excuse to get a new one. We currently have 4 in our house that the girls get to do each morning. This is our new magnetic one that the girls like to use as a backdrop for their Nativity.  I'm obsessed. 

Another of our favorite traditions is the tacky light tour in our city. Every year after dinner we load up the car and spend 2 hours driving to different houses on the tacky light tour. Last night we got to do this with the girls, and they loved it! 

Tonight I'm taking the girls out individually to buy presents for their sisters, and then we are visiting family, wrapping presents, and relaxing until Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Lumbertactical

I'm sure you've seen the new "Lumbersexual" trend in fashion, which I think is quite funny.  The Officer and I have never been very trendy or stylish, but the Officer's love of plaid, guns, and the outdoors would mean that a lumbersexual trend would make him pretty close to stylish. Of course, the Officer always likes to wear O.D. green, so I've named his style "Lumbertactical", and I think everyone will be wearing it in a few years. Here is a picture of lumbertactical....

Of course this was after he spent the afternoon renovating the bathroom floors, so I'm not sure he'd wear this outfit out to dinner or anything. I do think it goes well with my "dressy sweats" style. The look is also much more attractive when the man is doing the dishes after cooking us dinner =) Sorry ladies, he is all mine! 

Connected at the Hip

Sisters. Life would be so boring without them. I am lucky to have so many sisters and sisters-in-law, and they are my best friends. It makes me so happy that my daughters have sisters. They already love each other so much, and I know they will always have each other. 

Belle and Bug are only 13 months apart and they are inseparable. They spend every second of the day together. Belle takes shorter naps than Bug, so when she wakes up and Bug is still sleeping she always asks me, "When is Bug going to wake up?" "Can we go wake her up now?". They do not like to be apart. If they are in different rooms for more than a minute, Bug starts wandering around saying, "Where'd my sister go???"

bicycle built for one

They fight over toys, and they argue about who gets the green plate at lunch (or blue, or purple...). Sometimes Belle hits her sister, and sometimes Bug bites her. Mostly though, they laugh together, they read to each other, they share toys, they help each other find things, they pretend together, they stay up late talking together, and always they want to spend time together. I know it will change. There will be times when they have big fights, and there will be times when they hate that they have to share a room. That will change too though, and when they grow up I hope they love each other as much as I love my sisters. I hope they love each other as much as they do now. Thank God for sisters. 

Here they have literally tied themselves together and then tried walking around the house like this. Must. always. be. together.

Ziptastic

Last week the Officer and I went on a fantastic date. We used a groupon and went zip lining through the forest. I always stress before a long date like this, because I get nervous about leaving all 3 girls with someone (this time my awesome sister Michaela babysat for us).  My sister said the girls were all good for her, except one explosive diaper and one girl who likes to ask "why?" 10 times a minute. Once I actually got out of the house and stopped worrying about my 3 month old and her bottle, I had such a good time- maybe I can just remember this the next time we're planning a long date, but probably not.

The Officer and I absolutely loved zip lining.... the views of the mountains and the autumn leaves were beautiful. There were 8 zip lines, and the last one got up to 45 MPH. The Officer and I wished all of them were that fast, because that one was just awesome. We hiked through the woods in between some of the zip lines, and we walked across some rope bridges. The trip ended with a rappel down from a tree, in which the Officer just embarrassed all of us as he jumped off the tree and flew down one-handed.  I'm not sure why the Officer and I go on all these dates where he is super good at everything..... like the time he completely destroyed me in laser tag. I need to start choosing things that I am better at than him, if only I could think of something.

We love going on fun, adventurous dates together. I told him we should overcome some fears together on a date sometime, but ummm he is scared of nothing. absolutely nothing. The only fear I have that I can think of is snakes. I have no interest whatsoever in overcoming that fear on any date. not ever. We did walk past a snake while we were hiking in the woods, and that is enough for me.  Anyone else have any fun date ideas? We get to do "dinner and a movie" at our house for the rest of our lives, so when we finally get a babysitter and get out of the house we want it to be new and exciting!

