Little Outings

We had a few little outings this month.  We actually got the inside of our house painted.  So while they were painting, we went out with the kids.  It was so fun and yummy.  We went to our favorite breakfast place, Buttermilk.

I just love that shiplap!  And the cute kids too. 😀

Sofie has started to take coloring seriously.  She usually sticks with one color and colors the whole thing that color.

My handsome boy.  He asked to take a picture with me like we did on our date.  💙

Sofie's silly grin.

Daddy and Noah.

Nels got a huge stuffed biscuit.

I got banana pancakes and the hashbrowns with eggs.  The kids ate lots of the pancakes.

Then we went to the library and we took our time there.

The three older kids made suns.

So cute.  Noah just played with his daddy.

Here's a during picture.  It was so nice to have painters do all the work.  They were done in a day and a half.  We didn't do the whole house.  Just the family room, foyer, living room, dining room and upstairs hall.  

It was night time when we took the after pics...but here it is.

The color is Sherwin William's Agreeable Gray.  My sister Mandi, Melissa and my mom all have this color on their walls!  So I totally copied them.  😀

We had spring break.  We didn't go anywhere.  But one day, I did take the kids to the park with their friend Brynnley.

Sofie did not want to look at me.  haha.

There's Brynnley with Isak and Sofie.

And Isak got to go on an outing with Nels.  We explained that it's a date if he goes with mom and an outing if he goes with dad.  haha.  So he was very happy to go on his outing.  They went to Steak and Shake.

They each got a shake and a hamburger.

Then they went to the music store.  Nels is trying to get them interested in some instruments so he can have a band.  😀

Isak talked about his outing a lot and is eager to go on another one.  These kids love the one on one time.

And that's all.

St. Patrick's Day in Chicago

Our big outing in March was to see the river dyed green in Chicago for St. Patrick's day.  

This is how the day went..

We were actually early for the 8:37 a.m. train.  There were a ton of people!  The train was packed.  We got one seat and a spot for our stroller.  Thankfully, a guy gave up his seat so we had 6 people on two seats!  I held Sofie, Nels held Noah or Isak and Kira sat on a small spot next to me.  It was cozy.  The train was loud, but thankfully the hour plus twenty minute ride went quickly.  People watching helped pass the time.  Here's our family on the train:

Noah was SUPER good and cute.  A happy surprise.  😀

He loved the train.  He kept  saying "Choo, choo" and looking out the window.

And he was so silly with daddy.  😜

Once we arrived, we walked over to Michigan Avenue.  We saw the green river!  We took lots of pictures.  It was cold and windy...38 degrees or so.  But the wind made it SO cold.

Noah was freezing and Kira was so cold she was mad...as you can see from the picture below.

The bridges were crowded with people taking pictures.  We tried to get a few shots.

Someone offered to take our picture...haha.  kind of a funny one...

Then we found a spot by accident that was secluded and no one was around.  So we took some time to take some pictures.  I whipped out my selfie stick and started clicking.  haha.

I think this one is funny.

Then someone found our spot...but they were nice and took our picture for us.

And that's the green river!

After pictures, we walked around to find a place to eat.  It was soooo crowded everywhere.  We ended up at McDonald's.  Kira thought it was the Best part of the day.  The kids ate 20 nuggets and we got a green shake to share.

Then we walked back to the train station.  This is how the river normally looks...

There's Nels with the stroller and kids.

We made it just in time for the 1:40 p.m. train.  They literally closed the doors as we got the stroller onto the train!  Then we walked up the moving train to find seats.  Thankfully Nels found a great spot with plenty of room and we enjoyed the train home.  Sofie ate snacks the whole time.  Noah sat on Nels's lap.  I played hangman with Kira and Isak.  We got home safe and sound and recovered with a nap. 😀