So handsome

Dave worked from my parent's house due to an early morning breakfast meeting in the area.

The kids had a blast playing outside pretty much all day.

"Bat & Ball"

Release

Haha

Playing with water

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter. We celebrated Christ's resurrection at Manoa; Dave's church growing up. Lilia really enjoyed the worship.

We had wonderful day with both sides of the family. We passed the time outside playing game after game of ladderball. That was followed by me gorging myself on lots of delicious food. I love holiday food!

Not leaving her side

Lilia got this bag as a gift when she attended her best friend Hamilton's birthday party this past Saturday.

She has not let it leave her side since then. She brought it to Easter, to the park as well as packed her over night stuff when we slept over at my parent's last night.

It's so fun/sweet the things that kids get attached to.

An Easter Basketball

I gave Alex a basketball and he loves it. She bends down and dribbles. He puts his head up and shoots. It's great. He loves it. In fact he loved his basketball so much he brought it into church with him that morning.

Family Photo

Easter renewed

Lilia couldn't wait to dye Easter eggs. To be honest I love creating fun colors and patterns myself. Some things we just never grow out of.

Anyway, I came up with an Easter plan this year. Some of my favorite memories growing are coming down stairs to an Easter basket full of goodies and going on an Easter egg hunt at my Nannie and Poppop's house with all my cousins.

So here's the plan...Yesterday we talked about Jesus dying on the cross and we made a diorama in a shoebox of hills with Jesus' body on a cross. (The cross was made with sticks and the body was a silhouette cut out printed from an image online.)

We also made a shoebox diorama of Jesus' body in the tomb. Tomorrow morning the kids will come down to see the "tomb" empty. Then they will go on an egg hunt that will eventually lead them to their Easter baskets and Jesus' resurrected body; "Jesus is alive!"

I'm excited to keep the fun worldly traditions that I grew up with, but incorporate the heart and meaning behind it all.

Photo shoot

Favorites

This was dinner on the porch on Wednesday when the weather was too nice to be inside. Alex ate next to "stinky bear" with his new Phillies t-shirt on. His Nan was teaching him how to throw a pitch; leg up and everything. He was pretty decent at mimicking.

Quote of the day

Lilia was telling us something and emphatically using her hands. I asked her, "Who taught you to use your hands like that?"

Her response, "The Bible."

Feel the love

I had a "welcome home" moment today driving back into Philly.

I was out at my parent's house since Tuesday. Me and the kids drove back in today. We were on Belmont Road near Fairmount Park. The light turned yellow and I slammed on my brakes to stop for it. Since I had to hit the brakes to slow down so quickly I stopped the car in the cross walk; not on purpose of course.

Well this women on a bike gave me a mean look and said, "Come on, really?"

My window was down a little so I shouted back at her, "I had to slam on my brakes to stop. Give me some grace lady!"

I turned to the kids in the back seat and said, "Were home! Can you feel the love?"

The "Gang"

Alex 18 mo, Leo Haferbecker turns 3 in July, Lilia 4 yrs old.

Play time

I brought the shopping cart up from the basement. You know the, "rotate the toys" trick. The bunny coach is my mom's, an antique. She let Lilia use it because she was having so much fun with it at her house. The kids were having so much fun together I had to get out the camera and capture the moment.

"Pause!"

When Lilia watches TV she will often say out loud, "pause," then proceed to turn the TV off and run to the bathroom. She will then run back and turn the TV on again. She has taken her understanding of watching movies and translated it into other things.

At preschool on Tuesday, Miss Cathy was reading to the class. Lilia was really into the book, but she had to go to the bathroom. She said to Miss Cathy, "pause," then proceeded to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately Miss Cathy did not pause and the story continued.

Hands in the soil

Early Sunday morning (our church is at night) Lilia and I headed to Lowe's to pick out flowers. She loved it. We got a huge flat of delphiniums, 0.99 cent petunias, 2 flowering perennials, a hydranga bush, lettuce leaves and a tomato plant. Oh and of course organic soil for the vegetables.

We got our hands dirty. I never like wearing gloves, but then of course my hands were stained for days.

I love gardening so much. The kids love it too. In fact when we were done Lilia cried because she wanted to do more planting.

Trampling through the garden bare foot.

He kept pointing at the dirt on his toe. He didn't like it there.

