April - The Condensed Version.

April 1st:

 That brought us our newest nephew, Ilan David Ben Avi. 

Ben Avi family of four.

Nella loved her new cousin's fuzzy hair.

Gratuitous Silas eyes shot.

Easter

The kids and I were already in Marion for Ilan's birth so we spent resurrection Sunday at Pawpaw & Nana Sipe's house. We missed Caleb, but he needed to be at our church that morning so he was unable to join us.

Silas did have an adorable coordinating Easter outfit. But, uh, to spare you the gory details, I'll just say he only wore it for about 20 minutes.

Nella and cousin Marley hunted eggs.

Trip to Louisville:

We went to the 'Ville for several days for Caleb to attend a conference.  While there, we were able to visit lots of our friends that we left behind last September (when we shocked 'em all by up and moving to Central Illinois!).  I took very little photos while there. How terrible!  

But here's one of Silas playing horsey with his friend Jonas.  

And here's one of Nella at the park with her friend Shiloh. 

(Photo by Carrie, Shiloh's lovely momma)

Here's Caleb at the conference with some of his dearest friends.

Other Highlights:

It wouldn't be a normal photo-heavy post from me if I didn't include a bajillion more photographs of the kids. That's what really keeps you comin' back! 

Nella teaches Silas the fine art of accessorizing.

7 month old Silas is getting closer to crawling every day.  Currently, he can only go backwards.

 

For now, he gets where he wants by rolling around.  He's fast. 

He bullies his sister by kicking her.

Speaking of sister, Nella is still very much into playing with her dolls.  But she is also loving playing outside.  She is interested in plants and flowers.  I just may have a budding gardener on my hands!

Nella talking about the azaleas in our soon-to-be backyard. 

Her favorite of all the 'flowers' the delightful dandelion. 

When she's not holding babies, picking 'flowers' or fending off kicks from little bro, she can be found in an empty bedroom closet with mom's iced tea.  On a side note, I get a lot of compliments on that cup.  My mom bought if for me at Starbucks last summer.  They sold out fast and are very hard to find.  If you want one, they are being sold on amazon.com.  70 bucks???  What a steal!  I'm pretty sure they were $19.99 in stores.  They must be a very desirable item!    

Anyway, back to the kids:

Oh Silas, you're killing us with those eyes/eyelashes!

The last, hugely exciting, April event: we bought a house!

An old one.  A reallllly old one.  A 1918 bungalow in Urbana.  We love it.  It has character.  It has charm.  It has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, delightful wood floors, and a desperately-in-need-of-a-makeover kitchen.  But all it really needs is a family and a little love.  We're honored to be that family and we're ready to move in and start lovin'!  I plan on blogging about our adventures in 'fixing up' our little white bungalow and turning it into a home.  Here's a picture of our little white bungalow.  Isn't she a simply adorable?  

And don't worry. The first thing we'll do is rid her of that awful awning. Ick.  And we may even mow the super tall grass.  If we get around to it.  We close on May 14th.  After that, I'll post many photos and our project list.  

So, that's April.  And now it's over.