Easter 2013 Part 1

As I am typing this post, I am stealing glances of my kids running around the yard playing who knows what. Today I am thanking Jesus for this GORGEOUS sunshine! *on a side note, I must say "Thank you Jesus" often, because I have overheard both boys belt out on occasion, THANK YOUUUUU LORD JESUS, in their best southern preacher voice. Last week was cold, rainy, and dreary. I was bummed out because we didn't get to have our Easter Egg hunt with friends. Then I was perturbed because I knew their new clothes were going to get muddy for the church Egg Hunt. REALLY??? THESE are my concerns. Can you imagine what the day was like for Jesus and his friends on that "Good Friday" so many years ago. As I read from our Jesus Storybook Bible, the kids had so many questions as to why the soldiers beat and mocked Jesus. WHY would they put nails in his hands and feet? As sister and I cried, G wanted to know why they would put a crown of THORNS on his head and why he had to carry his own cross. Yes, that day was a sad sad day, and Saturday, well....can you imagine how everyone was feeling that day? Crumby ole Saturday. BUT so much JOY comes in the morning. Thanking God for sending his son JESUS to take the blame and punishment for all of my wrong doing. To die on the cross as punishment for my sins. And mostly that he is RISEN! Christ the Lord is risen indeed! Lila has been singing the Old Rugged Cross with tear filled eyes. This week she has been singing When I survey the Wondrous Cross. I'll be real honest and say I am not sure where she learned that one. She said not from school. Maybe I sing that more than I realize??? It is so precious to see the wheels turning and knowing that she understands what Jesus did for all of us. Graham has been glued to the TV series, The Bible. I did make SuperDad turn it off during the crucifixion because I was afraid it was too much for a 4 year old to be watching. He cried and cried that he did not get to finish watching. Some days I think he is going to be my bible scholar. Right now I just pray that he comes to know Jesus and loves him and shares that with others. Graham is also my one who had zero interest in making the resurrection rolls. He was too busy playing, but after we got started he quickly joined in. He was the one who was the most excited about Jesus being alive and wanted to tell everyone that the tomb was EMPTY! Well, despite the wet and muddy ground, we made it to the church egg hunt. And yes, they did get their clothes I made for them dirty, but I did not care....they had the best time! The bigs were super sweet in helping GT with his eggs. He just wanted to eat them: If I ever needed my video camera it would've been when it was g's turn to hunt. He all the sudden decided he did not want to go get his eggs. I think Pastor Bunny freaked him out a little. :) When they blew the whistle for his group to go, he just stood there! Both I and the bigs tried showing him what to do by putting eggs in his basket. He did NOT like that! He stuck out those pouty lips, furrowed his brows, reached down in his basket and THREW the eggs out and back onto the ground. I finally had a flashback to last Easter remembering that he would not move on to a new egg until he had eaten the candy in the one he had. So, I opened up an egg, showed him that candy and gave him a few pieces. It was like a lightbulb went off! A grin slowly started to spread back on his face. He tucked that candy into his pocket and took off hunting. He still wanted me with him, so I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the people and was actually being a little shy. He even found a money egg with a dime in it! He was super excited to come home and put it in his "Penny bank." It cracks me up to hear him call it that, but I totally think that Penny Bank makes much more sense than Piggy Bank anyway! Big G was so funny hunting his eggs. He had a perma-grin on his face the whole time. He would pick up an egg, shake it, and only keep it if he heard it rattle. If it didn't rattle, he just threw it back down. He also wanted nothing to do with the pink eggs! Sister was on a mission. There was a HUGE egg right in the middle of the field. She decided she wanted to try for it. At first we were all about it, however after Superdad and I scouted the competition and our starting location, we tried to coax her to go for all the eggs that were right in front of her that no one else would be getting. She said No and was determined to go for the BIG one. Secretly, I loved this, but I also didn't want to see her fail and get her feelings hurt. Here is the thing...I think she totally could've gotten it, IF momma would have put her in some real running shoes. Poor girl had on 2 sizes too big boots, so they started to come off as soon as she started running. She didn't get the egg, but she was totally fine with it and was a super speed egg picker upper. In previous years, she was like her brother in that that she was very selective as to which eggs she wanted. She would only go for the pink or purple or sparkly or flower eggs. This year, it was all about getting as many as she could! g even chased her all the way across the field to put a pink egg in that he found for her: As usual, the egg hunt was a total success! The kids loved the hunt, but they also enjoyed all the bounce houses, slides, and obstacle courses, and of course getting to see the Easter Bunny! I'm pretty sure GT is saying, "What are you talkin' about Preacher Bunny??" Even I got my picture made with that Trickster Bunny:

Competitive Much??