7 years

7 years ago today I went on my first date with the Officer. It was the Fall semester, which meant I was playing soccer nonstop, and the smartypants Officer was always busy working and taking classes, so I remember that we had a hard time trying to schedule our first date. We had been getting to know each other at CCM events, and we had hung out at Monday night rosary for a few weeks, so I knew I wanted to go on a date with him. We planned our first date for a Friday morning before I left for a soccer road trip. We met at his apartment on campus where he made me a yummy eggs and waffles breakfast (still 7 years later he always makes our family breakfast). Then we went down to the river and hiked the paths and I'm sure I talked and talked and talked....

Not our first date, but the same river where we went on our first date

I have no clue what we talked about, and the date was a bit rushed because I had to meet the team for our game, but I was absolutely sure it would not be our last date. We talked on the phone while I was away that weekend, and he said he had told his family all about me. I was glad he was excited about me, even though I was super weird and afraid of commitment at the time. After that we just went on date after date after date for the rest of our lives :)

CCM winter ball a few months after we started dating. This was the first time the Officer told me he loved me, and surprisingly I didn't run for the hills when he said it :)

A few nights ago the Officer and I stayed up late talking, and he asked what made me decide to seriously date him. He was a great guy when I met him, but he was nothing compared to the incredible man he is today. So what did I see? How did I know he was going to become a perfect husband and super Dad? I have no idea. Mostly, it was probably just the grace of God that led me to him. Of course there were lots of surface things that attracted me to him- like he is a hunk ;), and he's athletic and fun. More importantly, it was his honesty and the fact that he is always striving to become better and holier that made me know that I wanted to marry him.  I'm so glad he took me on that first date 7 years ago, and I'm grateful for every date since then.

2 1/2 years after we started dating he took me on another hike to a waterfall and asked me to marry him. We look like babies here- who on earth thought we were old enough to get married?!

Birth Story part 2

Yesterday I posted part 1 of Third baby's birth story, and now I get to write about the exciting part where I finally meet the little lady. Warning: this is the birthing details that I want to remember, but if you don't like that sort of thing then just stop reading now. So, I was at the hospital laboring, and the Officer had gone into his awesome support coach mode (this time he didn't need to tell me to find another gear ;). I had done Bug's delivery with no epidural, and I was hoping to do that again, because I thought the physical recovery was so much easier than Belle's. When we first got to the hospital the pain still wasn't too bad, and having the Officer just massage my back during contractions was enough to get me through them. There were still little breaks between the pain where I could watch some of the World Cup (fortunately it was only the 3rd place match) and talk to my MIL and SIL who had met us at the hospital. At that point I was just trying to offer up each contraction for others who are suffering, which helped me, but after an hour or so things got really painful, and I remember thinking "this is exactly what purgatory will be like". I got in the shower and the Officer used the shower head to spray my back, which helped the pain. Then things suddenly got intense, and I was doing the embarrassing screaming/moaning thing that the Officer later lovingly referred to as my "Hulk Smash" yell.

Worth every second of pain

After a few of these extremely painful contractions I told the Officer that I felt like I needed to poop, which during labor would be code for "I need to push". So the Officer told me we should go back to the hospital bed. The Doctor said that I was complete and ready to push anytime, but I informed her that "I didn't want to" (who actually "wants" to do anything involved with giving birth?!?!). I thought the hospital bed looked like a form of torture (I never want to sit at all when in labor), and the idea of sitting in the bed and pushing made me want to cry. I told the nurse I didn't want to get in the bed (I imagine I sounded like a bratty 13-year-old girl with all of my "I don't wannas"). She was so amazing and said it was okay if I didn't get in the bed and made it seem like no big deal at all (she must not have realized that I was about to start pushing whether anyone was ready or not). Then I very loudly informed everyone that I needed to poop (again, code for I'm about to push), and everyone realized I was about to push the baby out in the middle of the floor. The nurse threw down some blankets, the Officer helped hold me, and the Doctor caught the baby, as I just squatted down and delivered the baby. Well, there were a few more "Hulk Smash" screams involved and three incredibly painful pushes, and I think I yelled something like "Just get the baby out!!!!!!!!!", but then there in the middle of the floor my beautiful baby arrived at 6:18pm. The Officer got to announce that we were blessed with yet another little girl, and I was surprised. not. at. all.