The finished product

Here it is! The flowers, the new black door (formerly white) and our potted vegetables. I'm so in love with our garden. It's so pretty and it always makes me smile just to look at it. I love going out everyday and weeding and just admiring it! I hope in Heaven gardening is my full-time job.

Prayer walk on campus

Yesterday Dave and I organized a prayer walk on campus. We walked around with our co-worker Courtney, Dave's parents, Amanda Hood from Storehouse Church, Tom Dewson whom Dave discipled at West Chester & Roger who works with Intervarsity with international students.

We divided up men & women. Here we are at the pond on campus.

Katie & Alex

This our favorite place to go on Penn's campus. It's tucked away from sight and easy to miss. We call it the "Big Pond" from the TV show, Dinosaur Train. They have turtles and coy fish.

Grammy & Lilia

Grammy & Alex

My mother-in-law and Alex playing in some water on the rock.

Always a surprise

There is always a surprise in Philly. We were eating in Bobby's Burger Place (Bobby Flay) for lunch and these characters walked by. I grabbed Lilia and ran out the door to see them. The kids looked on longingly, but they were too timid to stand with them for a picture. I've never once seen Lilia's face so excited as when she saw Mickey & Minnie Mouse. "It's like a parade," she commented.

Headed to the zoo with friends

Our dear friends came up to visit. It was so wonderful to see them again. They left for Georgia only weeks before our plane landed from living overseas. It was so sad to have missed them for so long.

Seeing them yesterday was wonderful! It felt like no time passed at all. This is a picture of Eli Webb, now 3 years old, Michael & Julia's son. Lilia and Eli played so well together at our house. One great thing they had in common was their minimal attention span at the zoo. We would stand at an animal display for about 30 seconds to 1 minute before either Eli or Lilia was shouting to see the next one.

Eli & Lilia

Alex

Flamingos

What a perfect animal to take pictures of. They are shaped so elegantly and it's easy to make it artful with just a click and a crop.

Flamingos

Bawll

A conversation with Alex went like this:

SETTING: I was holding him at and we were looking out the back door.

Katie: "What do you think it's like outside today?" (referring to the weather)

Alex: "Bawll" (translation: ball)

Katie: "You think it's ball outside today?"

Alex: "Yeah."

Fun times as siblings

Alex & Lilia play together so well anymore it's wonderful. They are so adorable together. They chase, they laugh, they sit, they go up to Lilia's room and just play. I am really enjoying this age. (Lilia just turned 4, Alex is turning 18 mo. on the 12th.)

Letters

Lilia is really interested in learning her letters. She watches a great TV show most mornings called Super Why. It's so educational that it is putting schools out of a job. (Kidding.)

Dave stopped at B&N today and picked up this book for Lilia. It's put out by Brain Quest and you trace each letter of the alphabet plus other fun stuff. She loved it. The marker has an eraser on the other end so she can redo the letters. She enjoyed it so much she went through each letter.

Overload

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a fairly normal American like most others in this country, but this...this is over the top wrong! It's Denny's (does anybody still eat there) new dessert called the Maple Bacon Sundae.

I like bacon. I like it crumbled in salads, I love it with pancakes or eggs and I love BLT's. But bacon, on ice cream? Come on America, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!!?

Bookshelves

I saw these on a blog I follow. Seriously cool ideas. These are my 2 favorites of the many posted. And I bet my mom is already coming up with design/decorating ideas when she saw the kids room picture!

Bliss

A blissful weekend is ahead! The kids are with my parents for the entire weekend. My mom offered to have them and I was quick to say, "Yes, thank you!"

Dave and I just got back from shopping at Suburban Square along with an extended time with God at Starbucks reading our Bibles, books and journaling. We took a random way home and we could without worrying if Alex would start to get antsy and cry.

I am currently anticipating a mouth-watering home made gourmet pizza of pesto base with steamed broccoli, sauteed onions and artichokes. Following that I will delightfully watch Inception with my husband and sleep in until I feel like getting up!

Oh and tomorrow, an amazing breakfast of jam-filled french toast, a local clean-up and then lunch with my brother and sister-in-law. Dave has his 1st ultimate frisbee game and 4 and then we are free to do whatever we feel like.

What a glorious weekend!!!!!!!!