easter and birthday

with ledger's birthday so close to easter, we were able to celebrate both of them at mema's.  we went with them to their church and then headed over for dinner together as a whole family.  jill, tim, and the kids were there too.  ledger got to open some birthday gifts and then do a fun easter egg hunt!  all the kids were given a bag and then let loose on the backyard to find their eggs!  mema had a great idea this year, each of the kids were given a color and they had to find all the eggs of that color!  this worked really great because it allowed each of them to find a bunch of eggs and not worry about the other kids getting all of them and being left with nothing.  each one was filled with candy or other treats, which was of course ledger's favorite part!  the whole thing was a lot of fun and ledger had a blast!
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bb-8 birthday!

for the past couple months, basically since christmas, ledger has been obsessed with BB-8, the ball droid from star wars.  where did this obsession come from?  i have no idea.  he's never even seen any of the star wars movies!  we have a youtube app on our tv and ledger would constantly want to watch videos of people playing with BB-8 remote controlled toys.  he kept asking for one because they looked so fun.  the problem with this was that the rc toy is really expensive.  we kept telling him no, but he would persist.  as his birthday drew nearer, it was the only thing he would ask for!
who am i to deny my only son his deepest desire?  on a completely unrelated note, i kinda wanted one too...  anyway, when his birthday finally arrived, guess what special gift he got?  oh, he was the happiest little boy ever!  he spent hours and hours all that week playing with it, making obstacle courses for him, and just loving that little ball!  he would even put it on his bedside table each night and kiss it goodnight before he fell asleep.  i tell you what, the older he gets, the more he takes after his nerdy daddy!
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carpet and clean up

its been a rough go at the rental lately.  we have had some roofing issues and some renter issues... with those now resolved (we kicked them out!) it was time to get the place back into shape.  the problem was that the last renters totally destroyed the carpets!  i have no idea what they did, but i've seen cleaner carpet at the city dump...  after repainting and cleaning every single surface in the whole place, it was time to replace the carpets.  i decided to just do it myself, it saves a bunch of money, and i could always call tim if i had any questions (which i did often!).  it was a lot of work, but it came out pretty nice and got the place rented back out pretty quickly!  sometimes i can be a handyman!
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drawing inspiration

ledger has been getting better and better with drawing.  he used to need a big marker or crayon, but now he is able to handle a pen and make more detailed illustrations.  its been really exciting to watch him get better and better as he draws.  you can actually see him progress and get better over the course of an afternoon!  he likes to pick a theme and then draw it over and over again, each time getting progressively more and more detailed.  he, just like his daddy used to, can get lost in his drawing and spend an hour or more just doodling away at the table without interruption!
don't worry, we are definitely saving a bunch of these pictures- they are too cute to throw away!
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winter walk

ledge and i got our winter gear on and headed out to explore!  next to our place is a big ravine with a winding creek at the bottom.  we decided to have a snowy adventure and check it out!  we made our way through all the different trails and paths, sometimes making our own, and got all the way to the bottom.  ledger loved being an explorer checking out the wintery wilderness!

he loves to play doh

diana and i finally caved in and got ledger some play doh.  he was overjoyed by the surprise gift and spend the whole week making different creations and friends with it!  at first he would just make snakes and blobs, but as the week went on he got a lot better at making different animals and characters.  sure, we helped him a bit, but he certainly is getting better with detail work and expressing his creativity!
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making snowmans!

ledger's favorite thing in the whole world right now is snowmen, or as he calls them 'snowmans'.  every time there is even one snowflake falling he asks if we can go out and make a snowman.  he doesn't quite understand that there needs to be a bunch of snow and it has to be warm enough to pack it.  well, finally, when we were visiting down in south bend, it was just the right weather for building a snow man!  so we geared up (a 20 minute process), and headed out!  he and i had a blast playing around in the snow, making snow angels and everything, and then mad ourselves a little snowman!  grandma came out with a few items to add to the snowman- a hat, eyes, and a nose.  then it was time to explore around the yard to find arms and a smile for him.  ledger was in his glory the whole time!  we had recently been watching a snowman movie where they also make a snow dog to play with, so of course we made one of those too!
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the south bends

we spent a day in chicago, but we also spent the weekend in south bend.  diana's mom and david gladly watched ledger for the day and had a great time with him.  we then got to spend sunday with them and even barbara and james stopped by for some fun!
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the pier awakens

it was tough, but we managed do to it.  diana and i waited almost three weeks to see star wars: the force awakens.  before it came out we made plans with miranda and levi to go to chicago for a day and go see the movie in imax 3D at navy pier.  i'll admit, i was tempted to sneak out and go see it before then because i couldn't wait, but i stayed strong and got to see it on the huge screen with everyone else!  we got to chicago early that day so we could hang out and have some fun.  we first went to a mall downtown and just wandered around a little bit.  miranda wanted to go to the american girl store and levi wanted to go to the lego store.  both of them spent large amounts of money getting toys for themselves (levi got the ghostbusters firehouse set- its huge!) and then we headed over to navy pier.  we grabbed a bite to eat and then hung out in the gardens there for a while.  finally we saw the movie and it was a ton of fun!   it was a really great day with friends and worth the wait!
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