CONNOR COUSINS BIRTHDAY

Tyler is 13. Avery will be 8. Ella is 6. J.R. is 4. And Aidan is 2. They are Connor cousins and today we celebrated their birthdays! From nursing babies to grandparents and great-aunts and uncles -- it is always fun to be together. Click on the CONNOR COUSINS BIRTHDAY title to link to more pictures at our Kodak Gallery. Thank you, J. Connors for hosting us today!

MISSING A TOOTH

Ella was thrilled to pull out her first tooth yesterday! Yes, she pulled it out herself, at the dinner table. The tooth fairy came last night and brought her a special tooth box to collect her quarters.

Did you know that tooth fairies have names? In our house, we know that Mom is the tooth fairy, but the fairies still have names. Avery's first fairy was Anastasia. Then she retired. Now Vanessa delivers Avery's quarters. Ella's tooth fairy is Juliet Elise. Oh what fun!

EASTER CELEBRATIONS

My favorite part of our Easter celebration this year was our special family devotions that we did each day during Holy Week. I got many ideas from a great book called "Christ in Easter: A Family Celebration of Holy Week". We made a praise palm branch on Palm Sunday, did a skit on Monday (cleansing the temple) a Last Supper meal on Thursday and much more. We all loved it and it reminded us daily of what we were remembering -- that Jesus died and rose again so that all who believe can have eternal life! That is something to celebrate!!

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. Eric played "Peter" at HighPoint children's church and the entire production was a wonderful time for kids to rejoice that Jesus is alive! Our adult service was so meaningful too. Following church we enjoyed a special family time with the Connor/Weisensel family at Mom & Gary's house.

To see our Easter photos, click on the title of this post and you will connect to our Kodak Gallery.

"HOW THE KING BECAME WELL"

I was privileged to enjoy a wonderful play in my own home this morning! It was the story of a very sick king (played by Eric), a spoiled and demanding princess (played by Avery) and a maid who transformed into a fairy (played by Ella). The fairy gave the princess five wishes and the princess asked for "magic chocolates" to cure her ill father. She also asked for a book that he could read (magically it was his library book!). Unfortunately the fairy was a little clumsy and she gave the princess a black eye (just pretend). The black eye was so severe that the princess died. The fairy thought we should end the story there, but the princess convinced the fairy to bring her back to life, which she did. Happily ever after! The End.

GOOD FRIDAY

Avery has been planning a Good Friday "party" for weeks. She came home from school on Wednesday crying because the things she had made for the "party" were accidentally thrown away. So on Thursday, after school, she re-created everything and we had a wonderful family "party" this morning to remember Jesus dying on the cross for us. We each had a nametag, that was later used in a game --we were blindfolded and had to put our name on Jesus' cross (the one in the middle). We memorized a Bible verse together -- Matthew 27:46 (NIrV) "He said, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" This means "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?"—(Psalm 22:1)" I have never memorized a verse before that includes Aramaic! We also each took a "quiz". The questions on the "quiz" were:

1) Who is Jesus?

2) Do you love Him?

3) Is He kind?

4) Why did He die?

5) What happened after He died?

We each got to read each other's answers after we took the "quiz". My favorite was Ella's answer to #4 "Why did He die?" She answered very simply, "Becuss He loves us."

Ella asked Eric why it is called GOOD Friday when it is a sad day that Jesus died. Eric explained to her that Jesus' friends probably didn't think it was very good that actual day, but today we can look at Good Friday with joy, knowing that Jesus' death on the cross paid the price for our sins. And we joyfully look forward to celebrating Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday! Today is GOOD "becuss He loves us" so much that God sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life! Thank you, Jesus!

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Per my husband's request, I boiled (for almost 3 hours!) corn beef, then added potatoes and carrots towards the end. I was sure that no one else would eat it . . . To my great surprise, Avery & Ella declared that it was their new favorite meal! Ella also claimed that it is "healthy" -- not so sure about that! I have to admit, it was pretty good :) In honor of Mom T., I added green food coloring to the milk and we had green vanilla pudding for dessert.

Did you know St. Patrick introduced Ireland to Jesus? He's our kind of guy!