We may or may not be a just a little teeny weeny bit competitive around here. That trait may or may not have carried over to our precious offspring. Oh, forget it...Who am I kidding? We like to WIN!! It was hard enough competing just against Superdad, but now I've got little munchkins who make everything into a competition. This comes in handy sometimes. I.E. who can get dressed first, who can get their teeth brushed first, who can get in the bath first. But then the fighting begins and the loser throws a fit. That part, yeah...it's too fun. And then there is football season....Oh dear, even Superdad and I get tired of the constant fighting. I mean we all know who is the best team( ROLL TIDE) so I just don't understand the constant badgering. Lately, if we are in 2 vehicles and leaving the same location, the boys want to ride with daddy, but sister is loyal to her momma! We have recently been the winners ( OF COURSE!) on the trek home. Once again, we found ourselves in competition with the boys on a trip home. My car goes faster than Superdad's, so I try to make it fun for the boys by letting them get ahead and let them THINK that they just might win. Once when they passed us, sister turned her head around in her seat and said " I can't watch. I'm turning around." When i asked her why, she replied, " I can't stand to see them be in front of us!" Competitive Much?? :) The boys were calling us and telling us that we were cheaters. Sister says, "Winners that cheat are really the losers." I asked her who taught her that, and she told me she just said it. So profound for a 5 year old, yet such the truth!! May they all remember that lesson.

Even I make this gown look good!

I'm pretty sure that this little guy is the only one who could make this ugly yellow McDonald's gown still look cute! The poor little guy. He's had a rough winter. Between a sister starting Kindergarten, two brothers in MDO and a REALLY bad viral season, he has had ear infection after ear infections, bronchialitis, the flu, continual breathing treatments due to "reactive airways", countless trips to the pediatrician, ENT, and pulmonologist, and today...ear tubes. Yet, through it all, he continues to flash that amazing smile! Man oh man, This boy has my heart!

Love Day 2013

For the past year, Sister has asked for a slumber party. She has gone to several this year for birthday party's, and each time my heart hurts for Big G a little. He always asks why he can't go and wants to know when he can have a sleepover. Out of the blue, Lila askes when her friends were coming over for Valentine's Day. When I asked her what she meant, she said, "We always have friends over for Valentine's Day." Now that her friends are in school and daytime playdates with all the kids are harder to do, I decided that this would be a fun time to do her sleepover. She chose a few girlfriends, who have all spent the night together before, so I knew it was a good mix. NEXT, she looked at Graham and said, " Who are you going to invite?" UH-OH! I thought. However, I decided that he could invite the brothers of one of the girls. This group of friends have been spent the night together several times so it wasn't their first rodeo. Although I almost got a little excited and invited the whole world, I decided I better not interfere with a good mix. This just means I will have to have other sleepovers to invite everyone else they had on their lists. I went easy with pizza for dinner, but I had to add in the heartshaped jello. :) Most of the girls could have cared less, but E and L had multiple servings. I also found these really cute heart-shaped chocolate covered pretzels. I went fancy and made the cupcakes out of the box and used the sprinkles from the can. BUT, they were a hit and the kids went on and on about how good they were. Also on the menu was chocolate covered strawberries and of course, heart shaped ice. The girls wanted me to take it out and just give them regular water. Heart shaped Kool-aide ice=FAIL! How my heart hurt! I had the boys serve the girls. It didn't quite go as envisioned in my head, but sweet none the less. I seriously can't believe they all went to sleep after the amounts of sweets they consumed. I guess the dance party helped shake some of it out of them. Let me tell you, these kids got moves. My ipod has quite the ancient songs on it, so I was downloading request like crazy. Eliza sang her heart out to Taylor Swift. The rest of the girls belted out one awesome performance to Call Me Maybe. BUT the hit song of the night went to Gangham Style. The dance awards for that song went to Eliza and Oliver. Boy do they have some moves! These two loves birds were just adorable: I think there may a future.... One of my favorites. The gorgeous brown eyed girls dancing to Brown Eyed Girl: Crazy mustache boys: Big G: This captures the mood for the evening: Even GT got in on the love! The girls were crazy about him! After the Dance Party, it was teeth brushing and pajama time. They all curled up on the couch to watch a movie. Cutest thing I've ever seen: Lights out by 10, and eyes closed shortly after! What a fun night! I'm ready to do it again! :)

