crafty bunnies

 Life has been beyond crazy here.  I'm not sure I can even put it into words or explain why or how it feels so crazy.  So I haven't had much time to blog or do crafts with the kids.  I guess part of the reason is because Owen is crawling all over the place and has also been refusing to take naps longer than 20 minutes.  And there was DST.  And a strange illness.  And crazy weather.  And a two year old who is now breathing and sleeping very well and has become a tyrant during the day, not knowing what to do with all his energy and emotions.  Sigh.  I need a vacation.  I've reached that point in my stressed out mommy days where just everyone annoys me.  Does this happen to everyone, or is it just me?

One good result of basically ignoring your kids for hours each day (while cleaning, packing, etc.) is that they eventually learn to play together and entertain themselves.  Yesterday though I decided to do a craft with them and we made these adorable bunnies.

 I wish I could sugar coat it and say it was such a joy to make these with my kids but of course it was actually kind of annoying too.  Thankfully we were able to go outside and play afterward, and spent a huge chunk of time this morning outside again.  Sunshine makes such a huge difference!

Owen gets a little bored during crafts :)

I'm grateful I have a sort of mommy vacation coming up as I am meeting my friend Kendra in Cincinnati in just a couple weeks for a homeschool conference.  Owen has to come with me of course, which will make it very interesting.  But I have a feeling my kiddos will miss me a little bit, I will miss them a whole lot, and we'll be less annoyed with each other for a while.  Sometimes everyone needs a break :)

Maryn and I have been really enjoying reading The Secret Garden, my favorite book of all time.  She is becoming a winsome little girl, full of fantasy and wonder.  I really love it.  She will be four and a half soon and I am loving this age.

Josiah's speech is coming along splendidly.  He's experimenting with his voice a whole lot too, finding echoes whenever he can and taking advantage of it (screaming wherever he finds one, including public restrooms and the Chick-Fil-A Play Place even during story time).  The occupational therapist is helping us a lot with his bedtime routines and he's staying in his bed all night, almost every night!  I think his behavior will improve greatly once we can get outside more often.

Now I really must go...Owen has been crying in his bed all this time...and Josiah is begging for food.  :-/

He is Risen!

Here's a random photo we took the other night of Josiah in his new Superman costume (with a Viking hat).  He loves dressing up.

 Maryn woke up first and found ALL the eggs before Josiah had a chance.  So she re-hid some for him.  What a good big sister.  Then she pointed right to every one to help him find them.  :)

He of course wanted all the candy immediately.

This child was super, super excited:

After finding all her eggs, she found her Easter basket in the bath tub!

I got some videos of them with their baskets.  They also each got their first taste of Peeps, which was a big deal.  Josiah was a little surprised.

Maryn is missing her pants in these photos because she did pee her pants, just like my Mom said she would.

Then we found Jesus was not in the tomb any more (in our Easter Mountain that we made)!  So we asked the "angel" who told us He Is Risen!  We read about Jesus' resurrection before church.  Maryn went to big church with us, and Josiah went to a new class for kids closer to his age.  He even made a craft in the class!  He's getting so big.

Maryn wanted to go to big church with us until she realized half way through service that she was missing craft time.  Then she was a little upset, but she did okay.

Happy Resurrection Day everyone!  He is Risen!

Easter Egg Dying, Easter Basket Making

Maryn and Josiah were SO excited to dye eggs, it was very difficult to get a picture.  And my camera battery died after a few bad shots.  So bear with me!  Josiah was literally trembling with excitement.

 Can you tell he has the biggest smile?

 Maryn stuck stickers on the eggs so hard that she poked her finger several times right through the egg shell!

John surprised me by bringing home a beautiful new dress to wear tomorrow and to Martina's wedding, as well as a gift card to go eat dinner tonight so I had to do no cooking or clean up!  And >>>the dress was NOT on sale<<< He paid full price!  He must love me!

Here's Josiah's Easter basket.  A coloring book, an Easter story book, Lightning McQueen, bubbles, toothbrush, Play Doh, a soccer ball egg with candy, and some candy pieces.  Peeps too!  But Peeps aren't in there yet.

 Maryn's Easter basket!  A new Children's Bible, a coloring book, Princess Aurora dresses, a Princess Aurora bath doll (with a shower puff skirt, bath oil and bath crayon to draw jewelry on her!), fingernail polish, pink Play Doh, and candy.

