Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone! Our Easter fun started on Saturday when we returned from our Easter vacation at the Cranberry Country Lodge. Abby & Carter were anxious to get those eggs colored! We started cooking them as soon as we returned home, and the kids had them colored in no time at all.

I wasn't able to get pictures of the kids coloring the eggs since Bradley wanted to take part in the coloring too. I had my hands full keeping his little hands out of all the color dyes! Abby & Carter were very proud of their eggs and wanted to show everyone.
Easter morning.....we had an enjoyable Easter morning. The boys slept in as it was a busy weekend for us. Once they woke up, they were ready to find the eggs that the Easter bunny hid around the house. Carter was very determined to find all of the eggs, as Bradley found a few here and there. They also found their Easter baskets.

Bradley thought the Easter egg hunt was pretty fun.....

The boys' Easter baskets had some fun outdoor toys in them for when it warms up. A favorite of theirs' was the water squiter, which they decided to use as a sword. We have to remind them that the sword fighting might break their toy, and then they won't have it to play with outside.

The Easter bunny was good to Carter this year, as he also received a pair of roller blades (skates). Now maybe he will stop wearing mine around the house.....

After our fun Easter morning together, we headed to church. From there, we headed South to Independence to visit Grandma Deb & Grandpa Ken. The boys had fun playing at their house and really enjoyed the rabbit that Grandpa Ken caught. I was able to squeeze in a visit to "Meme & Grandpa's" house. Everybody is doing well, which is always good news! It makes for a nice Easter. We hope you all enjoyed your day as we celebrate Easter to remember what Jesus did for us, and how much He loves us. Because Jesus gave His life for us, and rose again, we can live again, too.

Cranberry Country Lodge

We traveled to Tomah this weekend and enjoyed some relaxation and swimming. It was the perfect weekend for an indoor waterpark as there was a snowstorm going on outside our lodge. Abby joined us this weekend and the boys sure did have fun with her! The kids were getting impatient as we waited for Chad to get home on Thursday so we could leave for our get-away. We came home Saturday afternoon as the kids were anxious to color some Easter eggs. Here are some pictures of our exciting weekend....

Carter & Abby camped out on the futon in the living room. They had some late nights telling stories and giggling. They decorated their sleeping area with a variety of stuffed animals.

It wouldn't be a vacation without a pillow fight......

The kids decided to bring along some Easter eggs and hide them around our room. I'm not sure if they had more fun hiding the eggs or swimming! Their schedule went something like this......swimming, hiding Easter eggs, swimming, hiding Easter eggs, swimming, hiding Easter eggs. Oh yes, and then an occasional hide-n-seek game and Candy Land game.I just had to take this picture of Carter helping his little brother down the steps. Usually Carter & Abby were a mile in front of us. I don't see this too often, so I had to get it on camera.
The waterpark has a nice kiddy area that all the kids enjoyed. This was Bradley's favorite part in the waterpark. The waterpark also had two bigger waterslides (that Carter & Abby enjoyed), a large whirlpool, and a swimming pool with basketball hoops and a volleyball net.

Bradley, Abby & Carter..............

Abby under the waterfall. "What's up?"..............

Carter on top of the waterslide in the kiddy pool area. Abby & Carter liked the waterslides so much that their skin was red and itchy when it was all done. I had to get out the baby powder to help with their sore bodies.

I think Bradley enjoyed the waterpark the most. He did not want to leave each time. Chad or I stayed longer with him in the waterpark until he was ready to leave. Once he realized that Abby wasn't in the pool anymore, then he was ready to go up to our room. I don't know how many times he said, "Where's Abby?"...

Everyone enjoying the nice, warm whirlpool (as it was snowing outside!)....

Bradley trying to tip Abby's "car" over......
Bradley succeeded at tipping Abby's car over (maybe with a little help from Abby)....

Abby and I decided that we had to save the best picture for last. This was Abby imitating Uncle Chad's little dance that he did for us. We sure did get a kick out of this!

We had a great time on our Easter break! The boys are still talking about how much fun they had with Abby. In fact, Bradley is still asking, "Where's Abby?". It was the first thing he asked this morning when he woke up. Thank you Abby for joining us on our little vacation.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

Happy 15th Birthday Austin!

Our nephew, little Austin Craig, is 15 years old on March 14!! Where did the time go? We sure enjoy watching him grow up. It was an exciting day for me when Austin was born as I took on a new family role as "Auntie". It is fun to think back of all the memories in the last 15 years with Austin. It is very entertaining to watch Austin play his sports as he is quite an athlete. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures that we have of Austin (I didn't have my digital camera back-in-the-day when Austin was little).............
Austin's first experience of snow boarding at the Baecker's for Christmas in 2004..... Big Cousin Austin came to see little Bradley in the hospital when he was born, 2005.......

Cousins hanging out at Grandma Deb and Grandpa Ken's house for Carter's 5th birthday (2006). Here they are being the silly Klimie cousins with Bradley.......

Austin & Bradley on a wagon ride at the Rice Lake Pumpkin Patch (2006). Love the Barney hat......

