Risen and Camping

Although I am playing catch-up, we still have our "He is Risen" banner up in our dining room! The kids keep asking when we will take it down. Soon, soon. But we are glad the fact is there to stay.

Dyeing Easter Eggs. I had to donate one of mine to the little boy b/c he was so enthralled with this activity. 

Resurrection cookies: sealing the "tomb".

Adding the last picture to the Easter road.

Easter baskets! I felt like I had to especially tell Rhianwen that today was NOT about Frozen. She did a good job being excited and then shifting her focus back to Easter and worship.

Squinty, tired, ready for lunch after a long but good morning at church.

Oh, you didn't find a strawberry, but an egg?

Enjoying their "tiny-one jellybeans" as Corwin dubbed them.

Engrossed in egg peeling. 

Alden went off on his first camping trip with Daddy and a group of boys who are joining Trail Life USA. He was SO excited. Corwin was very sad, and kept insisting that he wanted to go. Once he found out that you had to be 5 to go, he said, "I not three! I five!....Yes, I am! I five!". As you may have guessed, he was stuck watching Frozen and eating pizza with the girls, but the highlight was that he got to sleep in Alden's loft while he was gone.

Alden's list of essential camping gear.

Throwing rocks in the lake.

Reading how to cook eggs in a bag for the next morning...it actually worked!

See?

Putting up a tent, taking it down, and repacking. They also lit a fire using matches. Guess who got burned? Yes, this stuff is for men...not mommies.

On a hike, in a tree, watching an osprey. Bonus points!

We are really excited about this. As you can tell, Alden felt so special and like a true adventurer doing this with his daddy and other guys. We hope there will be many more experiences like this for them.

Back at home, Corwin cut this almost all by himself, and he glued everything on with the correct orientation completely on his own. I was amazed, but maybe that's b/c I still think of him as my baby most days.

Cardinal eggs in our backyard. I love spring!

Duke Gardens, here we come. There were 9 little ducklings following their mommy around. You can see 3 in this picture. Yes, Alden likes to live on the edge.

Koi!

My sweet kids. 

Picnicking in a quiet spot. 

"You are very funny. Even funnier than me." ~Alden

Corwin's first man drawing. Don't you love the man's expression? Looks like how I've felt about this last month: "Meh."

"En guard you happy guy, you."

Kid's drawings just make me happy, you know?

"We're off to see the wizard...." Oh wait, Dorothy got saved and stayed in Kansas. (This is Rhi's drawing, and there is a spider under the flap in the tornado, and I forget what was under the flap in the sky).

Love my family.

Preparing for their Greek comedy.

Their Greek play. Yes, I shouldn't have said they were dumb, but they knew they were being silly which is what I was trying to say...welcome to the imperfect homeschool. It was pretty funny, don't you think?


Using the paint over wax technique which the Greeks used to paint their vases. I really loved Corwin's and have thought of framing his. It reminds me of freedom, innocence, and being in the moment when I look at it.

Front

Back (Do you think Rhianwen convensed aka convinced daddy?).

Testing the Pythagorean's triangular numbers.


Boxing, his socks are his boxing gloves, duh!


You are in the presence of a master builder. Oh, yeah.


Finally, the MOSS robot has arrived! It is a set that allows you to construct various robots and was a long awaited Christmas gift for Alden and daddy. They are having a lot of fun with it.

Sorry about the woppee-jawed effect, my photo-storage site changed, and I didn't feel like figuring it out tonight.

Some good things that have happened:
-Rhi did great on her first year of standardized testing. We chose the Woodcock Johnson test because I felt like it was the best fit for her personality, and I don't regret it. She had a great experience and felt very affirmed as a result.

-Warm weather and beautiful colors.

-Visits from friends

-End of Homeschool year 2 in sight! Unbelievable to me.

Alden has been really pushing me in math by not being careful with his counting. He often just wants to look at a group of objects and count in his head or estimate. I finally sat down and had a "real-world" talk about how if he did that as an anesthesiologist or engineer etc., that he could kill someone...yeah...maybe it was a little overkill, but it seemed to be a motivator.

