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.

For a Good Cause

Connor is involved in T.A.G. (Talented and Gifted) at school and they started a community service project earlier this winter/spring.  The kids took on different roles:  advertising the donation need, collecting the donation items, sorting the items, and finally physically donating the items to the organization. 

The organization they picked was The Ronald McDonald House.  Today some of the  T.A.G. kids, representing the different schools from our city, met at The Ronald McDonald House and formally donated household items, snacks, and bathroom supplies.

We got a tour of the place which got a whole new makeover in the last year.  It was amazing!  Midwest Living came in and revamped the place; making it homey and comfortable for the families that stay there. LazyBoy donated furniture.  Local places installed wood flooring, carpeting, and cabinets all for free.

I am proud that our kids were able to experience this today, they are all making such a great difference.  They found out that they are helping families feel comfortable and supported while they care for their children in the hospital.  Parents need to be taken care of so they can properly care for their sick children.

This experience made me proud because I remember when my brother utilized The Ronald McDonald House almost twenty years ago when my niece underwent heart surgery.  I know that it was a life-saver for them at the time, saved them from driving all over the state, and enabled them to be with baby Alex as she recovered.



Connor with some classmates "hanging" out with Ronald McDonald.

 Ms. Johnson with the group of kids surrounded by all the donations.

 Warm up those muscles boys, lots of boxes to haul in.

Some of the decor entailed cute puppies that were painted on the elevator doors.  This one is our favorite, it looks like it's going to give us a sloppy kiss!

I think the best thing that came out of the experience was that the parents were informed and learned  how other groups such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Church groups can get involved and volunteer their time or talents to this organization.



40 bags in 40 days Challenge update

I have exactly one more week of the 40 bags in 40 days Challenge and I have totaled 23.5 bags in 18 days.  I haven't exactly cleaned every day but I have deliberately taken the time to clean and purge.  It has felt good and I have felt productive!  I also got some spring-cleaning in with all of this. 

I got crazy with deep-cleaning and I washed the walls, baseboards, and windows.  I was a vacuuming queen sucking in corners and crevices!  There's nothing like fresh bedding, walls wiped clean of tiny, greasy fingerprints, and a pristine refrigerator!

Three rooms left upstairs, more windows, light fixtures and then on to the basement bathroom, garage, and the office.  Now the office will probably take a few days because of all the paper work and filing and organizing the kids' artwork and school work. OI! 

Does anyone have a good organizing system for their paper work.  I have not found one and I'm such a dumper.  Meaning I dump all important paper work in a tote. . . DONE!  I find papers like one would find something in an archealogical dig!  Each layer representing a time period!  I have burned out two paper shredders because I have so much paper work to shred!  Anyone have an industrial shredder I can borrow for the day???

The crazy thing is, spring/summer is here so soon that I thought I would have more time to spring clean before getting outside and doing yard work.  So I have been alternating yard work with spring cleaning.

More on gardening and yard work later and hopefully with pictures!!

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!