I can't wait to see them find their Easter baskets and all their eggs in the morning!

Maryn is going to go to big church with us tomorrow morning, with her new big kid Bible story book.  She's growing up so much!

Josiah's Easter Egg Hunt Method

Josiah may not take after his father in efficiency.

No, he hunts for eggs more like his Mama.

First, find an egg:

Pry it open...

Grrrr!

Candy!  Candy!  Candy!!!!

CANDY!  MUST OPEN NOW! MUST!  OPEN!  NOW!

Josiah was thereafter candy obsessed.  A totally new experience for us.  Maryn had her fill of candies as well.  She even stole Smarties out of the RA closet when I wasn't looking and ate them in front of me as if I wouldn't notice!  So I stole a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg from her basket.  There!  How do you like it?  LOL Mwahahaha!  And I've kind of been eating candy all day after I told the kids no more.  Maryn said, "Why do you get to eat candy?"  And I said, "Cuz Mommy can do whatever she wants."

Parenting is so much fun!

The Easter Egg Hunt

Organizing an Easter Egg Hunt sounds like a pretty easy thing, until you sit down and start working out the details and realize--wow, there's a lot of details here we need to figure out.  Age groups, how many eggs, how much candy to buy, filling the eggs with candy, special prize eggs, volunteers to help stuff, hide, monitor (and chase away squirrels), someone to deliver an Easter message, etc.  And really, it's all over in about ten minutes!  But I think the kiddos and parents all had fun.  

Here are our friends, the Syzmanski girls (Chloe and Lilia, backyard friends):

 Here's my sweet baby boy, with Ella Grace perhaps thinking there may be eggs hidden in the landscaping?  I don't know...

 Maryn brought her HUGE basket because her actual Easter basket was too pretty to bring outside.  Aren't I such a fun mom?

 We had the kiddos sit down for an Easter message delivered by our friend and next door neighbor, Drew (Ella is his daughter, seated in the middle between Eli and Ella Grace).

Our friends the Powells.  Their Mommy Elise helped us out so much today!  She is one of my dearest friends, and Julia is probably Josiah's best friend, and Ella Grace is Maryn's best friend.  Eli and Josiah love each other as well.  We love all of them!  We had a cookout with the Powells last night, too.  And Elise's new baby boy is due just two weeks after ours.  Owen and Aidan, destined to be buddies!

What a blessing friends are.

Holy Week Part 2

Yesterday, we learned about the Passover.  We read about the first Passover, when the Israelites were instructed to put lamb's blood on their doors to protect their children from death.  Those without the blood of the lamb on their doors lost their firstborn sons.  On Passover, Jews remember how God spared them and rescued them from lives of slavery in Egypt.  Why did God have them do this strange thing, put lamb's blood around the door frames? 

This act was just foreshadowing the Lamb that would one day come and shed his blood for all of us.  Jesus.  Why did the spirit pass by those bloodied doors?  Was it because the oldest boy inside was good, or better than an Egyptian boy?  No.  It was simply because of the blood of the lamb.

And now I know as a Christian that, through no sacrifice or special deeds of my own, I am saved by the blood of the true lamb, Jesus Christ.  He is the only one who could take away my sin, the Son of God, who lived a sinless life and became a perfect sacrifice.

Yesterday, we re-enacted the Last Supper (Passover meal) in which Jesus also instituted holy communion.  Here you see the disciples reclining at the table with Jesus after they finished their unleavened bread, wine, and bitter herbs.  

 And here is Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, while Peter, James and John kept falling asleep (they're in the leaves).  We discussed how Jesus said to God, "Take this cup from me..." but he also said, "Your will be done."  We talked about what that means to say, "Your will be done."

Today we read about Jesus death a little bit (tomorrow is Good Friday so we'll talk about it more then) and focused on the thieves on the crosses beside Jesus.  At least one of the thieves is in Heaven with Jesus today.  It is never too late to be saved, and even the dirtiest, most awful criminals can be saved.  "While we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)."  FREE grace is one of the hardest things in the world to understand!
But all it takes is a word, a whisper, a cry out to him to be saved.

And he [the thief] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Palm Sunday

 We made our "Easter Mountain" out of salt dough today.