School Days

To piggyback my last post, I'm going to continue to brag on my girl. Yes, every old crow thinks hers is the blackest. So, just a heads up... This is a totally one of THOSE post, so by golly, I will say what I want and pretend that it isn't open for the world to read. :) It was this time last year that I was having major anxiety over where to send Big Sis to school. Was I going to attempt homeschooling with a new born and 2 other preschoolers? Could I persuade Michael to pay for private school, and which one? Thinking of sending my tee tiny new 5 year old off to the big bad world of school hurt my heart a little. We decided on a small private Classical education school. Once she started school, I immediately felt we had made the right decision for her. After our first parent teacher conference I was even more convinced. One of my biggest fears for Lila was that I would put her into a classroom with 25 kids and she would just fly under the radar because she is so shy and quiet (in school and church settings). Her teacher told us that she was VERY quiet and she would like to see and hear her express more of her ideas. Although Lila was reading a bit before she entered Kindergarten and had pretty nice handwriting, since starting school she quickly took off in excelling in these areas. At school they are reading a Ukranian poem called The Mitten. She came home from school and read me this: I learned that the 2 Russian words she addresses, babushka and deiadoshka, mean Grandfathers and Grandmothers. Several nights we have caught her reading The Adventures of Little Bear with her flashlight after bedtime. She gets in the car from school and picks up a book to read. We have even started just letting her read to the boys at night! We might be just a little lazy! :) She desperately wants Big G to learn to read and tries her hardest to teach him. She walks in the door from schools and starts on art projects, like this butterfly. Notice she did the colors of the rainbow in order. She drew it, colored it, then cut it out. She begged me all day for a hole punch and string so that she could make it into a mask. I love that the word of God is being poured into her ALL day everyday at school, Yes, she comes home reciting the New Testament Books, poems, the Presidents, etc. but it is so much more than that. Just this morning on the way to school, she was singing "The Old Rugged Cross." I saw her eyes swell up with tears and afterwards she told me it made her eyes want to cry. I asked her what the song was about and she said "It's about Jesus Dying on the cross." I knew that she was emotional over the TRUE meaning of the song. WOW! What a precious moment!

I have to admit, I love pulling this out of her folder each week! So proud of my girl and how much she loves school. This morning she informed me that she " just loooves spelling test!"  When I asked her why? She said because she got to go ln her own office and get out a pencil and her PINK eraser! Other note highlights of this past week were, " Lila received a special award for being kind to her friends" and " She is such a delightful child!"  This makes this momma's heart so happy! 

At the last minute, a friend invited us over to watch the super bowl. So after nap we quickly got the kids dressed. As I was brushing Sisters hair, she asked where we were going. I told her to The Super Bowl. She waited a few moments and then sweetly asked me, " Does everyone get a turn?" Confused, I answer with "What??" She asks again if when we go there if everyone got a turn. "A turn doing what?" I ask.
"Do we each get a turn bowling when we go Super Bowl?!?". I totally cracked up laughing and told her I must write this down. She on the other hand didn't find it so funny. I saw tears swell up in her eyes and her tongue move on her lip ( she does this when she is upset or nervous). I felt horrible! I realized I had hurt her feelings by laughing at her. This is the first time that she has expressed me hurting her feelings over something like this. It was hard for me to explain to her that I thought what she said was cute and funny when she was 100% serious in her question. :(. I'm confident one day though that she will look back and find this funny!