I walked into Ruth’s room the other day and saw her stuffed animals arranged on the floor. They were in church, and the dog was preaching to the rest of them. I commented on how the dog must be a captivating preacher, as he had the animals’ full attention.

It had been a long time since we made sushi. Unfortunately for Jim and Derek, we had it for lunch on a school/work day, so they were not around to enjoy the Japanese goodness.

Well, I should say Japanese-inspired goodness. I don’t know how authentic our version of sushi is…at least it has seaweed.

Most of the fun is had in the artistic creativity. Yum!

Is it April 19…

…or December 19?

After last year’s spring break in Colorado, we admittedly were lamenting over our spring break “staycation” this year. It didn’t help that when we looked at the forecast for the week, nothing but cold, cloudy, rainy weather was being predicted.

But we made the most of it, and you know what? It ended up being a terrific week! In fact, Peter even made the comment that it had been one of his favorite spring breaks because we just went day-by-day deciding what fun things we would do together. Those who know the Johanik family well know that we are a little competitive. So, much of our week was spent in competition.

Jim took the boys to Top Golf while Ruth and I did some grocery shopping. Then we embarked on a game of Catan.

We raided the WA field house and set up for badminton.

We all had a blast with this, as we rotated teams and continued to improve the more we played. It did get pretty intense at some points.

On another day, we went to Pinstripes for some bocce ball and bowling. Ruth was hilarious to watch in bocce ball as she intently set up her shots. We learned that bocce ball is her sport, as she was more accruate than both her teammates!

Thankfully you get a tape measure along with the balls. There were several moments when the tape measure was extended so that we could determine who was closer to the jack. Everything is a serious competition.

The next morning the kids and I took the train and met Jim in Chicago after he finished teaching. We didn’t spend much time there, but we left with our bellies full from a good breakfast.

This was the one day of the week when the temperature got into the 50s, and we took full advantage of it. We rode bikes on the prairie path…

…to our favorite bagel shop.

When we returned, the boys played whiffle ball while Molly played fetch.

A few times throughout the week, we got to talk to Jake, who was in the Dominican Republic building things and leading kids in VBS activities.

Later, the Monopoly board was brought out. This most certainly caused the most arguing and frustration. Here, Jim is attempting to persuade Ruth to make a trade.

To cap off our week, we had some fun time with cousins. Once again, we made our way over to WA to play some basketball

and dodge ball.

I cannot express how thankful we are to have this option to play indoors when the weather is inclement!

Our week ended in Chicago at Grandma and Grandpa’s for an Easter celebration and delicious meal. Derek provided background music.

My mom had various activities for the kids.

My dad read from the Bible and shared some thoughts on the significance of Resurrection Sunday.

Then we ate!

Here, Grandma and Grandpa pose with 9/10 of the grandkids.

A great end to a great week!

I have some catching up to do on the blog here! The month of March ended with spring break, which I’ll save for the next post. Some of the adventures we had before that were:

petting a camel at the Wheaton Academy spring musical. And it didn’t spit at anyone!

At the musical, we cheered on friend Anna. She was part of the children’s choir, which added a nice touch to the performance.

Molly has been working on her sketching skills and showed off her self-portrait.

Peter takes “foo-foo drink” orders every afternoon. Ruth is usually the first to ask for hers.

That scar under Ruth’s right eye? That was from jumping off the neighbors’ swing during an Olympic competition they were having. One of the neighbor girls felt so badly for Ruth that she looked her in the eye as Ruth was crying and told her “I give you a 10!”

We are taking full advantage of our proximity to WA. My dad came over after work one day and worked on some batting practice with the kids.

Jake went through Recognition at USAFA, only this time, rather than being yelled at, he was the one doing the yelling. I’m pretty sure he preferred being on this side of things!

The boys have enjoyed many competitive events…

…which is a perfect segue into our Spring Break week…