Easter 4 years ago

Easter Festivities

Crafts at the church- sorry the picture is so dark

door hangers

Easter egg hunt, Griffin kept opening each egg he found so he did not get very many

Sydney was trying to help him, so sweet.

the kids had an egg hunt at daycare also, so much fun

Sunday after church they wanted to hide eggs for me to find and then I hid some for them to find

dying eggs- fun to see how they turn out when you mix colors

Easter baskets- of course a John Deere tractor for Griffin

butterfly nets for both of them, hair bows for Syd, watering cans- a duck and a hippo and new Thomas underwear for our big boy

and one chocolate bunny each which Griffin helped himself to before breakfast

yummy nets- chowmein noodles, butter, marshmallow's and peanut butter filled with peanut m&m's

Griffin had already taken off his clothes for tubby and then decided on some dessert

Uninvited Guest

Oh yes we had a mouse in our house, actually more than one and they were in Sydney's closet.  I made the mistake of leaving guinea pig food in a plastic bag and I could not figure out why there was always a hole in the bag....then I found mouse poop.  So now the food is in a Rubbermaid bin and I spent hours cleaning the closet and the mouse traps were set and we have actually caught two mice. 

Syd's closet has an door that goes to the eaves and I guess the guinea pig food was a major invite to mice.

I have never had a rodent in a house or apartment and let me just say I was so grossed out!

Homemade Tutu

I saw this idea on another blog and decided to try to make a tutu from tulle myself
This pink one is for Sydney

this one is for a little girl yet to be born, I went to her baby shower Saturday

it was rather easy, all you need is elastic ( I think I used 1/2 inch?), tulle and ribbon

fun for dress up!

Rain Barrel

Here it is!  I believe it holds 60 gallons of water and it filled up quickly.

here is one of my blueberry plants- it was dormant when it arrived but it is already growing and sprouting leaves.

We have had beautiful weather lately and spend most of our weekend outside -working on weeding, pine needles, flower beds and prepping the raised beds for veggies.  More pictures soon.

Resurrection of Jesus- preschool activity

I have mentioned before that we get the Thriving Family publication by Focus on the Family and it is full of great articles, reviews and activities.
This month there is a great activity for preschoolers (and adults).  The kids and I will be doing this together on Friday.

Supplies:
6 plastic eggs- each a different color
bread crumb, paper cross, strip of cloth, rock and piece of candy

As you tell the story of the Resurrection let your child open each egg and you can explain the meaning as you go along

1. Bread crumb: Jesus ate dinner with his friends (Luke 22:14-15)
2. Cross: The next day, Jesus died on the Cross (John 19: 17-18)
3. Strip of cloth:  He was wrapped in cloth and placed in a tomb (John 19:40)
4. Rock:  A stone was placed in front of the tomb (Matthew 27:59-60)
5.  Empty Egg: Jesus' friends came to the tomb and saw the stone has been moved.  The tomb was empty.  (Luke 24:1-3)
6.  Candy:  Jesus is alone.  That is the sweet surprise of Easter.  (Matthew 28:5-6)

Encourage your child to retell the story in their own words.

Another zoo trip

Two weekends ago the kids and I went back to the zoo.  Bill had to work a home show so after church we got lunch and then headed to the zoo and started in Africa this time. 
We saw the elephants and the kids pretended to go on elephant safari and rode in the helicopter

they climbed on rocks

we spent a long time watching the chimps and captured some awesome moments on video (see below)

we saw the lion this time, they were hiding on our last visit

we found lemur island- which we somehow missed last trip

we checked out the flamingos

then we went in the aviary and identified all kinds of birds, plants and flowers

the flowers were so pretty

our kids were cute too

Sydney spotted this pineapple plant

Here are a few videos of the chimps- very captivating and entertaining this trip

We cannot wait to go back!