And, a Birthday

Davis was born on Maundy Thursday, but this year his birthday was Easter Sunday.  We had a family celebration on Saturday.  He received some Legos, a Target gift card and a trip to World's of Fun!

We played games---throw discs of paper and popsicle sticks off the deck and try to catch them.  They were entertained for at least an hour!

Next came entertainment. . .not sure the Dads were as entertained since they were trying to watch the Masters Golf.

So, we went down stairs for a dance party!

Finally, we had some Birthday "cake"!  Happy Birthday, Davis!

Easter in Kansas City

 We started our Easter Festivities by dyeing some Easter eggs.  Since the weather was so nice, we decided it would be a great outdoor activity.

 Then, it was time for the traditional pre-egg-hunting photo which is never easy. . .

 Let the Hunt begin!

 Since we held the hunt indoors, we again had the kids look for specific colors/eggs.  Libby had pink and purple, Davis had green and basketballs, Brett with baseballs and orange and Roman with soccer balls and yellow.

Then, the moment they were all waiting for. . . .opening the eggs!

But, the excitement wasn't over, we still had a birthday to celebrate.

Would Grover Have Liked This?

 My daughter, Leah, got me interested in emeals.  (Read her blog here.)  They provide a week's worth of meals, recipes and shopping list.  Leah uses the organic menus which are for Whole Foods for 4 people. 

 Ours is Walmart Low Fat for two people.  Tonight we had the menu above with the recipes below.  It was delicious and under 200 calories.

 But, when I got the "kale chips" out of the oven, I had to think of my father-in-law Grover who used to eat dinner with us.  One night, he accused me of feeding him weeds out of my garden (mixed greens) and he really didn't go for stir-fried green beans.  Beans were supposed to cook all day on the stove with bacon!

I am sure he would have thought I'd lost my mind with these Kale chips---maybe accuse me of giving him toasted sea weed. . .or he would have told me how his mother stewed it on the stove for three days.  Really, Grover, they were delicious!  Yeah, I can imagine you shaking your head in Heaven! 

Birthdays in Webster!

 Last weekend I went to my cousin's to celebrate two of her grandchildren's birthdays---Kyle and Delaney.

 It was great seeing everyone since so many live out of town including Kyle, above!

 And it was great seeing the ones in town, too.

 Kathy has done a beautiful job with her decorating outside and inside making it a great place for a family party.

The mantel says it all---family is important even as spread out as we are today.

Spring Break St. Louis Part II

After Rachel's family spent Spring Break in St. Louis,  Rebecca and Roman also came for a visit.  The weather was again beautiful, so we went to the zoo again.  The St. Louis Zoo is so large, we didn't duplicate much from the week before.  The Reptile House was high on both families' list. :-(

Roman loves to climb as you will see in the photos.  The photo above has him on Phil the Gorilla whom I remember seeing when I was a child at the zoo.  He took great joy in harassing visitors by splashing them with water and tossing various food items out of his cage---the gorilla that is, not Roman.

The high-light of this visit was seeing the baby elephant and daddy Raja below.

Lately, I have been buying the kids "face-painting" rather than a trinket at the zoo store.  Roman chose a dragon for his arm.  That night we watched High School Musical Three and ate ice cream.

 We finally got all of Kansas City's rain on Thursday, so Roman played in the basement, then donned Grandpa's raincoat for a walk in the drizzle.

We had a great visit---I wish the grandchildren lived closer, but I can't complain as long as I see them once a week---so who's next?