Mr. Bluebird's on My Shoulder

I can tell I'm not in a writing mood. But since I have way too many pictures already, I need to post. Plus, my cuties have said so many darling things. Easter was a big celebration with lots of candy. Why do Americans feel like it's not a holiday without sweets? Our sweets nearly last until the next big holiday, so really, is that so special? It means we have candy every day.

Well, anyway. Our church had an Easter egg hunt along with other fun games. Corwin could have spent the entire time at the hoola-hoops.

Alden and Rhianwen never want their faces painted. They want to be able to admire their body art at any given moment. Makes sense to me!

It wasn't so much an Easter egg hunt as it was a grab. There were probably over 1,000 eggs on the lawn! Each child could grab 12.

Back at home we enjoyed another year of Benjamin's Box. Corwin LOVED digging in the box for the day's item, pulling it out, and ooohing over it.

Of course we dyed eggs. The 2 older ones were very careful and intentional.

Don't let this picture deceive you. Corwin was a wild man. He was used to throwing plastic eggs around from the basket that was serving as a centerpiece on our dining room table. Well, we introduced the real ones with bowls of dye, and he just had to throw the eggs into the bowls. We all got spattered with blue dye at one point. Thankfully, the dye from the kits we used this year come out more easily than the food coloring we've used in the past. Also, thankfully, the kids were using Aunt Clara's amazing smocks.

Adding stickers.


Alden prepared Corwin for the real Easter egg hunt.

This year Rhianwen begged us to "tape the oven" for Easter aka make Resurrection Cookies. I do love making these because it adds that tactile/sensory factor to the story of Christ's death and resurrection, but it also adds up to a ton of sugar the next morning! We actually had 3 hammers in our possession for crushing the pecans...positively providential!



This year the Easter baskets were just one toy, a bunny, and some stickers. The toy has nothing to do with Easter. After church, the kids were shaking hands with our pastor. They enthusiastically said, "Happy EASTEEERRR!". He said, "Happy Easter! What is Easter?". Rhianwen said, "It's when Jesus rose from the dead!!!". Alden quickly added, "And I got a GUN!". Ah yes, not exactly the way to impress clergy. Our pastor always gets a good laugh when he sees them.

Alden with the aforementioned gun. It reminds me of Elmer Fud's. "I'm gonna get that waskly wittew wabbit if it's the wast thing I do!".

His first Easter bunny. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of their bunnies since Easter. Wally must have stashed them somewhere.

Aren't they cute? Alden is wearing his first tie. He tried using it for everything...like wiping his nose and mouth and as a toy.

Back at home we had our Easter egg hunt. Corwin thought Mr. Gnome should go into his bucket too.

They thought they were done, but do you see an egg in the Nandina behind them? We had some friends over for dinner that night too. So all in all, a nice celebration.

Easter eggs weren't the only eggs in our yard for Easter. Some bluebirds finally built a nest and laid eggs in one of our bluebird houses! I am so totally excited! Bluebirds are very tolerant of humans, so we can open the house and check on things every couple of days without it really disturbing them.

5 eggs!

While waiting for our birds to hatch, Rhiawen and Alden have been living it up outside. This is their favorite spot. They use this bush as their playhouse and jungle-gym. They can get pretty high. They love bouncing on its branches, and making the whole bush sway back and forth, poor thing.

We had a great visit with NannyKim while daddy was away being wined and dined in California. NannyKim had lots of adventures and kept me sane. Sadly, Corwin gave her his cold.

Alden loves using the chalkboard our easel. Look at the cute girl he drew. He's a funny guy. When daddy talks about his boss at work, Alden often asks, "Is he your master?". It makes me think of Star Wars and Ephesians 6:7 at the same time. Yes, my mind is a little crazy.

Rhianwen has been taking lot of pictures with her camera. Wally and I were looking at them while emptying her card and noticed that there were many pictures of the neighborhood. Such as the house next door, the neighbor's van, our driveway, the street. I turned to Wally and said, "And then there was the murderer." A few pictures later was photo of a murderer in our newspaper!!! We just burst out laughing.

Some funny things she has said recently:
Sobbing: "I don't think I've ever slept in all my life!" (She doesn't understand what sleeping is. She keeps thinking that if she closes her eyes and rests her head, then that is sleeping.)

"I can't wait for the first day of school because it will be my first recess!"

"Rumpelstiltskin is one of my favorite stories. It is AMAZING! They turn hay into gold!...I think...or was it gold into hay."

