Easter Blessings!

Happy Easter!!!

We have had a wonderful Easter weekend. On Good Friday, we shortened our school work to reading and math only. Then we were able to focus our attention on Jesus' journey to the cross. I had a lot of preparation to do for our family's Saturday Easter picnic, so while I was in the kitchen cooking the kids ate their lunch in the den and watched The Animated Passion. This was a wonderfully done depiction of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, especially in how well it suited even younger viewers. Alex and Nathan were both full of good questions throughout the video. After it ended they sat at the kitchen table and "played" their favorite "game", as they call it. They just love the Resurrection Eggs! I highly recommend them as a way of telling the Easter story. The kids went through it together several times before running off to play as I continued my cooking and baking. Bill went and got pizza for dinner and we had a picnic in the den while we watched the classics, The Easter Bunny is Coming to Town and It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. Then when dinner was finished, the kids dyed Easter eggs, which is always a fun activity. I then gave the boys haircuts before getting everyone ready for bed and reading a few Easter books.

Saturday we had our annual Easter picnic, although our usual plans changed somewhat. Since my mom has been sick, instead of heading out of town for a larger family gathering, my parents along with my brother and sister and their families had our own picnic at a nearby park. It was crowded, but we had a great spot close to the playground equipment, close to the restrooms, and close to the big dirt mound. The kids had so much fun playing in that huge pile of dirt. I think they could have spent forever there! There were also confetti eggs, so we were all good and messy by the time our picnic fun was over. Because of all the crowds at the park, we chose to do our big Easter egg hunt back at my parents' house. The kids had a great time with it. We did things a little different this year since we had such a wide span of ages participating. Each of the kids had to find a particular color of egg (and they all had the same amount hidden). I think that was even more fun - and more challenging - than just looking for random eggs. The kids seemed to enjoy it more that way, too, so we'll probably make that our new tradition.

So here we are today, Easter Sunday. The kids woke excitedly to their filled Easter baskets and spent as much time playing with their new toys as we could allow them before going to church for the Easter service. And since today is also my birthday, we went out for lunch with my parents so I could have a day with no cooking. That's my kind of birthday! And to make things even better, we are all just staying home today to relax and enjoy a slow day for a change. I couldn't ask for anything more!

I pray that you are all having a blessed Easter!

1 Peter 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...

Dyeing Easter Eggs:

Easter Picnic At the Park:

I think they enjoyed the clean up almost as much as making the mess!!!
Easter Egg Hunt:
Easter Morning:

A First for Alex

Alex had his first trip to the emergency room on Friday afternoon. We were baking a cake and he was spinning around in the kitchen when he slipped and landed chin first on our tile floor. He hit really hard and ended up splitting his chin open. Sorry. That sounds awful! And it looked pretty bad, too. Bill came home and after a call to the pediatrician, Bill and Alex were on their way in for a checkup and more than likely, a "glued" chin. Or so we thought. Our pediatrician decided the wound was too deep and in too difficult a place to be glued/taped, so she sent them to the emergency room for stitches. Thankfully, the nurses and doctors at the ER were wonderful to Alex and made the experience not so unpleasant. And the best part - he didn't need stitches afterall!!! The ER pediatrician said gluing it would be good enough. Hallelujah! We were told he shouldn't be very active for a couple of days, which meant no baseball game on Saturday. But as luck would have it, the game was canceled due to rain, so he didn't even have to miss his first baseball game of the season.

Alex is doing great and hasn't even complained once about his chin hurting since he left for the doctor's on Friday. He's one tough kid!

Finally...

Another post! So am I doing good if I post once a month??? No, I suppose that is not keeping the blog "caught up" at all.

I am amazed at how busy life can be with three children, especially when you are a homeschooling family! I really thought things would slow down once we made it through the big holidays, but apparently I was wrong. Between gymnastics, ballet, art classes, cub scouts and baseball, there is never a dull moment.

I am going to try to sum up some of the major events in this one post, so be prepared for a long one! I wish I'd learn that if I post regularly, I wouldn't have to spend so much time scripting one gigantic "catch-up" post! ;)

The New Playset

When we sold our old house and the buyers wanted to keep our playset, we promised the kids that if our new house didn't already have a playset, we'd build one for them. Right away. Well, "right away" didn't happen, but within about 6 or 7 months we did finally purchase one and Bill and my dad got the main playhouse section built. The beam for the swings still has to be added, but that will come in time. We're making the beam longer so the swings won't be so close together, and that means drilling our own holes and staining the wood to match. If not for that, it'd already be completed!

The Pinewood Derby

We got to experience our first cub scout derby race at the end of January. Each of the boys made their own cars, with just a little help from Daddy. They chose their own body styles and paint colors and had a great time building and painting their cool derby cars. On race day, Alex came in first place within his Tiger Den. And Nathan's car, though it didn't place, did fantastic in the general race. Both boys were so proud of their cars, and Bill and I were so proud of them! The first two pictures are of Alex's car racing; his is the green car with the blue stripe. The last picture shows Nathan's car, which is the yellow car with the blue stripe.

Kitchen Makeover

There are many remodeling projects that need to be tackled in our new home, but one of the smaller tasks I was anxious to complete was the redo of the kitchen walls. The wallpaper, though in decent condition, just didn't provide enough color in the kitchen. Light beige tiles, white counters, white cabinets and light beige walls was feeling pretty drab. And there were so many holes in the wallpaper where things had been hung or tacked on in past years. It was time for a change. So with some help from my wonderful mom, I removed all of the wallpaper from the walls. Then I had to use quite a bit of joint compound to repair where the drywall had been damaged. That had to be sanded, which was such a mess! And finally, Bill textured and primed the walls and I painted them a lovely shade of green. What an amazing update it provided the kitchen. It's gorgeous! Somewhere I feel certain I have some better pictures, but the following, showing the "in progress" stage and the final product, will have to do for now.

