Ice Skating, Illini, and Ice Cream

Life has been steadily moving along since Christmas. While the holiday craziness is over, life has yet to calm down. Ethan's preschool had a "field trip" to the ice skating rink in January. He had never been on an ice rink before and absolutely loved it. Ethan went from letting us pull him on the sled, to walking on the ice with a "walker", to running on the ice unassisted while chasing his friends. The trip was a huge success!

Ethan and his special friends from school. The girl in the middle, Ava, is his "best buddy".

Joe and I were treated to some sledding time on the ice.

We survived the Groundhog's Day blizzard in Springfield. Lots of running around doing errands the day before it hit, then fingers crossed that we didn't lose power during the storm (we didn't), and then clean up from the aftermath. Our area received 12" of snow, with a layer of ice under it. Here is Olivia on one of our drifts.

Olivia and our neighbor Katie enjoying the snow.

We took the kids to their first Illini basketball game this past weekend. Unfortunately, they lost to Purdue. But, the kids had a great time learning the traditional chants and songs, and watching the craziness of the Orange Crush. Plus, they loved being inside the "spaceship".

On the University of Illinois quad, looking at the Student Union building. We must get the kids back to U of I when they can play on the quad! Lots of fantastic memories.

So proud of grandpa, a U of I bronze tablet recipient (zoom in on the picture to see his name).

Hail Alma Mater...ever so true, so true. What a great sight - Joe and I hope to see more of the kids on the U of I campus in the years to come ;)

For Valentine's Day, we had our now traditional make your own pizzas and ice cream sundaes for dinner. I must say that the sprinkles were kept to a minimum, but the whipped cream usage was over the top!

Olivia with her gift - an American Girl doll bed. Ethan received the Star Wars Clone Wars DVD sets. I think Joe is very interested in watching these with him!

Here was Ethan's favorite part of the night - hiding in the doll bed box, and...

SURPRISE!