Easter Festivities: Part 2

We headed up north to the farm for Easter Weekend.  Rather a chilly Easter for the summer temps we were experiencing in March.  But despite weather, we spend time with family which is most important.

We slipped over to Uncle Art's and Aunt Cloris' farm for awhile and Connor was smitten with Uncle Art's scroll saw.  Okay, okay, I was admittedly smitten too.  One could really get hooked on that!  Connor and I cut out a bunny, horse, and a J-hawk.  Come over and ask about it and he'll show you. .

We attempted church service at a nearby town church and come find out the next day that mass was at 7pm, not at the standard 5:30pm time.  We tried to convince G&G to convert to Catholicism because the services are so short, but they didn't buy it! 

Then the kids did their traditional nests of clothes that they wore the night before Easter.  While lying down for bed, I reminisced and told stories of Easters past and where the bunny had hid my baskets, so they would have some ideas to look for their baskets. 





Connor protecting his eggs that were hidden all around the livingroom.

 Miss O has been anxiously awaiting Easter morning too, right around Ash Wednesday to be exact!  She was delighted to find her basket behind the couch and see all the goods!

It was so nice to see my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Paul, Cousin Amanda and her kiddos.  And I soaked in our afternoon conversation, satiated from Mom's ham balls and other traditional nummies.  We witnessed Easter through our children: bigger cousins hiding eggs outside and younger ones on the search.



Matilda & Teagan spy the eggs by the swing set.

 Austin, Jesup, and Connor are allowed to find the ones knees and higher!

The children entertained themselves; Olivia was delighted to play with Matilda and our afternoon followed by a dinner of left-overs.

On our way back home, we watched the sun get smaller with this brilliant sunset and it was a great bookend to our holiday weekend.

I also think that this beautiful sunset was requested by my great-Aunt Agnes who passed away on good Friday.  We lifted her up in celebration by talking about our memories of her.  She was one to bring up the latest controversial issues at family get-togethers (Bill Clinton's issues during his presidency, Priests and their doings, etc. etc.).  I told my mother that Aunt Agnes would be singing, "Here comes Peter Cottontail . . . ." if she was at Easter this year.  And she had a sly way of bringing attention to her new clothes:  "Do I have a spot on my shirt?"  I always adored her sense of humor!

God Bless you, great-Aunt Agnes.

We will always remember you.



Easter Festivities: Part One

April days are speeding past me as the weather is lagging, therefore I'm a bit discombobulated.

What I do know is that Easter week and weekend was spent happily with family.

In the events prior to Easter, we did our traditional dying of the Easter eggs. . .



The kids always get so excited about the colors and their master-pieces.

 There's also a certain grown-up in this picture who I can attest to being as excited or more for coloring eggs.  I have to admit Ang is the master egg-dyer and her brother (my hubby) comes in a desirable second.  He may not admit it, but he enjoys it as well!

Evan was our rookie of the year egg-dyer and I definitely see a lot of his mother's aspirations in him.  You can see the ideas he's contemplating in his head in this pic.

Connor won honorable mention for the camouflage egg he made!  So we used PAAS colors, but we also tried out kool-aid coloring and it had a yummy fragrance snuggle next to the vinegar odor.  One package of kool-aid plus 2/3 cup of water and voila!  Egg-dying that will test your senses!  Plus some different colors came from them: rusty, vivid orange, bright pink.

Busy at it . . .

 This past weekend Connor had a friend over to stay over-night but that was cut short due to his friend not feeling well.  But we did a couple of games of bowling in.

I caught Tatum in a nice pose here.  I find it hard taking pictures of her because she is so dark and it is hard to see her features compared to Indy.

I came home to find a beautiful flower arrangement on our dining room table.  Olivia LOVES these "flowers" and will pick them forever.  She also discovered violets in our backyard.  I have to admit they are pretty!





 

Yesterday's challenge was feet.  The kids wanted a picture of their feet too!  Olivia told me that she hoped I won the challenge.  So cute!  I told her there aren't any winners, we just share our ideas.


