5x the fun coming December 2012!

God is blessing us and adding one more baby to our family!!!! We are so thankful and can't wait to meet our new little one in December!

Lots and lots of lady bugs!

We met a friend and her daughter at the park yesterday and since our children are really country kids living in a city, instead of playing on the large play structure, they decided that chasing the lady bugs in the field was so much more fun! As it was almost time to leave the lady bugs that Silas and his friend Amanda had caught kept managing to escape out of their hands. A lady nearby heard us talking about lady bugs and noticed how we were trying to find one more so they each had one to take home. She mentioned that she had seen a sign at a nearby nursery that said they had lady bugs for sale. I convinced Silas to let his friend take the remaining lady bug home and told him we would go buy some from the nursery.

We drove the 5 minutes to the nursery and I never saw a sign saying they had lady bugs so I went in and asked them if they sold them. They said yes they did and grabbed me a small container of them. I thanked them and went to pay. When I got to the counter my total was 7.95. I thought that seemed high for the small container I had, but figured it was totally worth it for the joy the kids would have playing with the bugs. I got in the car, handed the container to Silas and drove out of the parking lot. As I drove away my eye caught the sign that was advertising the lady bugs. It said: "1,500 lady bugs...just $7.95!!! Oh my goodness! I just bought 1,500 lady bugs!! I would have never imagined that small container could hold so much! Needless to say Silas was a pretty happy guy and had enough to share and then some! We decided to let them go at the park Easter morning!

Childproof cabinet locks????

The other day I heard screaming coming from the kitchen..I ran into the kitchen to see who was making the awful noise and found out quickly that Cade had managed to open our cabinet locks and climb into the cabinet! The only problem was that he shut the door after he climbed in and because of the locks he couldn't push the door back open to get out! I laughed so hard as I walked in and saw his feet sticking out of the bottom of the cabinet! I quickly grabbed my camera ( yeah I know, terrible right? I should have gotten him out immediately!) but the sight was so hilarious that I knew another minute locked in the cabinet would be worth the memory. In this case a picture is truly worth more than a thousand words, so I will spare you any more talking and post the pictures! Hope you laugh as hard as I did! :)

      For some reason I am having trouble turning this....I will figure it out but until then...so sorry!

Easter Sunday

This morning we woke up not sure what our Sunday would look like. We were all pretty tired from the festivities before and didn't make it to the early service. After talking we decided to meet up with David and Hannah at the park in between our houses and have a family Easter service together. We decided it would be fun and more meaningful to spend time togehter reflectiong on what Easter means to us instead of going to our packed church and splitting up into classes. I am so glad we did this. It will be an Easter Sunday we will never forget and probably one of the first Sundays that I can remember not "going to church." I dressed the kids in the outfits I had bought them so that they cordinated and we grabbed the camera, my guitar, our Bibles and headed down to the park. Once we got there we all collected some stones and each wrote an area of struggle on the stones. We then each placed the stones in the shape of the cross and told the children that because Jesus dies on the cross that His blood covers each one of the sins written on the rocks. I think this really stuck in their little minds and it touched my heart to see them each write of have us write areas that they wanted help in. Michael read the Easter story and we prayed. It was so simple, but yet so refreshing and meaningful. I am so thankful for what the resurrection means to each one of us who has been covered by the blood of Jesus!

Easter Celebrations

I feel like I have so much backtracking to do as I have missed posting so many things...oh well..I guess I can backtrack later if I have time! :)

This Easter was such a special time. Every year I look for ways to incorporate the message of the resurrection to my children and what that means in our lives. It is so fun to find ways to teach them and I find myself looking at blog after blog and finding all kinds of fun ideas. Every year I always hope I will add more and make it even more real to our children.

We always make resurrection rolls and we got a chance to do that with a few of our wonderful homeschooling friends this year. The children take a marshmallow, dip it in butter symbolizing the oil they annointed the body of Jesus with and then roll it in cinnamon and sugar symbolizing the spices they rubbed on his body before they placed him in the tomb. Then you place the marshmallow in a crescent roll and seal it up tight ( like the tomb) put it in the oven and wait to see what happens! When the rolls are finished and they are opened up they are hollow inside like the empty tomb! This is such a fun idea for the children to make and yummy too!



We read a lot of stories and talk a lot about the ressurection and what it means. This year we talked about the last supper and about what that meant. I think the older two really understood what the grape juice and the bread symbolized.

Since Michael works on Sundays we decided to celebrate with friends and family on Saturday. I baked a ham, made potatoes, fresh homemade lemonade and our traditional "dirt cake" in a flower pot served with a small hand shovel. I usually have an Easter lily to put in but forgot to get one this year so ended up pulling off a fake flower from a plant in my room and sticking it in the pot. :) Everyone brought a dish which included: a wonderful veggie tray, rolls, delicious stuffed eggs and green bean casserole. The food was amazing! All the Dads went to the park with armfulls of plastic eggs to hide for the kids, as all the Moms and children waited a few minutes to give them a head start to hide the eggs! Everyone had a blast looking for eggs and Silas even found the "golden egg" which held $5 that Uncle David generously donated. Silas of course was so sweet and gave it to his lifelong friend Selah. That really warmed my heart.... :) The egg hunt was followed by a talk about what Easter is all about and a quiz for the kids. What a fun evening! I am so thankful for such close, wonderful friends that we truly call family to celebrate with!