Mentioning school, we have decided to homeschool. I don't even know how to spell homeschool (is it 2 words or 1?), but we're doing it nonetheless. I'm excited but scared that I'll ruin it. My sin is pretty big and ugly especially when I'm being pulled in 3 different directions loudly by my children. I'm also scared I will be too lazy and unmotivated to make it what it should be. I'm also scared that I will not have the knowledge or the brain-power to teach my children how to reason and learn. I so often am confused about what is even right in this culture of relativity that surrounds us. Thinking on this decision has made me realize how much I need to be immersed in Christ and His word to even begin tackling this task. Initially Rhianwen was disappointed that she would not be going to school, but when daddy began describing his experience, her eyes lit up. Let's hope and pray we can make them stay that way.

Amazing. God bringing life, hatching miracles. So ugly and beautiful at the same time kind of like us.

Brackets and Lotteries

In their PJ's watching basketball.

We are in the midst of March Madness. I love the NCAA tournament mostly because the unpredictable happens and so basketball idiots like me can actually have a competitive bracket. It makes my life interesting in March anyway. Corwin has started watching TV and will park himself on our step which, due to the strangeness of our family room, is the up-front and center spot for TV watching.



Oh yes, Wally got a skateboard. Corwin, however, loves to commandeer it. Corwin also likes to commandeer Rhianwen's shiny black church shoes. He consistently picks them out out of the plethora of shoes on our shoe rack, and will carry them around the house and leave them various places. Only her black shiny ones, no others. Carrying shoes around isn't strange to me, all my babies have done this, but being so specific about which shoes is strange.


When he's not out practicing his tricks, he aspires to be a doctor. He loves putting his stethoscope around his neck all on his own.

In case you were wondering if my other 2 kids got kidnapped or abducted, nope, they are still here. Can you believe that Alden is learning to write?! Now, I know this is the new norm for 3 year-olds, but he's picked it up really quickly. It's still amazing to me how he is so much more motivated and yet laid back about learning, unlike my girl. He is a happy learner, Rhianwen is a...huffy learner? I haven't figured her out yet, but she will push back big time under perceived pressure. It's like she wants to do it her way, on her time, or not at all. I often want to pull my hair out or eat my shoes when I try to teach her anything, which brings me to the lottery.

We applied to a few charter schools for Rhianwen, but they choose by lottery who gets in. The first lottery is over, and Rhi is something like 262 on the waiting list, so that's out. The Montessori lottery is this week. Then one other. If she doesn't get it to any, we will consider that a call from God to home school. I'm terrified about home schooling for a lot of reasons but won't get into that now since the results are still out.

Montessori method right here at home.

We enjoyed a trip to a family wedding recently. The caterers were a little overwhelmed by all of the babies and kids there. I guess they didn't know it was my hubby's side of family wedding. They had a live band, and Corwin literally could not stay still when they were playing. He'd rise up out of his high chair and nearly levitate over to the dance floor where he'd stomp and spin. We had fun with Robeson, Natalie, and Benjamin. Here Benjamin is pushing Corwin on a ride-on. Corwin and Benjamin enjoyed sharing snacks and toys and fighting over both as well. Ah, cousins.

And I got to see my former college roommate, just briefly, and as you can see, we almost got blown away.

Do you remember wearing the BK crowns? I do! It made me feel so special.

And of course, at this time of year we have to go to Duke Gardens.

At the new fountain.

Wally had to hold on to Corwin's coat just about the entire time we were there b/c he constantly was trying to get into the many pools, ponds, streams, and waterfalls there.

Wally, in defeat.


Yay for ducks!


All pink. It's quite dazzling when she does this. She and Alden love playing dress-up and role-playing. One day the conversation went like this:

Rhianwen (playing the role of mommy) to Alden (role of daddy): "Did you take good care of the little one?".

Alden (confidently): "Yes!", pause. A little more timidly, "Where is the little one???".

They also love to tell "jokes". If you ever are around them when they are doing this, beware. Here are a few to whet your appetites:

Rhianwen's: How can a pea bounce without anything? With its hopadeedooda.

Alden's: How can a flower walk? With its legs.

Alden feeling very important as he helps daddy. Recently, Alden has been praying, "Thank you for myself." It stems from our prayer sticks which are popsicle sticks that have written prayer points. The kids get to pick one at prayer time to use in prayer. So when he gets the one that says Rhianwen, Alden, and Corwin, he'll pray thanking God for Rhianwen, Corwin and
"myself". Have you ever prayed that? Thank you for myself. It actually, if done in the right spirit, is really good thing to do!

Corwin's favorite song is This Little Light of Mine. He is SO adorable. He'll climb up on the hearth at random times during the day, hold up his finger, and start singing. (Sorry about our singing, you'll just have to endure.)


And lastly, when we accuse Alden of being angry, he often defends himself by saying, he's not angry, he's serious. Here he is showing us the difference:

Seriously.