Funny note:  Olivia was lying on the bed beside me and was examining her legs.  After some time of examining; she pointed to the back of her knee and asked what those "bones" were called.  I told her they were actually tendons.  "No, what are the bones called?"  She asked again.  I told her they were tendons and told her that tendons connect muscle to bones.  She wouldn't settle for that answer and asked again and I replied that it's called the femur and pointed to her thigh bone.

After a few minutes of silence and back to examining herself; she asked me, "Mom, can you show me where my funny bone is and where my wish bone is?"

I pointed to her arm bone and said that this is called the funny bone or otherwise known as the humerus.  I then told her that humans don't have wish bones, only turkeys do.  She had a hard time grasping this, "you mean we don't have a wish bone, just animals?"  I replied that only turkeys have wishbones.

How cute!  I love it!

Intrigued . . .

I've been so intrigued with Instragram and I finally figured out how to correspond with others.  I guess I gave up Facebook for a whole new on-line social network, because that really is what Instragram is all about.  Hmmm. . . so much for giving up social networking huh?

Oh well, I'll be so glad to get back to Facebook because I really miss some people.

Anywhoo.  Here are some shots from the past week. 

 It was spring break for us and we staycationed and had fun.  We visited the park, swimming pool (indoor but it was nice enough to swim outside!), we warmly welcomed my raised garden box and compost bin from my parents, and took a trip to the botanical gardens and the zoo!

 Gray's Lake last Thursday morning with a beautiful haze over it.

 A big pastry bunny in the window at Pella, last Wednesday at a tea party.

Cousins being so silly! 

 Clouds:  part of my March Challenge photo for Instagram

 Olivia doing cartwheels to infinity on the soccer field at Walker-Johnson

 Daffodils in my front yard

 Kids flying a kite at Walker-Johnson

 Picnic at the park last Friday, it was hard to find shade!

 Beautiful and strange looking tulips at the Botanical Gardens.

 Modeling by the cute display at the Botanical Gardens.

 Evan was mesmerized by the fish at the zoo.

 Olivia was in total amazement too.

 Getting a smile!

Animal:  Even the dogs posed and smiled for me for one of my challenge photos!



March Photo Challenge

Day 6: 5 pm

Day 7:  What I wore today

Day 8:  Window

 Day 9:  Red

 Day 10:  Loud

 Day 11:  Someone I talked to today

This one was not on the challege; farm fun.

These three rode on the cart all Saturday and Sunday afternoon!

Many adventures were played out by them . . .

By the way:  I cleaned the coat closet and got one bag and relocated five of Paul's winter coats! FIVE!

I cleaned the linen closet and got three trash bags and one donation bag.  All of my closets are now cleaned on the first floor.  Now it's time for deep cleaning the rooms and then down to the basement we go!

Mexico 2012

Here's a few pictures of our vacation . . .

Paul and I spent five unbelievable days with some great friends.

We celebrated our friends' 15th Wedding Anniversary at Grand Palledium, Riveira Maya, Mexico.

We plan to come back for our 15th year Wedding Anniversary--only seven more years!

Great times, good food, wonderful service, and so very, very relaxing!

We haven't laughed so much in our lives, which was the fun part of being with friends.

Never a dull moment!

It was bittersweet to leave; so nice to be in the moment, relaxed, and without a list of things to do.

But we truly missed our kiddos, even if they didn't admit to missing us!

Asta La Vista, Mexico!

Hello, Reality!

Status Quo

Status Quo is our life right now; nothing broken to fix and nothing too exciting, and so we embrace this time.

Our days are filled with routine: getting ready for school, getting ready for pre-school, getting ready for work, doing housework, being with each other at the end of the day and repeat.

Mix in a few practices and ballgames here, dance class there, a dash of wolf scouts, and a pinch of religious education and that is the recipe of our life right now.

We have been playing more games lately . . . got some new ones for Christmas and so we join around the table or floor and play.  It seems that TICTACTOE is a popular mobile game:  Olivia loves to make her own rendition of the game because x's and o'x get so boring!

We've been enjoying watching Olivia read and write.  It's amazing how they progress from letter recognition, to letter sounds, to basic phonetics, using pictures and hints, and POOF!  They are reading and writing. . . She likes to write about what she loves: pups, cats, BFFs, "Py Ple" (people), Mom, Dad, Connor, & "ivryfg" (everything).  She produces artwork like a factory; each a fresh new piece.

