a blessed april...

beautiful Easter decoration W made in Kindergarten 

(needed a photo before we took it down from the window!)

We were really hoping after coming home from Spring Break that spring might truly come to this wintry area of ours, but it was not the case.  We had 2 more major snowfalls, one of the worst winter driving experiences (on April 18 for pete's sake) for me going to get G from school (thanks to Mrs. L for watching the boys so I didn't have to have them in the car too!) and one more snowday!

April was a big financial month for us.  Taxes came due again and once again we made the deadline, but not by much.  The refinancing of our house was almost complete, and we registered the kids for another year of school at Calvin.

April 21 was GEMS Sunday and Aahma and Boppa R came up for it.  They spent the weekend and we had such a nice visit with them.

 Reading books with Boppa is always a favorite activity.  And now W reads books to Boppa too!

 

G made Rice Krispie bars with Aahma for GEMS Sunday almost all by herself.  This was nostalgic for me as this was one of the first recipes that Mom taught me how to make when I was G's age and that I could do all by myself since it used just the microwave.

 

 Not wanting to be left out, the boys wanted to bake with Aahma too!  So they helped her make some brownies as a treat for us.

The R side of our family always does a NCAA tourney bracket pool in March for all the March Madness.  I probably haven't mentioned it much since I NEVER do well!  This year, we added a prize for the worst bracket too, and while I thought I was going to win it for a while, C did instead!  The prize was going to be a basketball (tongue in cheek!), but since they knew he was going to play soccer this summer they
brought him that instead.  For the 3rd child who doesn't get much new, he was SO excited about this ball.  G placed 2nd and received $10 cash.  Boppa gave her 2 fives and we were proud to see her put one of the fives in her bank and give the other to Feed My Starving Children, which they were taking a collection for at GEMS.  

C & H are really starting to have fun together on the days when both W and G are at school.  It is fun to see this relationship develop!  One of their favorite things to do lately is play the piano together.  (Momma's ears just love this some days...)

H continues to develop a love for music and was fascinated with S's guitar when he was playing one night.  We are so thankful for the love of music in this household!