Deck-Erecting Easter Eggs

I bought a new type of egg dye kit this year, which included these fake 'cups' to put the dye in. It also said to use an old cookie sheet to place them on (now why didn't I think of that in years past?). This one is completely stained, so I didn't care what happened to it, and it made transporting the 'paint' for the eggs MUCH easier.

The next tip I read in my Family Fun Magazine, which I absolutely love (thanks, Shawn!). They said for little guys who might accidentally break the eggs, put the egg in a whisk which is easier to hold and won't let the egg fall and crack. It worked like a charm - and as a bonus, the kids' fingers weren't completely covered in dye! We had to buy an extra whisk, but it was well worth it.

Saturday just before lunch time we started the project. I also got out crayons and q-tips for 'fancy' decorating. For the most part, though, the boys just liked watching the dye turn their eggs different colors. I had hard boiled two dozen so they each had plenty to decorate.

The kit we purchased also had little stickers for faces on the eggs, but they didn't really stick on them too well when we tried later in the day after they were dry. That part was no big deal, though. :) :) :) Joshua loves stickers, so I'm sure we'll have faces in odd places on his sticker books soon enough.

The boys were wearing old t-shirts from Daddy over their regular shirts.

While Joshua was pretty neat and clean, Caleb sloshed the colored water and at one point tried to drink the cup, which we prevented immediately. He's such a sneaky guy!

Notice Joshua's dinosaur perched next to him, ready to help paint the eggs. We left the white eggs on the table and put the colored ones back in the trays to dry. We only had one egg that cracked, which I think is miraculous!

I think the boys enjoyed this special craft.

Here's inspector Caleb above... and his face when we told him he could NOT drink the water:

And some of the finished product...

Then we put them away to dry during nap time so we could allow the Easter Bunny to hide them that evening for a special egg hunt. :)

Happy First Birthday, John!

On April 1, my youngest nephew John turned the big 1! Happy birthday, buddy!

We went to his birthday party Saturday evening, and the boys enjoyed playing outside. They also enjoyed dinner until Caleb decided to grab Joshua's big boy water cup and dump it on himself and the table. He kept asking for a 'wipe' then. Grandma had presents for both boys from Florida - a larger remote-controlled Lightning McQueen for Joshua & the entire set of Cars Movie plastic cars for Caleb. They both enjoyed their gifts. Here's Joshua playing with his:

Happy birthday, John!

Resurrection Biscuits

Saturday morning, we woke up with a mess on our hands. After cleaning Caleb's crib, we threw both boys into the bathtub, which they enjoyed. (Daddy started the washer in the meantime.) Then I dressed both boys in their "Man in Training" t-shirts and warm-up pants, and we headed downstairs to make our special breakfast. Just in case they touched anything else in the meantime, I washed their hands again and told them to get up on the stools.

We pre-heated the oven and got all the ingredients out for our special 'resurrection biscuits' (which we had learned about from Joshua's preschool). We had the Pillsbury Grand biscuit package, a cookie sheet covered in non-stick spray, butter, sugar, cinnamon and the normal roasting size marshmallows.

Next we started talking about the story of Jesus - and how He died for our sins - as we opened the container of biscuits.

Joshua helped put the biscuits on the tray while Caleb simply watched what we were doing, not too sure he wanted to participate until we got to the marshmallow part.

After we got all eight biscuits out of the package, we opened them up (since they're already cut in half).

We said when Jesus was taken off the cross, they put His body in a tomb. The marshmallow represents Jesus' body and the biscuit looks like the tomb where they put Him.

The boys enjoyed the story and putting the marshmallows in the biscuits. Caleb was thrilled to help at this part.

Then we closed the biscuits and pressed them together where you could still see the marshmallow mound in the middle.

Then I coated them with more butter on the outside and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top of them. Then we stuck them in the oven to bake them at 350 degrees for 17+ minutes, leaving the oven light on so the boys could look at them from time to time.

After I took them out, I got us all a cup of milk and a biscuit on a plate. I asked the boys to find the marshmallow in their biscuit.

The heat of the oven, of course, melted the marshmallow into the dough. The biscuit was empty, just like Jesus' tomb. Jesus is ALIVE!

Joshua said "Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive! And He came and took the marshmallow out of my biscuit! That wasn't very nice of Jesus..." Shawn & I howled. The Bean continued to say that Jesus is alive and how He took his marshmallow. So, I think he understood some of the concept. :) :) :)

And in any case, we had a very tasty breakfast treat that the boys had helped to make.