ELLA IS SIX! (Click here for party photos)

Our baby turned 6 on March 11. We celebrated her big day with Grandpa & Grandma Weisensel -- chocolate chip pancakes, cookie cake and a season pass to Seabreeze! Ella had a gymnastics party with some of her little girl friends this past Saturday. Click on the "Ella Is Six!" title to link to our Kodak gallery of exciting on-the-move photos of Ella's big day!

MAKING PLAYDOH

Ella and I had a great time making playdoh last week. Thank you, Leah, for this awesome recipe! Here it is to share:

1/2 cup salt
2 1/2 cups flour

2 pkgs. Kool Aid

3 Tbsp. oil

2 cups boiling water

Mix dry ingredients then add oil and water and knead. Add more flour if dough is sticky; add more oil/water if dough is dry.

BIRTHDAY WEEK

As is our tradition, we are celebrating Ella's birthday week! Seven days before her birthday we decorated the house and each day she receives a small gift or fun activity. Her favorite gift so far has been her Littlest Pet Shop magnet set. Avery has been enjoying birthday week too -- it's always a preview of what is to come for her in late April! We thank God for our most precious gifts -- our children!

DUMPED ON!

Within the last 24 hours we've received about 18 inches of snow! Besides all of the shoveling, we love it! It is a sunny day and perfect for outside play. Ella was only out for about a half hour when she wanted to come in because her "legs hurt". I guess it is hard to walk through all that deep snow with little legs!

UNSEASONABLE BUT WELCOME

Today was a record high for March in Rochester -- 65 degrees! We loved being outside without coats or boots (well, we needed rain boots for all of the melting snow!). The girls had a ball playing with neighborhood friends, riding their bikes and scooters, and playing on the playground. Tomorrow we are expecting an ice storm!

GOLD CUP

Avery has been taking piano lessons since September and she had her first recital/competition yesterday. As you can see from the photo, taken right before she played, she was a little nervous :) She did a beautiful job and will learn from this great experience.

A NEW NEPHEW

Chase Michael was born to Darrin & Jill on Monday, February 25. We had the privilege to keep Aidan (2 years) overnight while they went to the hospital. Jill and Chase are healthy and well. Thank you, God, for another precious baby in our family!

Pictures above are Avery & Ella with baby Chase, and Ella and Aidan, playing the piano at our house.

COUSINS CAMP-IN

The Tillis cousins love to be together! Ranging in age from 6-16 (oh my, is Jake driving??) they are special friends. We gathered together in Rochester on Feb. 18-19, minus Lori, who was sick (we missed you!). We celebrated February and March birthdays and the kids made a VERY special birthday book for Maria, signed by everyone in the family (even those who couldn't be here!) It was too rainy to go snow-tubing and too wet to play outside. So they had a "camp-in" in the family room. It was a blast!

For more photos of the Tillis cousin camp-in, see our Kodak Gallery at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=j3d0owr.1chx45qf&x=0&h=1&y=-qe6ydk

CRUISIN' TO COZUMEL

Eric and I celebrated our 10th anniversary (March 20) a month early with a 4-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. We left Rochester (icy weather) on February 6 and spent our first night in Boca Raton, FL with Maria's good friends from Cornell, Tammy & Sumaya and their families. It was so much fun to catch up with them. On Feb. 7 we drove down the coast from Boca to Fort Lauderdale, stopping for some beach time at Deerfield Beach. We boarded our ship -- Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas that afternoon and headed out for a wonderful adventure. Everything on the ship was perfect (that's a big statement coming from a very picky hotelie!) We loved it all! Our favorite activity was taking a catamaran excursion in Cozumel, snorkeling on the reef and relaxing on a beautiful white sand beach. We also enjoyed every activity on the ship -- ice skating, roller blading, mini golf, rock climbing, swimming, hot tubs, shows and more! We enjoyed time with new friends at dinner and made many special memories. We arrived back in Rochester on February 11 (more icy weather) to find a very tired Mom W. and two happy kids. We are so thankful that God provided us with this special trip!

To see more photos, visit our Kodak Gallery at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=j3d0owr.68oa0viv&x=0&h=1&y=-k149p2