 Connor has really been intrigued by wars lately.  I was hesitant and thought I should be concerned about this at first but I think hope it is innocent.  He's always been into something and he loves the facts.  It started out with dinosaurs, moved on to insects and snakes, then Star Wars to total Harry Potter fascination, and now it's wars.  I have learned so much about WWII through Connor.  (actually, I have learned so much about whatever he's into). 

His last library visit, he checked out WWI books.  I told him that maybe he should study and research about the different wars, see why they started, how they ended, examine what life was like . . . now it's his quest.  He's a good historian, gets this from both sides of the family it sounds like . . .

Hoping the corner of my basement will become a graveyard for artillery some day when he moves on to other curiosities and fascinations. . . Meanwhile, my analysis of Connor's war fascination will waver, wonder, and wager the positives and negatives (because that's what Moms do, we make sure it's the best for our kiddos).

 January is a month for birthdays:  Grandpa Mehmen, lots of friends, Grandma Roberts hit a milestone age of 60 and uncle Brent is hitting his milestone age of 40, today!  So we wish everyone a Happy Birthday and many blessings this year!

Winter is finally among us!  Makes us want to hunker down and get long winter's sleep.  Hopefully, the urge to purge will be among me because I have a list of closets to tackle and clean, along with some other winter projects.  Of which one is almost finished!  I'm a bit embarrassed to say but I finally am working on Olivia's first year digital baby book!

Now, excuse me as we get back to our status quo!

Stay warm and healthy, everyone!

Heat Wave

65 degrees in January means we will milk the weather for all it's worth!

Play on the playground, in only our sweatshirts?  Don't mind if we do!

We also made snowmen, but we did it by chalking them on our sidewalk, like their swimwear?

So glad Paul and I are traveling to warmer climate next month, we've just got to get away from this horrible winter weather !! [wink, wink]

[I've been taking pictures with my I-phone lately and that is why I document them through Instagram.  I like the filters and I like looking at other people's photos.  It is amazing how they take their pics solely from their I-phone, there are some awesome pics.] 





Instragram Moments

Left: Evan loving a Chocolate Shake at Maidrite (after we watched Chipwrecked).  Middle:  We detected a daffodil bloom in G&G Roberts' flowerbed.  Right:  Jackie as a farm girl in training.



Left:  This is what Olivia and I have been reading, she sounds out many of the words and is really starting to read!  Middle:  The start of our science project...Will the flowers turn colors?  Right:  We spent all day sorting Legos; we're pretty sure we have gazillion!

That's a Wrap!

Well, out with the year 2011 and in with a new 2012!  Can't believe this year has blown by us, but glad to get a fresh start of the new year!  I'm all for renewing, rebooting, refreshing, refilling, reviewing, uh, I think you get it . . .

So glad to have a year filled with friends & family and many experiences that I can laugh at, love, live through, and learn from.

Three words that will be top priority of 2012: 

Health, Strength, & Balance!

We did a little something out of the ordinary for Noon Year's Eve Day:

We swam and played in the water!

And rang in the noon!

Paul worked until the evening and I worked at night and clocked out exactly at 1159!

From our house to yours; Happy New Year!

Christmas at the Farm

Christmas at the farm is always an adventure; with seeing the family, cousins reuniting, and Paul getting a deer we had some stories to tell!  It went WAY too fast and can't wait to reunite with the whole family again! 

Olivia loved playing with Jackie!  They played and crafted until their hearts desired . . .

Almost have them all around the table, Emma was helping Gwen eat upstairs.

Aunt Paula was the brave adult that came down and ate with this crowd!

They look too mischevious to me!

Jackie took a real liking to Jake, she wanted to be wherever he was, so cute!

As I was making my rounds of family pictures; these guys snuggled up for a blended family pic!

Too funny, guys!

The three amigos, these guys had a blast playing with one another!

Didn't even know they were around!

Since it was unusually nice outside, they had fun playing on the cart and running around the farm.

 The original family

(with the exception of Austin, gotta love that kid!)

 The grandkids!

To our very generous host and hostess; Mom & Dad!

Thanks for a great Christmas, love you!