This looks like a nice bunny to take home! Austin at the Pumpkin Patch.....

Here we are again for our group picture at the Rice Lake Pumpkin Patch in 2007......

These are some pictures that Shana sent me over the years. Here the Klimek's are at one of the Vikings games....

Hunterman Austin gets a nice looking turkey........

Austin is showing us his good hunting skills back in 2004......

We are very proud of you Austin! Carter & Bradley look up to you and they love hanging out with the Klimie cousins. Your athletic skill is amazing and it is very entertaining watching you play sports. Happy Birthday! We love you!!

Weekend Away....

Carter and I went on a mini-vacation to West Bend to visit our good friends, Kirsten & Brian. We finally met their newest member of the family, little Ava, who is already 5 months old. It was fun being in a house with three little girls...Brenna (5), Gracie (2), and Ava (5 months). Carter and the girls got along great, and had so much fun together. I hope you enjoy the pictures of our fun-filled weekend!

The weekend started with Thursday night....I had parent-teacher conferences at Pepin. Grandma Deb & Grandpa Ken came to help out with the boys as we didn't have daycare. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!! That evening, Tara & Autumn picked up the boys as Chad was on the road, and they hung out together until I was done with work. Thanks Tara & Autumn!! Carter and I started our adventure Friday afternoon, as I had early dismissal at Pepin. We arrived in West Bend around 7:30 Friday night.
Here's the group...Ava, Carter, Brenna & Gracie.....
I have known Kirsten for 12 years now. We met our first year at UW-Stout and became college roommates after that. We remained close friends after we graduated and take turns traveling to visit each other. Carter took some pictures of us...

We haven't had pictures taken of us in a long time. We spent the entire weekend talking and catching up on our lives. There is never a dull moment when we get together........a lot of reminiscing.

It was fun hanging out with Carter over the weekend. Bradley spent some one-on-one time with his favorite person......his daddy!

Here is little Ava. When I say little, I mean little.....only 12 pounds.

Carter just adored little Ava....he could hold her and carry her around with no problems. The kids were like "mother hens" with her. Cute.....

Kirsten took a break from teaching to raise her three little girls. She also does daycare out of her home. You can imagine how much Carter loves the MANY toys in their basement. We hardly saw Carter as he was busy playing with all the toys! On the way over, Carter asked...."does Kirsten still have the little house?" Here is a picture of Carter in his favorite thing at Kirsten's house....

Brian & Kirsten have a loft in their house that looks down to the living room. The kids found all of the pillows in the house and had a great time throwing them down to the living room. They ended the day by jumping in the pile of pillows!

Kirsten picked up some arts and crafts for the kids to do during the day. Here the kids are making fun crafts with foods for a snack. They made catepillars with grapes and skewers (once Kirsten found the skewers...ha/ha). They also made sandwich faces with crackers, peanut butter and M&M's.

Here is one of Carter's creations.......

Brenna's beautiful artwork.....

The kids also did some painting. We found cute little piggy banks (at my favorite place.....Dollar Tree) that the kids could paint.

Here is Gracie as she is painting her little purse piggy bank.

Carter picked out a boat to paint....

The kids were very proud of their paint work. Brenna painted a butterfly.......

On Saturday, we took a trip to Milwaukee and let the kids play at the Children's Museum. This was great fun for the kids........and adults!!

Here is Carter changing a tire at the Children's Museum. His dad would be so proud.......

Kirsten and Brenna are hoping to visit the Durand area sometime in May. Even though we missed Dad & Bradley, we sure did enjoy our weekend with the Schulz's. Brenna, Kirsten, Brian, Gracie & Ava.

Durand Wrestling Tournament

Carter wrestled his last tournament for the season at the Durand Wrestling Tournament. He has one practice left this year,and then the wrestling pizza party to end the season. There are a couple more tournaments this month, but Carter only wrestles the Mondovi & Durand tournaments. To end the season, he had some pretty tough competition. He hung in there the best he could so that he wouldn't get pinned. Unfortunately, he lost his last match with a pin. We are very proud of his good sportsmanship! We always remind Carter to "just have fun" and this is exactly what he did. I think this is a positive experience for him.

Carter was happy to see the cheering section for him. His fans that came to watch him include: Grandma & Grandpa Dorwin, Grandma & Grandpa Klimek, Uncle Jamie, Auntie Shana, Austin, Andrew, Abby, Uncle Todd, Auntie Missy, Dylan, Paige & Cruz. Thanks everyone for coming to watch Carter wrestle!
**Thanks to Uncle Jamie for "coaching" Carter!!

Here he is, all ready to...."wrestle"

Enjoying my time selling tickets. Chad ended up coming to help sell tickets with me as the girl that I was signed up with was sick.

Carter taking a lovely picture of himself. He is known for taking close-ups.

Grandma Deb & Grandpa Ken with Carter and his 4th place trophy. As always, the trophy is Carter's highlight of the day!

Grandma LaNita & Grandpa Bill with Carter.

Way to go Carter.....you did great!