Easter Party

I love the ideas I can glean from others...and then work them to fit the kids and I. We did an Easter Party on Good Friday...and boy, did we have fun! The kids and I spent some time "planning" what we were going to do on the party day. Everything kinda evolved in my brain w/ the kids' input too. I love that our decor and food was colorful, creative, fun, and meaning-ful. I thought we'd make a garland to hang on the chandelier above the dining room table...I got out the glitter paints, puffy stickers and markers and cut out Easter eggs from construction paper. I started to show the kids how to make them...and then I started writing down some descriptive words about Easter...the true meaning of Easter. It was such and encouragement to me as I worked on that little project.
Our Easter party was a mixture of "fun" Eastery activities + the true meaning of Easter (Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection) We started the decorations a few days before and then did arts, crafts, and baking for "school" on Good Friday. We ended up having our party w/ Justin...which worked out perfectly. We even "practiced" our resurrection play earlier that day...w/ a few props--using the text straight out of the KJV Bible. The kids LOVED it! William was especially serious...he loved the drama/acting-it-out...
Here's Samuel cracking the eggs for the cupcakes...Note to myself for next time: always use papers inside the muffin tins!! (burnt cupcakes were the result of not using them...but we ate them anyway)

Madeline's favorite activity was dying the eggs...next time I won't boil so many...we had to get creative to use them up. (creamed eggs on toast was a favorite...an oldie, but good!)

Benjamin's 1st peep...yes, he's the 4th child--never would I even had considered giving it to child #1 :) Ha, ha He enjoyed every bit of the sugar-fest. :)

Being the "fun-mom" for a morning makes a BIG mess. Hats off to my mom, who was the "fun-mom" all those years...I now know how much effort (and clean-up) goes into 2 hrs. of mess-making...I mean FUN. :)

Simple decor for the cupcakes...again, not originally my idea. But cute. William actually fit 3 peeps on his cake.

Kids love garish decor! :)

Party time w/ Daddy....so fun! I taught the kids a couple resurrection songs while we baked earlier that morning...it was fun to sing them for Daddy (and they new the 1st vs. for some of the church songs on Sunday--yay!)

After supper, the kids and I acted out the Easter story. We had to double up on parts...it was great! I think this will probably be our Good Friday tradition! It's fun that the kids are getting old enough to establish our own family traditions...where they participate and remember the memories we're making. :)

Benjamin is 13 + months...Happy Birthday!

Benjamin turned 1 in February. Now that he's way past his birthday, I thought I'd edit his pictures and put them up...ha, ha! He's growing up so fast...learning new things every day. He's very engaged in what is going on around him. He was waking up every day saying "Moo!" and looking for the cows. He's all about cows, 4-wheelers, boots, and being outside. :)

Justin and the 3 older kids were gone for a bit one day last month, so we did a little "photo shoot" just to mark his age. Time passes so quickly, and if I don't write it down or take a picture, my memory forgets!

Benjamin is my dad's look-alike. People tell me that all the time. I saw it more when he was an infant. I should get the scrapbooks out again...

Benjamin is cheerful most of the time, but if he's not cheery, then he's m.a.d! He is one of either extreme...ha,ha. It's so fun to see his personality emerging. He makes us crack up, especially when he laughs.

~~Happy 1st b-day~~He's not stayin' a baby for long...he wants to run w/ the kids!

I'm back...

Our last computer crashed...it's dead. But! Thankfully the harddrive was still ok, so I can get all the videos and precious memories it's stored for me. :)

The past month without Internet was great because I was able to get lots done around the house...but also inconvenient when I needed to check/research things. I am able to check facebook and emails from our phones...but it's not exactly the same as the computer. :)

Anyway...the past month was Benjamin's b-day month. He celebrated turning 1 year! Wahoo!! I'm done nursing now...yay! Life is gaining rhythm...baby isn't such a little baby anymore and he's sleeping through the night again. Whew...Jan and Feb was rough b/c he had some HUGE teeth pushing through...lots of sleeplessness for us both. :)