I love finally holding a new baby

I got to snuggle my sweet little baby (now I was completely fine with chilling in the hospital bed). Then as they took her away to clean her up, I was shocked to see little rolls on her arms. The nurse said "wow that's a big looking baby", which surprised me since she does this for a living, and then she announced that our daughter was 9 lbs 12 oz. What?!?! Belle was only 7 lbs 11 oz after being 10 days late and Bug was 6 lbs 15 oz, so I thought I only had nice little reasonably-sized babies. She barely fit in newborn diapers, but that girl was absolutely perfect. I just sat there holding her for an hour telling her over and over again how much I love her.

the big baby girl =)

My sweet Third baby came out very late and very big, but her labor and delivery went smoothly and for that I'm grateful. So far she has been an easy baby, who loves to eat, sleep, and smile at her big sisters. Just like every sweet soul that God has entrusted me with so far, I can't imagine my life without her.

With my three beautiful girls

The birth that finally started....

I'm finally typing the birth story for my Third little baby girl. I guess procrastination runs in the Mikfamily, because baby girl took her sweet old time deciding to arrive (little lady was 10 days late). On Friday July 11 the Officer and I went out on a date for the first time in months. It was wonderful, but halfway through I definitely thought I was going into labor. I started to get very uncomfortable and have some random pain and shortness of breath (one might consider these contractions, but I never like to say that I'm actually having contractions until a baby is about to appear). We got to dinner and I was in a lot of pain, and the Officer and I both began to think that maybe baby would come that night! Then halfway through dinner all of my pain, discomfort, and shortness of breath ended completely, and it was obvious the baby would not be coming yet.

Saturday morning the Officer was gone at his prayer group, and I woke up with a sudden uncharacteristic surge of energy. I knew that one way or another this baby would be coming very soon, so I frantically cleaned the house. I was trying very hard to be patient while I waited for baby to arrive, and most days I did okay, but I also tried everything I possibly could to induce labor. That morning, as my final attempt to encourage this baby to arrive before my Sunday night induction, I made myself a "Midwife cocktail" (thank you Miesha for the recipe!). Of course about 15 minutes after I started drinking it the Officer came home and informed me that my in-laws would be coming over that afternoon for a cookout. Awesome. There is nothing like the idea of being in labor in front of a house full of people. Oh well.

The girls were enjoying some pool time with their cousins, while I was inside being "crampy"

Either I was already about to go into labor or that "Midwife cocktail" is a miracle worker, because 2 hours after I drank it the contractions began. Of course, I don't like to say I'm having contractions until I'm 100% sure, so instead I just told the Officer that I was feeling "crampy".... at 41 weeks "crampy" would be code for "I'm in labor, but too dumb to admit it". My sweet SIL Mantha stayed with me and a few times kindly informed me that, "Those are definitely contractions", but I just kept going with the idea of "crampy". Around 2:00 it was time to put all the children down for naps, and I finally admitted that I was having regular contractions. I was reading Belle a book before her nap, and I had to stop and stand up twice in the middle of it to breath through contractions, but again for some reason, I figured it was still early labor, because it just wasn't that painful yet.  My wonderful SIL was still keeping a close eye on me and my contractions, and around 3:00 started urging me to go to the hospital. The Officer was not sleeping this time, but was watching Golf with his family :)

Gonna meet this baby soon....

I hadn't been timing any contractions, but Mantha was paying attention and knew they were only a few minutes apart. She just kindly kept urging me to go to the hospital and making sure I had everything I needed. The Officer and I got to the hospital around 4:00, and it was the perfect time to get there. When I got all checked in my contractions were consistently 3 minutes apart and I was 6cm dilated. After my delivery with Bug, I was thinking things might go pretty quickly at this point, and I was right.

Part 2 coming tomorrow.....

Babymoon?

So I have heard of these things people go on called Babymoons.  I thought we should go on a little mini-vacation before this baby comes.  I think a babymoon is supposed to be a romantic get away just for Mom and Dad, but ours was a family vacation, and it was perfect. 

We live about 2 hours from the beach, so we packed up and headed to the beach with two very excited girls. We got an oceanfront hotel room for a night and spent 2 days hanging out on the beach. Every second was magical for my little toddlers. Neither of them had ever stayed in a hotel room, so they thought the hotel was just incredible. Belle got a huge comfy queen bed all to herself and looked like a little princess. Each ride on the elevator was just as exciting as the last, and getting to push the button for the floor was thrilling. These were all the little exciting things the girls loved in addition to the actual beach!