I pray that they will come to know Jesus as their personal Lord & Savior. May they realize the good news of His salvation - He is alive! And His death means forgiveness for our sins; His being alive is the most powerful work of the cross. He reigns forever and is coming back for us! He has the power to heal and to save! I want my boys to know the Truth that will set them free.

The biscuit is empty. The grave has no body left in it; death has no sting. Jesus is ALIVE!

We all ate our breakfast treats (even Grandpa who was kind enough to bring over some Vinegar for us for our Easter egg dye)... except for Caleb. You can tell what he thought of them by his face in the above picture. :) :) :) My boys make me smile!

Good Friday

I have to say that Good Friday was probably one of the BEST days I've had in a long time. It started out well with my devotions being on the Psalms, and the last Psalm I read was this one.

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving thanks.

 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
       come before him with joyful songs.

 ³ Know that the LORD is God.
       It is he who made us, and we are his;
       we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
       and his courts with praise;
       give thanks to him and praise his name.

 ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
       his faithfulness continues through all generations.

After my devotions, Shawn let me go for a run and I ran the whole way to the park, around the loop of the park and back. It was already started to warm up outside and it felt so good to jog and be healed of my gall bladder pain. I will never forget God's goodness and faithfulness to me!

When I got home, I had told Shawn I'd give him his day off work to do whatever it is he wanted to do. So, I called my sister Jen and asked if she'd like to join us at the park with her kiddos to play. She agreed, and I put the boys in the stroller and we headed back to the park, where they played and played and played. Soon enough it was time to head back to our house for lunch and naps (but I snapped a few pictures before we left).

Joshua wanted carrots & grapes for lunch. Okay! He's really been enjoying the baby carrots lately. Then the boys went to bed and Grandpa came over to help me peel potatoes for our Easter gathering. We chatted outside, and I showed him the boys Easter baskets. I also started filling plastic eggs with candy for hiding outside with the cousins. In the meantime, Shawn was working on our yard and dug out three stumps from what we had started digging out last year in our yard-ectomy. He also made a trip to Home Depot for some supplies and was enjoying being outside and getting things done.

After Grandpa left, I cleaned the house and went tanning while Shawn got cleaned up. When I got home, he left to get his new glasses that were done and I got my shower and got cleaned up. Miranda came promptly at 5 pm and watched the boys while Shawn took me to McCleary's Irish Pub in Marietta. It's a place we had seen awhile ago when looking for 'somewhere different' since the Matt Goss band had played there. We wanted to check it out, and we sat at their outdoor dining area (the day had been in the upper 70s, sunny and positively beautiful!). We reminisced about this date being exactly 10 years of being together - how time flies! We also talked about kids, dreams and plans for the future. Then we left and checked out a furniture store just for fun before heading to Barnes & Nobles to do some reading and enjoy some dessert. We got home right at 8 pm and I took Miranda home. We tucked the boys in bed, who seemed to have fun with Miranda and were in good moods all around.

It was a GOOD Friday! Grace told me at the park that Good Friday is when Jesus died. I said "that's right!" She asked what Monday was called. I raised an eyebrow and then she quickly responded that if there was no name for Monday, she must have off school for a teacher in-service day. I giggled. Kids are so funny. Hope you enjoyed your Good Friday, even if your name isn't 'Good.'

April Fool's Day

Thursday morning was April Fools Day. Aunt Missy arrived bright & early that morning, as she was watching the boys so I could go out to breakfast with some friends from my youth group years. Michelle emailed and asked us all to go out to breakfast at Oregon Dairy. Jess couldn't come since she's sick and has five kiddos, including a baby who doesn't sleep; and Kris couldn't come since she's still in NY and JUST gave birth on Saturday. But the rest of the gang came. Unfortunately, we didn't grab any new pictures because our server was SO SLOW that Jen was almost late for work.

Missy came bearing gifts with her for the boys - the cutest little headbands with bunny ears and a little singing bunny that says 'long ears, cotton tail, dude I'm heading down the bunny trail... Now everyone's crazy about a BUNNY man!' (sang to the tune of 'every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man'). It's adorable and the boys LOVE it! They've played it so much that the batteries are already dying.

Caleb didn't wake up until the door bell rang and Joshua screamed with glee. Unfortunately, Caleb was not his normal chipper self. He still had a bit of a fever, and this time I think he just wasn't feeling well. I told Missy I would gladly cancel my plans and stay home but she assured me it was okay to go. Caleb was well behaved for her and she didn't seem to have any problems, thank God! He was still putting his fingers in the back of his mouth like his molars hurt, but he also started having other issues later that day so I'm not sure what was wrong. Thankfully he's feeling mostly better now. He's still not the biggest fan of his ears, though. Joshua, on the other hand, LOVES them!