Silly Corwin convos:

Daddy: I smell something stinky. (looks pointedly at Corwin)
Corwin: It's you. You fotted.
....

Corwin: I love you, mom.
Mommy: I love you too!
Corwin: Me too.
....

Mommy: Why did daddy get that wood?
Corwin: He wanted it for his nails.

...
Corwin: My hot not broken.

We have had a rough month of sickness, but I think we are over the worst and hope that we'll all be able to celebrate Easter together at church!

Winter Olympics and a Birthday

I'll cook in snow.

 And why was I insane enough to suggest going faster? I guess I one of those moms.

Daddy tries slopstyle out. Too bad he doesn't have a sponsor, so no cool board for him.

 OH, yeah, a future Olympian.

 Pretending to be Susan and Peter in Narnia.

It is funny how the Chronicles of Narnia come out in normal life. Alden was watching cars go by, and he said, "A mommy car...a daddy car...a sons and daughters of Eve car...". Totally laughed at that.

 Corwin quickly tired of his Olympic training and decided Daddy needed to train for the winter Olympic biathlon.

 2 man bobsledding on a not so ideal track. A tree had to be moved off the track after an initial hit.

 Relaxing with hot chocolate in the lodge.

 Happy birthday to Corwin!!! "Who, me?".

 Monster yellow decorations. 

 He loved his homemade card so much he took it to a Dr.'s appointment and told the lab tech: 3!!! Great job, daddy.

 His fave toy from us...hand held rockets. He tried to convince me that daddy said he could sleep with them. I'm not so gullible yet.

 No more fighting over armor...just more real fighting now.

 Corwee's yellow monster cake...I was feeling like it looked lame until I put almond claws on it. Amazing what little finishing touches will do.

 Decorating his own monster cake for craft. These were so fun and adorable.

 Guess what he ended up eating when given the chance? The sprinkles and the frosting. He left the rest of the cake.

 Other friends working on their creations.

 Pin the stuff on the monster. They didn't like the random results and felt compelled to replace them correctly.

 A few of the creations.

 A monster treasure hunt. I hid monsters with clues to the party favors.

 Corwin insisted he could read his clue.

 Titus was so excited about the gift he was giving Corwin. Love little friends.

 Cousin Benjamin taking a monster bite.

 More gifts. This was funny b/c it was in a box, and after Corwin got the paper off, Alden said, "It's a box." Corwin took a disillusioned look at his friends Sara and Eli, dropped it, and walked off. We convinced him there was something in the box, and he is now enjoying his own pair of scissors and pack of construction paper daily.

 Granddaddy and Smiley aka Kallie.

 Opening rocket man with Grandmama.

Corwin counts up for blast-off. Yeah, I totally confused him when I started counting backwards. I decided we'd better stick to getting the counting up down first...get it...ha ha.

 When he opened his shield from NannyKim and Grandpa, he said, "My shield!". He asks daddy to fight regularly but gets mad at him if he does not submit to his onslaught.

He changes the last thing all of the time. Before this clip, it was "My mommy says be quiet!". Yes, he knows my phrases if not his ABC's.

New monster jimmy-jams. He has refused to wear anything else, but his old set had holes in the toes and was getting really tight. Thank you NannyKim for sending a 3T for our little boy.

What can I say about this little boy? He can be a terror and a joy, a cuddler and a pounder, nearly always messy, doesn't know his ABC's yet, just barely has learned to count to 10, hasn't potty trained completely yet, just a relaxed boy who enjoys life. He loves cutting and pasting, loves stories, has begun memorizing Bible verses, says he "wants Jesus" when he's feeling guilty/being disciplined, loves his "chocate drink" (cocoa) and Orange juice, loves bringing his noisiest trucks or toy horses to wake mommy and get some quality play time first thing in the morning on our bed, and always asks where daddy is if he is gone. He's growing so big and I hate to think of the time when I won't be able to cuddle and snuggle with him. I've never gotten this far without having another baby, so it is a strange feeling to have such a big little boy as my youngest. My prayer is that his heart's desire would always be to "want Jesus" and that he would grow in strength and purpose in the Lord.