Hey guys hey! Happy  -s p r i n g-   with a side of wintery mix.

Our Easter egg hunt was definitely inside this year :)

Who can spot the egg??

We finished up basketball season, and both kids got some KU basketball action in!! 

And of COURSE, in all of their adorable-ness, Ellie's team made it onto the jumbo-tron! One of my little extrovert's life goals for sure. 

You should have seen Caleb's face when he found out that Ellie got to meet Devonte Graham.  #greenwithenvy

Lucky for him, his turn was the next week. We surprised him with tickets: 

I think this picture is actually more accurate: 

Starstruck: 

When you try to play it cool, but inside you're like : life goals ✅✅✅✅

...

...

Oh, William. 

This kid. 

He makes us laugh on the daily.  (but don't tell him that....because, according to him, he is definitely NOT funny.) 

As a side note, do you remember that this is our kid who asked for "antiques" for Christmas last year? LOL

He did a monologue a few weeks ago in our kitchen (we titled it "House of Consequences") that nearly sent me to the floor.  He had just been given (yet another)...you guessed it: consequence. And it must have been one too many! He just let it all go, and it was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time (of course, I had to be a good mom and keep a straight face at the time....he wasn't getting out of trouble just yet).  It went something like this: 

"OH! GRRRRRREAT! Another consequence????!   (*insert flailing of arms here*)

Consequence YESTERDAY, consequence TODAY, consequence TOMORROW!!

Consequence, Consequence, CONSEQUENCE!   (*insert jazz hands here, followed by arms raised to the heavens*)

I'm calling this house the 'house of consequences'!

Oh, that's FUN. I'm going to call alllllll my friends. 
I'm going to say, "HEY FRIENDS! Want to come over to MY house? It's GREAT.  It's the 'HOUSE of CONSEQUENCES'!"

You get the picture.  Oh, dear.  Tragic, but funny as heck. 

Speaking of funny, Tessa made a proclamation the other day, too.  

I was teasing her that I was going to get her little buns (we see bare baby buns around here often now that we are attempting potty training again)....she just stopped, whipped her head around, and stood in front of me, hands on hips.  She proclaimed indignantly: 

"MOM.  Thems is not buns.  Thems is BISCUITS."

Well. mmm-kay.  Glad we established that :) 

This came a few days before she informed me: "William just hit me in the nuts" (the plight of having older brothers to learn from).  We are clearly killing it as parents when it comes to teaching our kids proper anatomy. 

Also, in the spirit of being 3 (a total big girl according to her), she has informed me that she doesn't need a nap (ever!) and that of course she's NOT tired. 

Usually accompanied by this face: 

And later I find this: 

And that's on a good day.  Most days we just end up with a tired, emotionally unstable toddler to deal with for the rest of the evening.

But really, what would our world be like without our sweet-and-spicy little Tessa?!

(even if she does act disappointed to see me at preschool pickup...she lets me know she was hoping for the babysitter this time)

She got this baby bed for her birthday and she's obsessed. She takes such good care of her sixteen little babies, and it is an absolute hoot to see all of them "sleeping" around the house. 

Also: #sisters

Who else would let you tote them around the house on your leashed pillow pet? 

Also, she unloads her entire bookshelf every night, and sleeps will all of her books.  Impossible to keep tidy, but also impossible not to love-

I just love that she is such a sophisticated eater....her new favorite lunch? Salad greens with fresh herbs,  kalamata olives and feta cheese crumbles.  truth.

The kids got to spend a fun-filled weekend with Graham-Graham!

And Mom and I got to steal away for a late night movie, too! 

After settling into the recliners, we quickly figured out that the top row in the cinema suites was not the ideal spot- 1/3 of the screen was totally cut off from view...we waited till the movie started and relocated to some other unoccupied seats, which was much better.  However, we both ended up falling asleep (obviously). At some point, mom's boot fell off and dropped off the end of her recliner, and the server nearly broke an ankle after tripping over it in the dark...at that point, we called it a night and left early.  #momlife #lotsoflaughs 

Ellie made some more sweet deliveries: 

Oh, this girl.  I have never known someone more free-spirited and creative. 

The messy wake she leaves behind her drives me crazy sometimes, but I'm always amazed at how her mind works.  Have you heard of her hidden talent for deciphering words when you spell them backwards?  If not, you should totally have her do it- it blows our mind every time!  

I literally have to hide my amazon delivery boxes because what we see as trash or recycling, she sees as treasure.  The other day, she spotted the cardboard box that I carried my Costco groceries home in, and scurried upstairs with it to make a little cave for her stuffed turtle.  Then she snagged a cloth storage cube I had marked to donate, and decided it was the missing piece for the elevator she was building to lift her stuffed bear up to her top bunk. LOL! And it actually worked- I was impressed :).  Last night, we were watching the CMA's, and I saw a lightbulb go off.  Before we knew it, she had fired up the glue gun and cut a piece of scrap cardboard into a guitar! With a little pick to go with it....