The beach was pure Heaven for them. I don't know why we haven't done this little trip more often. Both girls are at the perfect ages to enjoy a full day on the beach. Neither of them are at the crawling/eating sand stage, and they both did just fine staying on the beach all day and skipping naps (though I was shocked sleepy Bug was still walking at the end of the day). 

So like most little girls in 2014 Belle loves to sing "Let it go"(well her made-up version mashed together with "Do you want to build a snowman"), but she always sings it as loud as humanly possible. I've tried so many times to get her to sing it quietly, but she has informed me that Elsa sings it loudly in Frozen. The song is literally banned in my house before 8:30 am. So during the 2 hour car trip to the beach she was singing it at full volume, and mean Mom over here insisted that it stop. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Belle you can only sing in a nice quiet singing voice in the car."

Belle: "Mom, Elsa sings it loudly in Frozen."

Me: "I know she does, but that's because she is on a mountain, not in a car."

Belle: "Well I need to sing it loudly like Elsa does."

Me: "No. If Elsa were in a car I'm sure she'd sing quietly, and the next time you are on top of a mountain you can sing it as loudly as you want."

When I made that last statement the Officer gave me a little sideways glance from the driver's seat and questioned the promise I had just made to my 3-year-old about singing as loudly as she wants.

I shrugged and asked him how often are we ever on mountains, and the conversation with Belle ended. 

Fast forward a few hours and we were all happily sitting on the beach. The Officer and I were lounging in our beach chairs chatting about our beautiful day while the girls were digging a huge hole in the sand. All of a sudden Belle jumps on the pile of sand she has created from her digging and at the very top of her lungs for all the nice sunbathers to enjoy she screamed "LET IT GO! LET IT GO......." When I finished laughing hysterically I said, "Why are you screaming?!?!", and she very matter-of-factly pointed to the mound of sand she was standing on and said, "This is a mountain, so I can sing loudly". Touché my clever girl. Touché. 

We spent 2 wonderful days playing in the sand and jumping in the waves. I just love this age when they are happy to spend entire days on the beach with Mommy and Daddy. They found joy in every tiny detail of our trip, and I love seeing the world through their eyes. 

I couldn't possibly love these 3 people more =)

We've been back for two weeks, and of course every day they have pretended to be at the beach. They lay blankets down on the floor and pretend they are on the sand, and the kitchen is the ocean where they jump over waves. 

It wasn't quite the romantic get-away that you might think a Babymoon is supposed to be, but for us it was perfection.  I think it's pretty romantic to spend time with my husband watching our little children have two absolutely magical days. It's funny how vacations change when you're a parent :) Now we are ready to meet our little baby and add even more joy to our family!

Bug's surprising birth story

A few days ago I finally typed out Belle's birth story, and now it's time for Bug's. My labor and delivery with Bug was pretty much the exact opposite of Belle's in every way.  I had Belle 10 days past my due date, so I was assuming Bug would come late too. Bug was due March 7, so I figured sometime mid-March I'd be meeting my baby. My pregnancy with Bug was my easiest one, and everything was going smoothly a week before my due date. I spent that day teaching preschool and that evening at David's Bridal with Belle picking up her flower girl dress for our friends' wedding. In my normal procrastinating fashion I had nothing ready for Bug's birth.

It was February 28th at about 10:00 pm, and the Officer and I were getting ready for bed. I was so surprised when I started having some contractions. I told the Officer that it must just be Braxton Hicks, since this baby was surely not coming for another week. The Officer laughed at me and said, "This baby is coming, so I better get some sleep". His need to sleep while I'm in labor seems to be the only thing my labors had in common :) Then he went to bed. I was still in complete denial and decided I should go to bed, since I had to teach in the morning. I tried to sleep, but my contractions every five minutes would not allow it, so I got up and called my SIL around midnight, since she was in a different time zone. I realized that not only might I be having my baby in February but that it was a leap year, so this baby could be arriving February 29th.

