Ella's Spring Choir Concert!

At the end of April, Ella's choir had their Spring Concert! They actually had 2 concerts on back to back days. They did this to accommodate more people, but they aren't going to do that for the Christmas Concert. It is just too much for the everyone involved to do this big of a performance twice in row! They do live stream the concert so anyone can actually watch it.  

There are over 100 kids in the choir ranging from 4 - 18 years old. 

Mrs. Mangle is the director and she does such an amazing job with the kids. You would think with over 100 kids on stage it would be absolute chaos, but it's not! The kids are well behaved kids, but still she knows how to lovingly and patiently work with them especially the little ones She's such a blessing! 

I didn't know where Ella was going to be standing since they had the parents leave the sanctuary during rehearsal. I just quickly found seats and then left. Unfortunately I got seats on the right side and she was standing on the far right turned to the right a bit so she could face Mrs. Mangle. Ella sang in two of the choirs in the spring...Cantate 1 which is for kids up to 13 years old and also Cantate 2 which is for kids 12 and up. When she was singing with Cantate 1 it was harder to see her, but once she was with Cantate 2 she moved out a bit and we were able to see her better. 

Papa & Ruth and Ga-Ga & Pa came out to support there Ella Bean! Of course Michael and the boys were there too, but they rushed out afterwards since we came in separate vehicles. 

June and Ella have become such good friends this year. June is such a sweetheart...almost every Friday at choir practice she was bringing Ella another new piece of jewelry she made her. 

The spring concert is always so hard because the kids know they aren't going to get to see each other every Friday again until after summer break. Because of that Ella wanted to hang around afterwards. They have a little reception in the basement of the church with refreshments. It was fun to chat with other mom's and for Ella to get friend time. We are of course able to see friends during the summer, but it's not the same as seeing each other every single Friday week after week.

The Tulip Festival!

On Wednesday, April 19th, Lynette & Becci, Ella & I visited the Tulips Festival in Mount Vernon. In all my over 35+ years of living in the PNW I have never once gone. It was definitely something on my To Do List, but I had just never gotten around to it. 

We went to Roozengaarde which is a pretty popular place to go. The day before I mentioned on FB that we were going up to the Tulip Festival and my FIL called me to tell me about their experience. It was good to have insider information. :) 

Even though we are bundled up here the weather was honestly perfect. A little chilly and a little breezy, but thankfully not rainy! 

After getting our picture taken at the windmill we walked over to this pretty garden area. The tulips were planted in clumps of colors. I didn't even know there were that many different kinds of tulips. 

Love that burst of red! 

I wasn't expecting to see different flowers, but these pretty purply blue flowers were gorgeous. I was talking with Ella and I said...."Oh how cool they planted those blue ones to look like a river running through the garden." This lady next to me stopped and had this stunned look on her face. She looked at me and said..."I've been coming here for years and I've never noticed that!"

They also had some fun shapes made out of tulips. 

I thought this one looked like a pinwheel, but I was informed it was in fact a compass. 

I spot a pretty girl!!! 

I loved this cute mini replica of the bigger windmill! 

Big & Mini! 

I really loved these Dynasty Triumph Tulips.

But I think my favorite were the Spryng Break Triumph ones! 

You can really see the flower river here! I love how it curves like water would! 

Then we headed over to the fields. There were still a bunch of rows that weren't in bloom yet, but there were also tons that were. Lynette did say that the fields aren't anything like they use to be. There used to be way more! 

Such a fun outing with my girly! 

The color was so pretty and it was made even better because the sun came out! 

It really was a perfect weather day! 

Color for as far as you can see! 

Love that homeschool makes it possible so we can come do these things during the week instead of coming on the busy weekend. 

To me red tulips are what come to mind when I think of tulips! 

But I'm definitely more partial to the two-toned tulips! 

Michael prefers Daffodils so I had to go take pictures with those. They plant the Daffodils next to the road in hopes that people won't just pullover and take pictures of the tulips and not pay the entrance fee. 

After going in the little shop they have there, we got some pictures in front of this colorful wall. 

It was such a fun time with friends! Once we left we tried to eat lunch at the Calico Cupboard Bakery, but so did everyone else so we ended up going to this cute place called The Lunchbox Diner. It was decorated with old lunchboxes. The food was really yummy too! After that it was time to head out so we could get back in time for Becci to pick up her boys from school! 

Easter Adventure & Easter Sunday

Scott, Jenny and I headed up the Easter Adventure at church again this year on Saturday, April 8th. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but that was because we were having such a fun time. 

We did get a picture in front of the Bunny Booth though. This year we changed a few things to make the flow of the event work better. One of those was moving the Bunny Booth toward the exit instead of the entry. It really worked out well. 

All the volunteers gathered together in the lobby to pray over the event. 

There is no way this event could be what it is without all these lovely people. They are so committed to serving our community! One of the coolest things we added this year was a prayer table where people could come over and ask for prayer. I saw numerous people throughout the event getting prayed for. It was awesome! 

Brenda is always my "go to gal" for being the Bunny Bouncer. She's the one that hangs out with the Bunny and makes sure that the Bunny gets a break and then she brings in a relief Bunny. It can be a "hary" job, but somebody's gotta do it. FYI...I'm pretty sure that's Jack in the Bunny suit!

The next day was Easter Sunday at Ga-Ga & Pa's

The normal crew was able to join us for the celebration. The Martin, Kuch & Oliver kids! 

Love these goofy kiddos! 

Look at these handsome older boys!!! 

And these sweet younger dudes!!! 

And these beautiful young ladies! 

The beautiful table setting! 

Pa filling up the glasses with sparkling cider!  

Since the kids can't fit at the big table with all us adults we have them go through and get their food first. 

Pa has a special table set up in the family room for the girls. The boys sit at the pub table which is in the breakfast nook, but no one got a picture of them this time. Oops! 

Look at that yummy food! Ga-Ga made one of my favorite meals No Peek Chicken! 

Look at these adorably festive cookies. I believe Christina made them! 

The weather was not nice this year so we had to hide the eggs inside. It's always a bit more chaotic, but it works out! If I remember right someone was missing an egg...not sure if we forgot where we hid it or if there was a miscount from the beginning...who knows, but it wasn't the end of the world. :) 

Ga-Ga had all the kids Easter Baskets lines up on the stairs. 

Ella always gets different stuff since she can't have any dye. 

Everyone going through their baskets. There was some trading going on! 

Addison just loves to play around with other peoples hair. She did this amazing French braid for Ella! 

With her hair so long and curly it's so hard for me to do a French braid...it turned so good! 

Such a fun day celebrating with friends and family. We know it's not about the eggs or the candy. It's about Jesus and how he died on the cross for all our sins and paid our penalty. He died so that we might have life! The best part was He didn't stay dead...the grave had no hold on Him just like death has no hold on us if we believe in Him. What a beautiful thing to celebrate!