 We read about The Triumphal Entry in the Bible and re-enacted it with plastic trees (palms), napkins (cloaks), pipe cleaners (Jesus), and a plastic donkey.

Here's our Easter Mountain.  So you see Golgotha there on the left, where Jesus was crucified.  And the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where Jesus was buried.  And to the right is our Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before he was handed over to the officials.  The pipe cleaner people we made this time are an Angel, Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and John, Peter, James, John and Judas, and Pilate and Herod.

Maryn has been loving this so far.  She can't wait to put Jesus in the tomb...not sure what that's about.  She insisted we have a little panda watch over the tomb.  :)  She wanted to read The Triumphal Entry story 3 times.  We read it from Matthew 21:1-11, and practiced the verse, "And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Happy Palm Sunday, everyone.  One week until Easter, and we celebrate Jesus is Risen!

Valentine's Day

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 "...God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." 1 John 4:10-11

Maryn is really confused as to why Valentine's Day is lasting so long!  And it's not even here yet.  Here's a pic of two of my sweethearts on their way to a special Daddy Daughter Dance our friend Maggie invited them to at her church.  At the dance, they had a formal picture taken, made a craft (which I still haven't seen), and Maryn even got a white rose.  After dancing and snacking the night away, John took our super tired little girl to Dairy Queen.   

 I really hope there will be more Daddy Daughter dates to come.  They say when a little girl gets older, she will measure every possible suitor by measuring them up to her Daddy.  We pray for Maryn's future spouse (if she ever marries) a lot.  A lot, a lot.  He will have big shoes to fill (and a seriously angry man to deal with if he ever breaks her heart!).

And this little boy.  He is never allowed to date.  Do you know why?  It's because he is so darn cuddly and kissy-faced.  He'll have to always be supervised on dates :)  And he loves pretty women.  He finds them in the store and starts smiling ear to ear if he sees a pretty lady.  He will basically go to any pretty lady, and although he has his favorites, he will hug and kiss on almost anyone.  Mommy is definitely his favorite for now :)

 We had a special Valentine's Dinner last night.  All four of us crowded into the kitchen to make frosted Funfetti Valentine's cookies (thank you Aunt Cathy!) with heart candies on top.  Then we all participated in the making of a rather yummy, simple, and cheap tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  It was an adventure.  By the way, this tomato soup was delicious.  I am not a very big soup fan, but it actually got compliments from John and you wouldn't even believe how much Josiah loved it.  I've never seen a toddler enjoy soup so much.  The basil adds a really strong flavor, so I thought the kiddos wouldn't be fond of it, but they were.  I think I'll add a bit more cream next time.  It tasted a lot like the pasta sauce in Carabba's Rigatoni Campagnolo (my favorite dish there).

 John said he was out of his comfort zone all weekend.  He had to dance AND frost cookies.  Then he made the blueberry bread loaf for our Sunday School class's breakfast this morning.  Which is another great recipe (here). It's just a package of Krusteaz Blueberry Muffins with some minor adjustments.  I leave out all the orange stuff because I'm not a fan of anything tasting like oranges besides oranges.

Josiah loves his dinosaurs I just brought out of toy rotation.  He growls and roars and growls, and smacks them into each other, and throws them and pounds them and they just kill and eat each other all day.

They each got a couple more gifts for Valentine's Day.  Josiah got Cars (the movie...he LOVES anything with Cars on it), and Maryn got two new little princess dolls.  Valentine's Day turned into a big deal!  :)

Valentine's Party

On Wednesday, our sweet neighbor Rebekah  invited us over for a Valentine's Party.  It was so much fun, and such a blessing to me.  After teaching in Immokalee for four years (where Valentine's Day is way, way crazy--the toughest holiday for me by far as a teacher!), I am not thrilled about having Valentine's Day Parties.  I was so happy to go to one that was not planned to by me.  I am so happy to go to ANY event not planned by me!

 First, they made Valentines' bags, of course.  Josiah is doing great with crafty stuff--even glue sticks!  He loves stickers, markers and crayons.  The things you see in the middle of the table, as a centerpiece, were little ribbon wands for each of the kids.

 Chloe and Lilia, two of our best backyard friends!  I love Chloe for her special 5 year old leadership.  Maryn usually lets Chloe be in charge of their play and leads the smaller kids in all kinds of pretend play, and I appreciate that a lot.