Justin starts back to work on Monday...we've had a glorious 3 months with him. My job is so much easier with him around. He's so good at helping train these 4 munchkins...you know those times when you're doing 10 things and then there's a disobedience/squabbling issue?? He's the man! He's worked around the farm and taken the kids along. They come back ready to conquer everything and covered in straw and cow manure...life lessons, you know. That's school, in our books. Learning to work hard is important! Oh, and we have been pluggin' along w/ "real" school too. All the kids do some "school work" It's exciting to see progress...sometimes it can be slow going...plus all the character issues that get fleshed out in the process (me, more than them, most days. :)

Justin and the kids just went to release their "catch" of the day. On Saturday, Rural King (aka "heaven"--to my kids) had live animal traps on sale. Of course, the boys thought it was necessary to the chickens' survival, you know... Well, anyway...they have a point system going now. Cats are negative points...and I'm not sure how other critters rate. The 1st night, they caught a skunk! Talk about exciting! They came through smelling just fine, thankfully! The next night, they caught "Coffee", one of the favorite barn cats. (He was hollerin' when they found him) Last night they caught a racoon. William went out to pet it this morning. (??!!!!yes...exactly what I was thinking!) My coon-catchers are back...recess is over...back to math and reading. :)

Happy Tuesday...lovin' this spring weather!

Breakfast in bed..

The past 2 mornings I've awakened to glass bowls and spoons chinking together. My kids are on a breakfast-in-bed kick. Yesterday, Samuel served J and I a mug of dry rice krispies, coffee(he actually made a 12 cup pot by himself), a whole orange, a handful of craisens and shredded wheat. This morning, Madeline brought me a bowl of dry corn flakes. She and I had a little party in bed (w/ Benjamin too) Loved to see how delighted the kids were to serve us. I thought I'd never see the day... ha, ha! :)

Learning right along with them...

I have realized HOW much I'm learning right along with my children. And I don't mean science, history, and things like that...but of course, it's exciting to learn and re-learn all that stuff too. No, I mean I'm learning heart-lessons AS I'm training and teaching my children. Who knew that it would take getting married and having children to learn some of the things I'm learning? Well, the Lord does. :)

Before I got married and had children of my own, I honestly remember thinking that I'm a really patient person. Ha...fast forward a decade...and here I am, learning that I'm not the perfect person I thought I was. The Lord has amazing ways of revealing my heart...and who would've known that the adorable, loveable packages I've received from the Lord (ie. my 4 children) were the very thing to reveal who I am NOT! [I really AM impatient, selfish, unkind....and on and on. Who I am to my children (how I speak to them, how I respond, who I am "under pressure" etc)...is so exposing!

So, perhaps that verse about children being a blessing has more than the surface meaning. Maybe the blessing of children also includes the sanctifying work of the cross as well. :) My children are mirrors reflecting back at me of who I am. The character and sin issues Justin and I see in them, are in us to! Sometimes I'm like, "Do I say that?" "Do I act that way?" Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's really convicting! Wow...it's amazing how sinful we are! But what hope we have in Jesus to deliver us from continuing in it. As I teach the kids to be kind, to forgive, to say "Ok, Mommy! (with a smile) when they'd rather pout or complain, to obey right away, etc...I find it pricks my heart too. I realize how much I need the correction I'm giving to my children.

Change begins w/ asking the Lord for help. And also starting in tangible, intentional ways to do the simple things:
~Be thankful (express it to the kids and to Justin)
~Smile at them (how easy it is to just try to survive the chaos, instead of connecting w/ them in the midst of it all. For me, it's making eye contact and smiling... instead of just throwing my words down at their heads or yelling it from the other room)
~Train my heart with the scripture as I'm training theirs
~Learn to say "I'm sorry...will you forgive Mommy"
~And last, but not least, laugh! A merry heart is like medicine...and it'll spill over into the kids too! Lighten up the mood...turn up the music and dance :)

I need to remember that little list above...and now off to go and get to it! :)

a few others...

Which jumping one??


1.

2.

I like this one...so I'm going to print it :)



Which one of these?

1.

2. Classic :) Boys look subdued...ha, ha!

3. (closer and full color) I like M's laughing, but William's face is hidden :(

...leaning...

Initially I thought I'd frame #3...but I do like the closeness and sharpness of the fence picture #2...

Thanks for the opinions!

I'll post a picture when I decide :)