Lester Easter

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter with Scott's family at our house. 4 grandkids under the age of 5 makes for a very busy afternoon! We grilled out for lunch and Grammy & Papa put together an Easter egg hunt for the kids. A little bit cooler day but the kids didn't care, they still enjoyed playing outside.


Ella


Trey & Annie

Ella & Lori

Mike w/ Trey & Ella

Strang Easter

We celebrated Easter on the farm last Saturday. What a beautiful day! This was Annie's first "official" Easter egg hunt and it took her awhile to figure out what was going on. She had more fun running around without anyone trying to stop her. The kids took golf cart rides, played on the tire swing and ran around with Grandpa & Grandma's new dog, Benny.


Ahh....soak in that sun.


Rachel & Benny

Katie, Jena & Rachel

Grandma let her sneak some bunny cake

Happy Easter...and Spring!

The Easter Bunny came early this year to the Lester house. Thank you Aunt Sarah for the awesome Betty Jane Easter baskets for the girls! As soon as we pulled up to the house yesterday and saw there was a box waiting by the front door, Rachel said " I bet Aunt Sarah sent us something for Easter!!!" Rachel was so excited when she saw the basket and we had to call Sarah right away and thank her. After loading both kids up on sugar I decided to take Annie for a haircut, prob not the best idea. She was a good girl and sat in the chair but she was looking ALL over the place. Thankfully the lady who cut her hair was very patient and quick and she did a great job.

We are leaving for Cascade tonight and we will have Easter at the farm tomorrow and then back in CR on Sunday to have Easter with Scott's family. I'm looking forward to spending some time outside this weekend for easter egg hunts and eating tons and tons of food! Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!


Trying to sit them both down for a pic, nearly
impossible anymore. Plus, Annie REALLY
wanted that candy!


Things start to get violent.


GIVE ME CANDY!!!!


Taking a closer look.


Annie picked a piece of candy that was almost
as large as her head.

So, after a few people asking me WHY I haven't updated our blog lately I decided I better sit down and update all of you on what's going on with us. Rachel was on spring break last week and she enjoyed a few days at the farm with Grandma & Grandpa Strang. She spent one day at home and Grammy & Papa Lester came down on Friday to stay with both her and Annie. She enjoyed being spoiled all week so I'm sure tomorrow morning will be a little rough.

We took a trip to Chicago earlier this month with Scott's family to see Great-Grandma Lester. It has been a few years since Rachel has seen her and Annie has never met her. Rachel instantly warmed up to her and enjoyed showing off her breakdancing skills, and so did her cousin Trey. The kids enjoyed swimming at the hotel and both of them were awesome during the long car ride. Hopefully we can get back there this summer for another visit and maybe spend an extra night or two and take in some museums.

We enjoyed a few warm days over the month and now we are waiting for the last round of snow to melt so we can start to think SPRING again. Rachel is anxious to start hunting bugs again and Annie is anxious to run right for the street. Which brings us to our next project...Annie-proofing our back deck. The spindles on our deck are too far apart and Annie could easily squeeze through them. We are going to put extra spindles in to make it safe for her to play on this summer. Think of it as a super large outdoor playpen. Hopefully we will finish this project by the end of April so she can enjoy it and we can breathe a little easier the next time she goes outside.

I've been horrible at taking pics lately. Thankfully Lori sent us a few from Chicago but I have no recent pics of Rachel, just a few of Annie. I do have a picture that Rachel recently did of a kitty and it is one of my favorites.



Annie has a new love, headbands.



Such a little artist.


Rachel and Great-Grandma Lester


All the grandkids with Grandpa Bill and his
sisters. Diane, Dorothy & Helen. Notice Rachel
posing like a dog for this photo. Nice.


Let the dance party begin.

Thankfully Papa has a big enough lap for both

Annie and Ella.

Ok, it's been awhile....so sorry! Seems like I have so little free time and the free time I have is spent doing something else, so it's not really free anymore!! Most of the snow that I posted last time is now gone, thanks to the warm temps the last few days. It was back down in the 30's today. I guess Mother Nature wanted to remind us that it's not spring YET. I enjoyed the 60+ temps yesterday by walking around downtown over my lunch and hose out the garage. I couldn't stand all that sand and salt in the house and it was perfect day to clean it out. Sounds like we are supposed to get a few more inches of snow this weekend so I doubt it will stay clean for very long.

Rachel is doing a great job with her Jolly Phonics program at school and I'm amazed at the words she can sound out and read now. We are looking forward to conferences at the end of the month so we talk to her teacher and track her progress. She is anxiously waiting for the snow to melt and the ground to dry out so she can go the park again.