We loved our visit with Ann, or "Ms. Aunt" as the kids used to call her :) Our time together is always so sweet.  It's funny that this is the only picture I took, but it says it all.  In perfect Ann fashion, she's simultaneously playing Head's Up with Ellie and Will, eating breakfast, reading a book to Tessa, and carrying on a conversation with me, all while wearing a beautiful crown of flowers.  There's so much to love.

Caleb got to spend a little time with his "Kindness Kansas Citian" nominee :) We're so grateful that Patrick has made an impact in his life. A quote from Caleb's essay:

"Every day I walk out on the driveway and he smiles at me."

Proves that it's the little things that matter most :)

There's been a construction zone in our basement for the last few many months.  It's hilarious now, remembering Dan's words: "We'll have it done by Thanksgiving!"...and here we are, just past Easter, and still going! Here's a little sneak peek from several weeks back.  I can't wait to share the before and after pics :) Many thanks to my friend Erica Krzykowski (Prairie Home Design) for the beautiful design and support every step of the way, my hard-working man (who is up many  nights after I go to bed pounding away or painting), and our very own "Kindest Kansas Citian", Patrick, for all the man-hours and construction skills.  Fun pictures to come!!

Here is a pic of a rare occasion when I got to sneak out with my friend (and most favorite dance partner) Lindsey, for a double-date evening of dinner and jazz.  She just gets me.

Good news! The St. Patty's Day leprechaun remembered to make a visit again this year! The tradition of lucky charms and green milk continues...and William soaks up every bit of this "magic".  He's hopeful that his leprechaun trap will work next year, so we can finally meet the person behind these little tricks.

So, we finally did it.  We took the kids to DISNEY! Here are a few snapshots from our trip in March.  Fred and Sally were brave enough to join us, too, which was a total lifesaver, and a blast! I will say, I've had my fill of Disney magic for the next several years, but it really was all we hoped it would be. 

All ready to go! 

 She insisted:

 The flight:

 Gorgeous weather and lots of birds and flowers:

 Lots of pool time:

 Our character dinner with Cinderella, the step sisters, and the evil stepmother!

 Meeting Mickey and Minnie:

 Fred pushed this stroller over 7.5 miles daily....

 This is pretty much how they felt about the entire trip::

 And Dan and I felt the EXACT same way when we got a night out sans kids! :)

 The animal kingdom safari: (this was before Caleb dropped his hat in the swamp)

 Of course, we tried the famous Mickey Pancakes (these fit perfectly into our Disney diet of unlimited sugar and carbs):

 Amazing Lego creations:

So many fun memories :)

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Randomly, I found this little gem on my phone as I was going through pics for this post, apparently taken by Ellie or Caleb...

William is licking something off of the table at the restaurant, as I am blissfully unawares.

I do try hard with manners and general disease prevention, but. alas.

This discovery came on the heels of going way too long without a full night's sleep (hello, toddler needing snuggles / toddler throwing up three times / toddler falling out of bed / me staying up too late doing nothing important / me accidentally drinking caffeine at night....), and top that with a little blond-haired *someone* deciding to plug the upstairs bathroom sink and let the water run...and run...and run....(we have water spots on the downstairs ceiling to prove it).  So I sludged through the water, shut it off, heaved the sopping wet bathroom rugs (did not know they could be so heavy) to the washer, and readied myself for the next disaster.

I bet you'll never guess who thought that creating a wetland in our bathroom would be a good idea....

In light of all this, and a million other things,  I keep up the hard work of trying to find some quiet spaces in my week for prayer, mindfulness, and discovery. God has continued to be faithful in meeting me in the hectic and difficult places.  

In case anyone else feels at times overwhelmed & unworthy (me too!), or, like me, needs a little encouragement to keep up the hard work of discovering joy and meaning in the both ordinary and extraordinary story God is writing, I'll leave you with an excerpt by Rachel Hollis, that I've named "The Butterfly"

"Caterpillars are awesome.  They have all those legs and they're really cool, and there's an entire children's book series about how pretty they are. But if the caterpillar just chose to stay a caterpillar, if she decided that the chaos of metamorphosis was just too much for her to handle, she would never know what she could become. Do you think that change isn't painful? Do you think it's not scary, and hard, and overwhelming? Of course it is, but if she didn't fight against the fear, if she didn't allow the change to turn her into her true self, we would never know how beautiful she is.  She would never know that she is meant to fly."

So here's to doing the hard work of discovery, emerging victorious, and taking flight in the midst of the crazy. And to hopefully seeing some actual butterflies, because that means winter is gone for good, right??

Cheers!