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.