Chicago in April

My mom came up to celebrate Easter and Dakota's birthday and we decided to head up to Chicago for a few days. We treated Dakota to dinner at American Girl, did a ton of shopping, ate at Rainforest Cafe and walked. A lot. The kids LOVE Chicago and had a great time.

The waterfall at Rainforest Cafe.

Dakota and I at the Rainforest Cafe.

We found a Donut Shop close to our hotel that sold these HUGE (and super yummy) donuts. We ended up stopping their for breakfast every morning!

Shopping at the Lego Store

The kids and Memaw at the massive 12-story Macy's in Chicago:

Dakota was in heaven at American Girl. She brought Ali (seen on her back in the backpack below) and dragged that baby all over Chicago.

Dakota and Ali, ready to eat dinner.

On our way out of Chicago, we stopped in at IKEA! It was my first IKEA experience and it did not disappoint. Excited to plan a trip back (and take Jason) and even more excited that Kansas City will be getting one this fall!

The kids wanted to pose in the window of IKEA.

Easter 2014

With Jason still deployed, it was nice to have my mom come up for Easter weekend. Jaxon got a long weekend from school, so we decided to take the kids to Chicago for a few days. Here is Easter morning:

Headed to church

Hunting for Easter Eggs in the backyard:

A few days after Easter, we were shopping the sales at Hobby Lobby.
Dakota put this Elmo Easter basket on her head (upside down) and I could
not stop laughing!

Gymnastics Birthday Party

Dakota's birthday party was at the park districts' gymnastics center. It was so fun and she had a blast!

Here's Dakota with her friends:

SILLY FACES!

Friend, Nora, loves the pink and purple cupcakes!

Dakota opening gifts, while her brother and friends look on.

Nolan, Jaxon, Macie, Griffin, Cora and Hannah

Wyatt, Josie, Silas, Nolan and Jax

Griff making a funny face while Silas smiles!

Brother and Sister: Wyatt and Josie

I love this picture of Dakota with her friends, Macie and Nora.

Hi Nora!

The kids enjoying the trampoline.

Waiting for the instructor to give them directions.

Love these crazy kids!

Stretching

The beautiful birthday girl

Oupa enjoying watching his grandkids!

Dakota's Day

Dakota's friend, Macie's, Daddy shares the same birthday as Dakota. Knowing that Dakota's Daddy was away and we had no family to celebrate her special day with (Jason's parents were in town for Dakota's birthday party, which was the week after her actual birthday), we were invited to celebrate with Macie's family. It was very special and Dakota felt honored to be their guest of honor.

Getting sung to.

Dakota and Macie blowing out the candles.
Macie was very excited that the cake had Dakota's name on it too.

After lunch, Macie's great grandpa fired up his lawn mower and took the kids for rides all over the yard: