Easter 2013

Easter came early this year.  I was afraid that it would be cold, cold, cold, but we ended up having a very pretty day after a weekend full of rain and hail. 

Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  Just when you think you can't stand any more winter with cold days and dead trees and flowers, hope springs with a tree full of blooms.  And what a perfect analogy for the resurrection of Christ - all hope gone with the death of the promised one.  But through his resurrection, we have eternal hope.  It just doesn't get any better than that!

And another thing I love about Easter - coloring eggs.  This year, Maddie and I decided to try a new technique that I saw on Pinterest.  You wrap raw eggs in silk neckties and boil them in a vinegar and water mix.  Then 20 minutes later, you unwrap the eggs and this is what you get:

It was a fun experiment and we enjoyed trying something new.  And they came out really, really cool.  But, we decided to also color eggs the tradtional way so we could include the boys.  It was also fun and this was Mason's first year to get in on the fun.

Ready to start 

Took a little break to eat an egg 

The finished product

 

 

Finally, on Easter Sunday morning, the kiddos got to check out their Easter baskets.  Poor Mason saw candy and all he wanted to do was eat it!  But there was enough other stuff to keep him occupied and he got over it pretty quickly.

 

 

I was able to get some decent pictures of the kids this year - now that Mason is a little older it is getting easier.  We did attempt a family picture as well and it turned out okay.

 

 

We went to church, then hurried home to pick up the food, then headed over to Mimi and Papa's for lunch and a big Easter Egg hunt.  Because we had already hunted eggs at church the Saturday before, Mason knew exactly what to do and of course the big kids knew too.

 

 

 

We had a fun Easter, despite Mason not getting to take a nap.  We are ready for Spring!!





Spring Break

I think Spring Break is a complete paradox for most moms. You are thrilled to have your kiddos at home with you since their teachers and extra curricular activities get so much of their time. But, they have some expectation to be entertained and kept busy which equals work and creative thinking for mom. Our Spring Break was filled with lots of busyness and activities, but we also had lots of lazy time. We kicked off the vacation by staying up late and watching Wreck It Ralph. Well, the big kids did. Mason went to bed at normal time. Saturday night was a big night for Maddie- she had a sleepover at a hotel with some softball friends. They swam in the hotel pool, jumped on the bed, did play makeup, a fashion show, had a dance party and lots of other fun stuff. Tuesday was a really fun day. Mark took the day off work and we went to the Children's Museum in Seminole. Nana met us there and we literally spent the whole day. Maddie had been there before but it was new to the rest of us and it was a really fun place.

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling terrible. I have been suffering from a sinus infection for weeks and thought it had gotten better but Wednesday brought on some new symptoms - I literally could not swallow. So in desperation, I called the doctor but they couldn't get me in. I ended up in Urgent Care, with all 3 kids in tow. Thankfully, it was a quick and easy visit and after a shot in the hip and some antibiotics, I am much, much better.

We also did several fun art projects. We tried to include Mason some but he was just too little for some things.

On Thursday, we had lunch with some of our most favorite friends (the Flynts) and tried out a new restaurant - Top That Pizza. The pizza was good and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with our friends.

On Thursday night, the big kids spent the night with Mimi and Papa. (Sleepover #2 for Maddie). They had fun as always.

Friday night Maddie had yet another sleepover (#3) with her friend Emily. She had a great time of course and we are looking forward to having Emily over soon.

All in all, I think we had a very fun Spring Break. I was ready for the kids to go back to school, mostly just because Mason thrives on routine and that is harder to do with the big kids around. And I think they were ready also. But from experience, I know that the school year is going to fly by now that Spring Break is over, and that kind of makes this sun lover ready for summer and itching for lazy days by the pool!

I will end this post with a picture of two of my favorite boys playing on their computers, which was another fun Spring Break activity.

Lady Knight Maddie

Maddie has a sweet teacher who does things just a little differently in her classroom. She has designed their entire classroom around a Middle Ages theme and the students are all members of different "orders" (groups) who work together for rewards based on good behavior or academic achievements. Early in the year, Mrs. Anderson told the parents and students about a special ceremony she does to honor students who achieve specific academic goals and who have consistently good behavior. She calls this a "knighting" ceremony and presents the new knight with a shield and certificate and they also get some other special rewards (a sprite to drink during class, for example). A few weeks earlier at her Spring conference, Mrs. Anderson told us that Maddie was going to be the first student in her class to be knighted. The parents are encouraged to attend this special ceremony, so we worked together to find a date that would work to allow Mark and I to attend the ceremony. It was to be a surprise, so we didn't tell her of the upcoming ceremony. But on that day, when we walked in her classroom, she was completely shocked and confused as to why we were there! Mrs. Anderson quickly started the ceremony and it didn't take long for Maddie to catch on! Her face was beaming and you could tell how proud she was! And of course, we were so proud of her as well - what a big accomplishment to be the first child in her class to be "knighted"!!!!

Here is the video of her ceremony.  The lights were out in the classroom so the video quality is terrible, but you can get the idea!