 Above, Miss Bekah was helping the girls (Ella, Ella Grace and Maryn) make bracelets.  I love this pic just because you can see all Maryn's curls!

 Love her.

And here is Josiah playing with his first sensory  box.  I filled a box with rice, measuring cups, heart shaped things, some plastic animals, etc...and he has been having a great time digging, dumping and finding hidden things in here.  A total winner.  I love this.  I love it, love it, love it.

Today we had Ella and Ella Grace over for some more Valentines activities.  We made sun catchers, filled big pieces of paper with all kinds of fun things Aunt Cathy sent us (crepe paper, stickers, foam hearts, ribbon, lace, foil, etc.), and did a few fun papers (dot to dot hearts, gluing on flower petals).  Then we read some books (Where's My Sweetie Pie? by Ed Emberley, such a good one) and played and played and played.  Then we had lunch with Miss Elise, Eli and Julia who came up and shared some of their lunches with us.  It was a great neighborly event.  Aside from the fact that all the little girls were pretty tired and were not getting along very well :)

I love our neighbors!

PS:  My hips hurt.  It took me about 2 hours just to "pick up" our house...not even really clean, just pick things up and sweep, wash dishes, etc.  UGH!!!!  I'm tired of this.

My Missy Dee Doodle

I thought it would be fun this year to take Maryn out on dates for Valentine's Day.  A date with Mommy, and a separate date with Daddy.  I've been thinking about what to do for our date for a long time.  The first thing we did was stop at our small, locally owned party store that's right near us, Witty's Party Supply.  Maryn got to choose a balloon and a new beanie baby.

 Then we drove to the mall.  She and I have both been dying to buy her new clothes!  She's moving into size 4T, so she does need some new clothes.  For pretty much the last two years, I've had to suck it up and walk right by The Children's Place (our favorite place to get her clothes).  But TODAY we were able to spend $25 there and we totally rocked it.  She pretty much got all the things she wanted and we spent $22!  It was awesome, and she is a great shopper.

I LOVE and appreciate hand me downs, but buying our own clothes is awesome!!

 She got two new headbands, a necklace and bracelet, fingernail polish that smells like strawberries (!!!), with a strawberry nail file, and two cute new T-shirts.  So sweet.

 With our leftover $3.00 we got a chocolate milkshake with a cherry on top, no whipped cream.  Which she ordered herself like a very big girl.  "A chocolate milk shake with a cherry and no whipped cream!"

When we got home, Daddy made chicken tacos for us, with yellow rice (her favorite).  And then we made no-bake cookies.  What a great day.

On Friday night, Maryn and Daddy are going to a very special Daddy Daughter Dance.  She's been talking about it for weeks.

We love you, Missy Dee Doodle :)

Valentine's Day EASY Craft!

I found this idea on Pinterest today and we put it together!  This was one of those days I was glad some people see me as crafty.  We used a lot of things donated or given to us by others for this craft I was able to pull together in minutes.  Get the directions here.  Ours doesn't look nearly as neat as the one on the Martha Stewart blog.  But we had fun with it anyway.  Thanks Beth and Donna for your contributions to our craft today!

This is my third blog of the day, just FYI, in case you missed one :)

Happy New Year! 2012

We've been busy playing with our new toys.  Here's Maryn with her hair dryer in front of her mirror.

 We've been busy doing school.  Here she is making a pattern on the letter P.

 Here's John and Maryn on New Year's Eve.  Josiah went to bed before seven, and Maryn got to stay up till 8:30 (gasp!) playing games, watching movies and eating junk food with Mommy and Daddy!

 Here's Miss Maryn on New Year's Day, headed off to church.  She's wearing a new dress she got for Christmas.  And she has a ponytail, with a flower in it she got from Uncle Mark and Aunt Melissa.  Isn't she beautiful?

 My handsome guys.

 And the lovely ladies.  Except Maryn looks like she has a hangover.  :)

We will be blessed in 2012, whatever happens, and I hope you will be too!  Because all things work together for good for those who love God.  In the words of our friend Shaina (baby Chaia's mommy):  "May this New Year bring not only what we would want, but what God would have for us! He is truly good and faithful!"


And as you make resolutions, remember this:  Jesus wants you right where you are.  You don't have to clean up to come to him.  He will take you broken and dirty, lost, depressed, or anxious.  He does love you.