Annie is still on the move and shows no sign of slowing down. She's eats like horse and yet we are all amazed at how tiny she stays. The minute we get home from daycare she goes right to her booster seat and waits for a snack. She'll eat again at dinner time and then she'll snack on whatever Scott and I eat while watching TV. We realized that if WE are eating, Annie IS eating. We also have her back to sleeping 9-10 hours a night. She was in a habit if waking up and getting into bed with us and we had to put an end to that. After about 7 nights of screaming and crying, she finally realized that she can fall back asleep on her own. Wheew. Of course now we have to work on slowly weaning her off her beloved Binkie .....not an easy battle!

I spent the weekend in Galena with my girlfriends two weeks ago. We enoyed shopping, eating and drinking...and maybe a little bit too much of each. But we had a great time and it was nice to get away for a few days. I also starting working out after that trip, as in EXERCISE. I've been saying for months that I need to get off my behind and do something. My friend Shelly convinced me that if we joined a gym together we would be more successful. And she was right. I can honestly say I really enjoy it and I actually look forward to it! I feel guilty being away from the girls three nights a week but I know it's good for me and in the long run, good for them too. My goal is to run a 5K this summer. It doesn't sound like much but for someone who hasn't ran a mile since high school, it's huge.

Looking foward to Valentines dinner on Saturday at the Ced-Rel with all of our friends on Hamer Drive. My parents are coming down on Sunday to work on our "to-do" list!

Happy Birthday Phil & Sarah!


Ruby, in her most favorite place to sleep at night.


No comment.


Mary, Amy and I at the Irish Cottage.

Happy 2009

So, it's almost the end of January and I'm just getting around to wishing everyone a Happy New Year. We've been busy and my blog is suffering. It's hard for me to sum up the past few weeks so I'll just post some recent pics of the girls instead. Again, Happy New Year!!!


Just an idea of HOW much snow we have
here. Ugh. I'm so done with it.


I leave Annie alone at the drawing desk for like
5 seconds and this is what I come back to.
I still don't know how she managed to do this
without falling on her face. Pure talent and no
fear is my guess.


Trying on mom's slippers


Sam & Rachel's first official sleepover.



Just wanted to remind myself of what IS
coming in a few months.

Christmas - Part 1

Ahh, back to work, back to regular nap schedules, back to chaos in the morning...great. We REALLY enjoyed our time off over the holidays. We slept in (when Annie cooperated), spent a large number of days in our PJ's and spent some much needed time together as a family.

We enjoyed Christmas three times this year w/ the Strangs, Lesters and ourselves. We spent the weekend after Christmas in Cascade with my family. My cousin and her boyfriend were home from San Diego so we were anxious to get back and spend time with them.

We spent Saturday opening gifts, eating LOTS of food and playing Wii. My neice and nephew got a Wii for Christmas and they brought it out to the farm so we could all play. Even Grandpa learned to bowl. I don't like to brag, but I did bowl a 267 and mangaged to beat my brother, husband and brother-in-law in that game. I totally rule.

Thanks to mom and dad for letting us stay a few extra days and especially for feeding us, not an easy job considering how much Annie eats in a day!

Grandpa doing what he does best.

Annie doing what she does best....sometimes.

Rachel playing Wii bowling

Scott's festive, and scary, holiday sweater.

Rachel's favorite...puzzles. Thankfully Grandma was

around to help.

Chritmas - Part 2

Our 2nd Christmas was our time at home. We woke up early Christmas morning and watched the girls open gifts. While Rachel was busy opening presents, Annie was busy eating a cookie that Santa left behind. She sat, by herself, for about 10 min eating that cookie. Nothing comes between her and food, especially food with chocolate chips in it!

Annie and her cookie

Reading the letter from Santa.

Santa even remembered Ruby, a new cat bed.

Christmas - Part 3

Our first Christmas was with the Lester family, the weekend before Christmas. We had it at our house and everyone arrived early so we could eat some breakfast and open presents. Unfortunatly the weather didn't cooperate with our plans so everyone had to go back home by mid-afternoon.

After we opended presents and attempted to clean-up the basement, Grammy and Papa put on an Christmas concert for us. Lori asked that they please bring their guitar and flute and sing songs for the kids, a tradition when Scott and Lori were younger. The grandkids LOVED it so it looks like we can carry on the tradition with our kids.


Encore Encore





Annie was fascinated

Rachel's gift, wrapped just for her by Papa

Papa w/ Ella & Annie

Annie and the bows she stole, I see a hint of guilt in those eyes.

Scott & Rachel took advantage of the snow and went sledding.