Morton Arboretum

On Friday, I took Jack and my niece, Margaret, to the Morton Arboretum. Since it was Arbor Day, it was free admission. Friday's weather was picture perfect--sunny and in the low 80s. There were millions of people there and I had a hard time keeping track of Jack. Thank goodness for Margaret's help!! Remind me next time to skip the free days and pay the admission price so I can visit the Arboretum without the rest of the city of Chicago!!!

Margaret and Jack

Jack

There are not too many pictures because we didn't stay too long--maybe an hour at most.

He is Risen! Easter Day Fun!

Jack now has two bears he calls Bella and he carries them everywhere!

What a beautiful day to celebrate our Lord's rising! We celebrated Easter at my mom and dad's with all my siblings and their children. It was such a nice spring day and Jack and his cousins were able to play outside. The kids found Easter eggs in the morning after discovering their baskets of candy and toys. We went to church and we even had an Easter egg hunt outside. The kids loved the jelly beans in the eggs and the money was a big hit too! We had Easter dinner at my mom's which is turning into a large crowd! Aside from my three siblings and their spouses, there are 7 grandchildren with 5 more on the way to be here before Halloween! It is nice when everyone is able to spend time together for holidays because we all live in different states. The cousins get along so well and it is nice to see them play together. These are times to cherish and memories we will have forever.

Jack and John were able to spend some time with Jack's other grandparents, Mimi and Papa, on Saturday afternoon while I was at my sister's baby shower. Jack loved his marshmallow peeps and golf balls and other candy in his basket from them. John was teaching him to swing the golf club on Sunday afternoon. Maybe we'll see him in the Masters someday?

Jack's Easter Basket

Waking up on Easter morning. Jack loved his new toys and the candy was great!

Jack found Easter eggs with his cousins. He was the youngest, so we had to push him along and hold the others back. Wait until next year Jack, there will be younger children!

Before church, Braden and Jack pose together

Jack and me before Church

Dad and Jack

Grandmom and Granddad and Jack

Easter egg hunt outside

After such a busy weekend, we left for home Sunday night. Jack was exhausted! He was asleep two minutes into the car ride and didn't wake up until we pulled into our driveway 3 hours later. When John carried him inside, he told us he wanted to go to bed. So our little guy slept from 5pm last night to 7am today. You have to know Jack to realize this is a rare occurrence. He is NOT the best napper or sleeper. I guess all the weekend activities wore him out!!

Sarah's Shower

We made it into Fort Wayne for Easter weekend, filled with many, many things to do! On Saturday morning we had a baby shower for my younger sister who is expecting her first baby late July. She and her husband flew in from Texas. It was nice to visit with them and see many of my aunts and cousins at the shower. Of course, my mother went all out on the shower, probably because it is her "baby" and last shower she will have to host for her girls!

The basement of my mom's house--all ready for the guests!

There were quite a few people there to celebrate with Sarah!One of the diaper cakes and some of the food at the shower

America's Favorite Pastime

Baseball is back!! I love this time of year. Today is opening day at Fenway!! Go Sox!! Actually the game today was rained out. But there is always tomorrow!! GO SOX!!

End of the First Trimester

I had another appointment today. There really isn't too much to report. The doctor used the Doppler to hear each of the babies heartbeats. Two were really distinct. One was behind the other two so the heartbeat was faint. They were beating in the 150s and 160s. Other than that, I measured fine and my blood pressure was great. I won't go back for 5 weeks. I made my next appointment for Monday, May 11. This is the same day as our ultrasound. Hopefully we will know the genders after this appointment. (Get your guesses in now!) The doctor today mentioned that we will probably get ultrasounds done every 2-3 weeks starting around 18-20 weeks so they can start to measure the babies individually. I can't believe it is the end of the first trimester. These babies will be here before we know it!

PS Happy Birthday to my little sister. Can't wait to see you and John this weekend!!

Easter Eggs

We colored Easter eggs on Sunday. This was the first year that Jack really enjoyed to 'help'. His favorite thing to do was plop the eggs in the cups. He really liked to see the eggs when we took them out. He was amazed how they changed colors! He also enjoyed the stickers. Our eggs have SO many stickers on them. I think we used up the entire sheet of stickers, so we had to stop! He cracked open one of the eggs and tried to eat it, however, it was mixed with shell so he didn't like it.

Getting ready. Jack didn't know what we were doing yet exactly.

The cracked eggThe endless supply of stickers were finally used up!

Szczepanski's Come Visit

This past Friday and Saturday my brother and his family came to visit us. My sister-in-law, Ryann, and I had fun taking the kids to the Dupage Children's Museum on Friday.

Emily, Jack and Thomas

EmilyJackThomas, Emily and Jack play at the water table

(Kevin and Ryann are in the background)

We ate pizza on Friday night and had fun shopping for Ryann's new baby, due in May! They left on Saturday afternoon. Jack had fun playing with his cousins and can't wait to see them this weekend!