First Scouts Camping Trip

Bill, Alex and Nathan got to go camping with the scouts about a month ago. They had such a great time! They love to go camping, anyway, but it's even more fun with a whole bunch of boys around their age! Amy and I stayed home and had lots of girl time. I worked on a "minkee pet" and Amy and I went to a quilt shop to buy the final fabric for a quilt (see below). We also played bowling together on the Wii and enjoyed some quiet time just the two of us. We did join up with a great friend and her two youngest boys for a drive up to the campgrounds to attend the scouts Blue and Gold Banquet - we didn't want to miss that! The pictures below capture all the fun everyone had on their first scout camping experience!

Minkee Pet and Baby Quilt

For all of my curious quilting friends out there, I did finally finish the baby quilt you saw me piecing together. No doubt it was soft and sweet, but it might be awhile before I quilt with minkee again! It's lovely, but not easy to quilt with! Aside from some skewed blocks here in there, I think it turned out well.

The Zoo and a Special Anniversary

Bill took last Thursday and Friday off (as well as this Monday and Tuesday :) ) in celebration of our 10 year anniversary (which should have been a separate post all together - sorry, Sweetie!). We took the kids to the zoo that Thursday, which was super crowded. Piece of Advice: Never take the kids to the zoo during Spring Break! But we still enjoyed being out together... And we probably needed the exercise from what felt like a 5 mile walk to the parking garage! That Friday we took the kids to my brother and sister-in-law's where they got to spend a fun and exciting weekend with their cousins while Bill and I had some time to ourselves. We went out to eat on our anniversary, which was another Spring Break crowded experience. But it was nice just the same. We ate breakfast out the following morning and then ran errands... Yes, errands. It is so wonderful to run errands without children. I love spending time with my kids, but I don't like to take them with me shopping! Below are some pictures we took at the zoo:

One of our errands involved buying paint for the boys rooms. We didn't tell them our plans to paint their rooms while they were gone, but we did question them on what colors they'd like their rooms to be. So that was how we spent the majority of our time together without kids. We painted. It was fun, though, and I love how their rooms turned out. I don't have pictures of them yet (our camera cards are full!!!), but I'll take pictures as soon as I can and post them. I'm not sure I ever posted pictures of Amy's room either, so I'll post that, too.

I will continue to try and post more frequently... or at least stop giving endless excuses as to why I'm not keeping it up! :) I know there are those who read my blog to stay current on what is going on in our family's life, so it is important that I post regularly. But it's also important because when doing these lengthy updates, I can't elaborate as much as I'd like to about each individual event. And when something as special as our 10th wedding anniversary just gets mentioned like an after thought in the course of the long entry... Well, obviously I must do better!!!

Jacob and Hairy

Today while we were reviewing our Bible lesson from last week (Jacob and Esau), I asked the boys who was Jacob's brother. Nathan responded very seriously, "Hairy!" At least he was paying attention. Of course, I think they will now forever refer to Esau as 'Hairy'. I suppose everyone needs a nickname.

Another Update

I have really been neglecting my blog lately. It seems that no matter how good my intentions, I just can't seem to keep it up to date! I will continue to try and do better, but for now, please excuse this lengthy post, which is meant to give a quick glance at what we've been doing over the last couple of months.

Texas Renaissance Festival 2008

Last year we had such a great time at the Texas Renaissance Festival and decided to go again this year. We didn't get out there as early this year, so we were a little more rushed. But we still had a good time.

Halloween 2008

We visited the same pumpkin patch we always go to every year to get our pumpkins, but this time there were few to choose from. Not that the local church where we buy them had less pumpkins than usual, but the pumpkins were all in terrible shape. Most were already rotting and just didn't look too pretty. Apparently, it was a result of the hurricane. Not sure exactly how it affected the pumpkins themselves, but Ike was to blame for the pathetic pumpkins. We still managed to find a few and were able to take them home and carve them. Or at least two of them. We also had to carve one I picked up from the grocery store to replace one that didn't quite make it. The kids had a great time cleaning out the pumpkins and drawing faces on them. Then Bill and I carved them. I think they turned out cute. Amy was sick on Halloween, but not too sick to go trick-or-treating! She was dressed as a ballerina, Nathan was a knight (Prince Caspian, to be precise) and Alex was Pikachu. And as always, they each got way too much candy!

Christmas 2008

Our first Christmas in our new house was wonderful. Bill, with a little help from Nathan, put icicle lights all around the house exterior, making our home look like a beautiful gingerbread house. Bill was able to cut a foot or so off our 9' artificial Christmas tree so that we could fit it in our 8' ceiling den. It turned out great! In the past couple of years, I've only put out a portion of my Christmas decorations because I'd just get tired of putting things out. But this year, we really decorated the inside and it felt so warm and festive. The Christmas season did pass too quickly this year. It seems it was over in no time. But it was amazing just the same.


Nathan, with his new bike:




Alex, who after receiving several sets of Star Wars Legos, is now obsessed with anything Star Wars:
Christmas Eve - Daddy handing out the "reindeer feed":My beautiful Jim Shore ornament Bill gave me:

Alex with the Pikachu he'd asked for:

Every little girl's dream - a beautiful dollhouse full of furniture!
The gift that has changed our lives... a Wii:

Our gingerbread house at Christmas:

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! Speaking of which, I hope to blog some pictures from that fun experience as well. We've got a lot going on, so there are endless subjects to blog about... If only there was endless time to do it!!!