She was a pretty chill little baby

I started realizing that this baby might actually be coming soon, so I decided I should write some lesson plans for the remainder of the week and pack a bag for the hospital. Around 2:00 am I woke the Officer up, since I had been having steady contractions for hours. He called his Mom, who drove the hour to our house to stay with Belle so we could go to the hospital. His Mom arrived around 3 or 4 in the morning, and I was still in denial. After my marathon labor with Belle I assumed I had a long time until this baby actually arrived. I finished lesson plans and took a shower, when my sweet MIL kindly said, "ummm I think maybe you guys should head to the hospital".  I told her I felt like a wimp, because these contractions were already so painful, and I probably had a long way to go.

Dads and their daughters are just the sweetest..... Bug was a tiny little peanut

We left for the hospital just before 5 am, and luckily the Officer got us there very quickly. We got our ticket for the parking garage timestamped at about 5:15am, and Bug was born at 6:17am! When we arrived at the hospital I still thought I must have a lot of laboring left, so I refused the wheelchair and waddled my way to the room, stopping every 10 feet to breath through a contraction. We made it to the room, and they tried to get me hooked up to monitors and start an antibiotic, but I was completely freaking out by then. I was 7cm when I got there, and I was definitely panicking about the pain. All the nurses trying to talk to me and mess with me were making me mad, and I looked at the Officer and begged him to "please help". Then I yelled, "Something's happening to me!", and a nurse said, "yes, you're going to have a baby", and my water broke. I tried to tell them that the baby was coming right NOW, but in my mind nobody seemed very urgent. The Doctor never made it to the room, but there was a Resident there to catch Bug as she came out in 2 pushes just one hour after we had parked our car.

Grandma has 30 Grandchildren, and is ALWAYS there to meet them. 

It was definitely a very intense and painful hour right before Bug arrived, but it was much better than the 40 hour ordeal with Belle. My recovery after Bug was super easy, and she was a pretty easy baby other than some reflux issues. She was a good sleeper, similar to her sister. Bug surprised me in every single way. She surprised me when she came only 13 months after her sister, she surprised me coming a week early, and she surprised me with her fast and easy labor, but once I was holding my sweet little Bug and for every moment since, I can't imagine our lives or our family without her.

Blessed

Now I'm 38 weeks pregnant with our newest peanut, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect! I'm hoping things will go as smoothly as they did with Bug, but hopefully I give myself a little more time to settle in at the hospital. No matter what, I just can't wait to finally hold this little baby and find out what child God has blessed us with this time!

Belle's marathon birth story

We are very close to having another baby, which means a new (hopefully not too exciting) birth story. I never want to forget these miraculous stories, and I want my girls some day to be able to read about their grand entries into the world, so I figured before I have the newest baby I should document the birth stories for my first two kiddos.

Nothing better than newborn snuggles 

So here is what I remember about the day(s) when my sweet Belle decided to make her appearance....

I was 10 days past my due date and starting to get a little antsy about having this baby. I woke up at about 5:00 am Saturday January 22 finally having contractions. The Officer worked the midnight shift back then, so he was at work for another hour or two. It wasn't bad yet, so I didn't call him home, but instead called my Mom to tell her I thought maybe I was having contractions (I was so clueless). When the Officer got home around 7:00, he said "I need to get some sleep first".  He had just been up all night and he didn't know it.... but this was going to be a long process, so it's a good thing he went to bed. He spent the next few hours sleeping while I hung out alone having back labor (but I was clueless about that too). My Mom called me a few times wanting to come meet us at the hospital.... she kept reminding me that all the women in my family have very fast labors. HA. Finally, that afternoon around 2 or 3 I had been having contractions every 4 or 5 minutes for a while, so I woke the Officer up and said we should get ready to go to the hospital. My Mom, my Dad and my sister Martizi drove 2 hours to meet us at the hospital, and they beat us there! The Officer and I arrived at the hospital and had no clue what was in store for us.

When we first got there I think I was only about 4cm and we found out that Belle was posterior or "sunny-side-up". That didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time, but I knew nothing about it. I was having back labor, but the pain wasn't too bad at the time, so I enjoyed having my family and the Officer's family stop by to make me laugh at this point. This went on all day, and I was becoming more and more uncomfortable and more and more tired. That night my parents and sister drove back to my house to get some sleep and thought they'd be meeting the little baby in the morning. Sometime that evening I got pitocin to move things along. Then I got an epidural and was finally able to sleep a little bit that night. The next day was more of the same.... horrible pain, kind family keeping me laughing, awesome husband, and very very slow progress in having a baby. My family and the Officer's family all went to Mass and came back to the hospital expecting to meet a baby, but no such luck. So they kept their vigil in the waiting room. Martizi kept everyone at the hospital entertained and tortured the rest of the family with facebook updates and made up information about my baby who was in no mood to make an appearance (I think Martizi texted my other sisters saying that I had a son and named him Pele). 