I think he makes an adorable little bunny! The only person I got with an April Fool's Day joke was my Dad, who didn't realize what day it was. I tried Shawn & my sister and gave up after nothing seemed to work. :(

That night we played with the bunnies & ears and ran some errands, ending the evening with a couple slices of pizza for dinner and watching some recorded TV. Both boys were having the opposite problem of what Joshua had been experiencing, if you know what I'm saying, and I half wonder if Caleb somehow drank some of Joshua's drink and that had given him an upset stomach. Who knows for sure with how they share? And I'm more anxious than ever before to see Dr. Devenyi on Thursday!

Doesn't this picture look like the "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" commercial?

The best part of Thursday, in my opinion, was that it was a pseudo-Friday since Shawn had off work for Good Friday the next day. Hurray for short work weeks and longer weekends! God is good to us!

Holy Week!

Monday was a preschool morning, and I taught in the afternoon & evening. At preschool that morning, Mrs. Hilton, the teacher's aide (pictured below), gave Joshua a Sally Car from the Cars movie. There's one at preschool that Joshua adores, and I told her that was one of the few we didn't have. She came that morning and told me her sons don't really play with them anymore plus she had a couple of them. Joshua beamed the entire day, telling us that Mrs. Hilton gave him Sally. He hasn't stopped carrying it around. Grandpa watched the boys for an hour that afternoon (so I could leave for school) before Miranda got out of school and relieved him (he started coming down with a cold, and I didn't want the boys to catch it). When Shawn got home, he paid Miranda and took her home. It was a cold, rainy and ugly day outside! The week started in the 40s but warmed up as the days went on. I had a decent night at school, which is always good. Not great, but not bad by any means.

Tuesday morning, I invited Grandpa to go along to Central Market and he agreed. I bought carrots, grapes, strawberries, cucumbers, cantaloupe, bread, blueberries and potatoes. I also bought the boys donuts for behaving well and a chai & bagel with cream cheese for myself for breakfast, just like I used to when Shawn & I lived in the city and would walk to market on Saturday mornings. We saw one of Joshua's pediatricians there, but he was chatting so we didn't say hi. Grandpa didn't buy anything but he seemed to enjoy the morning out with the boys.

That afternoon, I had a dentist appointment and Miranda watched the boys again for us while I was gone. My teeth got cleaned, and the dentist said everything looks good as usual. I'll see him again in six months. :) In the meantime, I scheduled Joshua's dentist appointment for the end of this month. Please pray that goes well!

Wednesday morning was Joshua's Easter party at preschool (where all these pictures are from). Each child was to bring in an item for the party (which is normal) and then they ask for mom's to volunteer to help set up the party. I was the only one who did this time, which I didn't realize until I got there. I had no directions and no clue what was going on. The one 'room mom' works, I guess, and the other one is due any day now with her second baby. Either way, no one else was there so it was all on me to figure out. I hurriedly put candy into sandwich bags (since the mom who brought the candy didn't bring individually wrapped pieces) and then stuffed them into eggs -- since the candy situation was a little bit of a disaster, each child got to find a whopping two eggs. Then I set up their snack, which consisted of cut grapes, carrots & dip, and biscuits they had made.

Soon the children came back from the egg hunt and dumped their candy into brown bags they had made so that the eggs could go back to the teacher. Then the children sat down at the table for snack, and Caleb started getting into toys that I helped him clean up. It was quite the morning.

At one point, a little boy named Isaiah (pictured above) said something about the baby at the end of the table (meaning Caleb). Joshua thrust his arm out and pointing to Caleb, firmly told Isaiah "that's MY baby!" and that ended the conversation. I'm not sure what started it or what was said, but I knew the Bean was standing up for his baby brother because he told me "that's my baby Caleb, right Mommy?" Yep, he's your brother forever. :)

The children enjoyed their morning and then came home for naps. Nonie watched the boys that afternoon and had a box of toys from Jordon for them. Joshua was SO excited! There was a brown Mater car, and some toys from Toy Story including Buzz Light Year arms and a talking Woody doll. There's also quite a few books, and Joshua claimed one as 'his special book' that has all the stories of those movies in them. He keeps telling us how nice it was that Jordon & Nonie gave him some new toys & books to play with. :)

Unfortunately, when I came home Shawn said Caleb started having a little bit of a fever for Nonie & was fussy for her. He seemed okay to us, though, and I thought it was his teeth bothering him. Those molars are definitely trying to push their way through! Bummer that he wasn't doing better... And thus ended our last day of March.