Aunt Martizi spent two days waiting to hold this little baby

Sometime late that afternoon I had about 15 nurses, doctors, and residents rush into my room in a complete panic because the baby's heart rate had dropped. In about 15 seconds I was rushed into the OR and ready for a c-section with the Officer by my side reassuring me that everything was okay. Then Belle's heart rate got normal again, so they didn't have to do a c-section and brought me back to my room, still with no baby in my arms. I think during all of that chaos Belle must have flipped over, because suddenly things started moving along faster and when they checked again she was face-down. It was now Sunday evening January 23, and I had been having painful back labor since Saturday morning. I was completely exhausted when they finally told me that the baby was ready, and it was time to push. I thought this part would go quickly. Wrong again. I pushed for almost 3 hours and felt like this baby was never going to come. Finally the doctor told me that this baby needed to come out soon. The Officer looked at me and said, "You need to find another gear or you are having a c-section"...... yes this is how the Officer coaches me, and it works perfectly for us. Two pushes later and little Miss Belle finally made her grand appearance. It was 9:14 on January 23, and I had been in labor for 40 long hours, but she was worth every second of it.

Finally holding my baby in my arms!! 

Belle's birth was long and painful, but fortunately, she was my first baby and I didn't know anything different. She also made up for it by being the easiest baby in the world. She immediately slept through the night, and when she was two or three weeks old she was sleeping about 8 hours a night. Like I said.... easiest baby in the world. Now I just hope that I don't have any more marathon labors like that one!

Belle meeting Grandma and Grandpa

The beauty of big families

I'm very late on posting about Easter, but better late than never.... for Easter break we went for a week to visit my sister, her husband, and their 12 kids. Yes, my sister has 12 children. People are always shocked when I say that, and I guess really big families are pretty rare these days, but my sister and her husband happily have 12 children and their family is absolutely beautiful. I wish we lived closer and could see them more often, because visiting with them is always wonderful.

One of the best things about a big family is that there is always something to do and someone with whom to play. Belle and Bug were in Heaven having 12 cousins to play with all day. Especially since my sister has 2 little girls almost the exact same ages as Belle and Bug, so the 4 little toddler girls had a blast playing house, "cooking", and pushing each other on the swings. It was so cute to watch them all play together and help each other collect Easter eggs.

We had perfect weather almost the whole week (after the first day when it snowed?!?), and we had so much fun. The kids played on the trampoline and the swing set, and the family enjoyed a backyard soccer game (I was very bummed that I was too pregnant to participate in this).

We went to tour a distillery, which the Officer and my BIL thoroughly enjoyed.

We had an evening by the fire with s'mores, and one day the Officer and I were able to sneak away for an afternoon date.

We celebrated the Triduum at their beautiful Church, and had a delicious Easter lunch followed by an exciting Easter egg hunt. Another perk about a big family is that the teenagers got to mastermind the egg hunt- they filled the 200 eggs (I can't remember the final count, but it was outrageous!), and then the teenagers had fun hiding them (one egg was even attached to a fishing rod and my nephew pulled it away from his brother across the yard when he tried to get it)- my sister and I got to just come out and enjoy watching the fun without doing any of the work!

Their whole family was so generous, and gave up beds for us, so that we had 2 whole rooms to ourselves (super sleeper Bug had her own room in a house with 18 people in it!). The family worked together to make yummy dinners every night, and it always looked so easy for everyone to just take different jobs and have a big dinner ready that could feed all of us. I also always love getting parenting advice from my sister and BIL, who are definitely expert parents at this point. They make raising kids look so easy- don't get me wrong they make so many sacrifices for their children every day. They have chosen having children over other things, and of course that means work but wow you can see it so clearly in their lives that choosing children has also meant so much joy! I'm so grateful that they let us come stay with them for the week and add to their fun =)

We had a wonderful Easter!