Easter celebration

There was much to celebrate this year--obviously the most important was joy over God's provision for our eternal security through His brave and loving Son, Jesus. But God really provided for our family in immediate, tangible, practical ways throughout the process of re-locating from a place we loved to a place we were not so sure about. Every step was covered (yes, dad, you were right :), paved with prayer, and then we were swiftly moved along with unexpected details just falling into place. I do need to make a list to remember, it's hard to fathom a thousand tiny miracles all in our favor; it's a humbling reminder that there is no performance requirement for God to pour on the blessings. If He wants to, He will . . . and He did, and still does, much to our amazement.

With Easter morning, came the traditional basket hunt. The kids requested more difficult hiding places this year, and the "Easter Bunny" stepped up to the challenge (they fully know the Easter Bunny is us--ToothFairy and Santa Claus for that matter--BUT we still play along with the tradition as long as they know the truth :) Auntie Z located her furry candy carrier almost immediately, after we hid it in plain sight but too high to reach for the third year in a row--gosh I love to see her giggle!

Gabby decided she wanted to spend her own money to buy little presents for her brothers and sister as Easter morning surprises. They were excited about the "Old School" Batman car she found (their words :)

That 3-week whirlwind is all a bit foggy now, but I don't think we bought new Easter dresses or even took an Easter morning picture like we normally do. Easter arrived so early, the lilacs hadn't bloomed--in fact, they hadn't bloomed when we loaded the trucks a few (a couple? I have no timeline anymore :) later.

But I do know, that we went to church, then spent the day at my parents' house with Grandma J and Auntie Z and all the cousins searching for Easter eggs (thanks cousin C!), enjoying the silly bunny rolls I made, the yummy food everyone else made, and the opportunity to snuggle with sweet baby H :)

Easter Eggs?

Yes, I am behind . . .  waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind--but then we sold, bought, packed, unpacked, settled, painted, and established a new home in the last few weeks, so, been kinda busy, you know? :)

I'm going to throw some Easter Egg pics at the blog right now. I sigh when I think of Easter Eggs. It was something I always enjoyed as a kid, and want to continue the tradition for my kids, but it is just SUCH a frustrating process for me! I don't know why exactly, but when Buck's mom was here to do it for me last year (while I was helping a friend get her house painted, a very pregnant friend :) it was SUCH a relief. There is just something about Easter Egg coloring that makes me grouchy. Every.year.

I started off well in 2013, I really did. But then I realized in the midst of our moving process, I hadn't resupplied my vinegar collection--had a little white, had a little cider, had not even close to enough for more than one dish of a vague, faded color on a good day.

Soooooo, I tried lemon juice (as the packaged so *helpfully* instructed. Four excited kids, the newspaper on the table, dreams of epic egg designs flying, more than one egg *accidentally* dropped and cracked . . . one increasingly grouchy mama. My cheerful, sunny plans quickly fizzled out, unlike the color pellets which just sat there with nary a bubble indicating their plans to dissolve into wondrous colors for my waiting children.

Enter the spoon to crush them (the pellets, not the kids :)

I don't know, I hope they come away with better memories of egg coloring than I feel like I'm providing. Maybe we'll come up with something entirely different for 2014, fingerpaints or something . . . somebody send me an e-mail in April to remind me :)

If I remember correctly, my son, who requested this "Good Guy" shirt to wear with his homemade costume (love it) was crying because of his grouchy mommy's fun-sucking mood during the Easter Egg coloring event, so we may not have recorded that scene with an everlasting digital image . . . instead enjoy these entertaining snapshots of my youngest in lieu of festive eggs being dipped in plastic cups :)

Cookies!

This was probably the girls' last round of cookie sales as Girl Scouts . . . I know some of you are gasping in dismay :) We continued Girl Scouts (despite some of their less than exemplary connections) because of our cool Troop Leader (my friend Annie) and her very loose associate with the group . . . meaning, we were under the title of Girl Scouts, but we weren't buying into all their media. Anyway, all that aside, the girls are very grateful for those of you who purchased cookies this year! We will probably look into 4-H next or some other local club. In the meantime, here's a fun pic of them enjoying their cookie sale at a local hardware store (granted a few months ago, I'm a bit behind, as always on this thing :)

Christmas Cameras

Here's a peek at life from our oldest's Christmas camera from Maga . . .

(Thought Maga would appreciate the one above . . . digital imaging is much cheaper than developing an entire roll of print film and discovering your kids have taken two dozen pics of their stuffed animals and Barbies--actually this one is courtesy of Gabs using the wrong camera on accident :)

And some from the perspective of Miss Gabs . . .

I guess she handed the camera off for this one on our Information Vacation (see post below :)

One tooth down, a bunch to go!

Unbelievable that my "baby" is losing his baby teeth! He's so funny though; he put his tooth in a box and left it outside of his door ... he didn't want any Tooth Fairies flying around his room while he was sleeping.

"Mom, just stick whatever it is under my door, okay?" What a nut! :)

Information Vacation

It's been a few weeks back now, but what a few weeks it has been! We were in a period of waiting, then decided to move on and not look back, and then back called and offered a promotion! But while in the midst of "waiting" we decided to do some pro-active looking. In retrospect, it was a very good thing to do. We came to the conclusion that there was no small town we wanted to call home (because none compare to our current wonderful little town) for an extended length of time . . . instead, if we can't have roots, then we want an adventure! I suppose this "information vacation" as B called it (funny kid) turned out to be phase 1 of the adventure . . . we toured civic centers, libraries, stopped in grocery stores, talked to people at city halls, grabbed local newspapers, not a thrill for the kids, but like I said, it helped us make some good long-term decisions about our short-term plans :)

And of course, we did mix in a "little" fun . . . first a visit to see Great Grandma and our supervising teacher. We are so spoiled with yumminess and conversation while we are there!

Then we headed to a hotel (with a pool!) and right away the kids spotted a pretty little owl perched on the hotel ledge. It was beautiful! They had fun trying to spot it from our third story window.

We also enjoyed a chilly, but crowd-free day at the zoo. With so many indoor exhibits, there are lots of chances to warm up . . . and the animals were active, not lazing about as they do in the hot summer months.

It think this totally counts as a school field trip! We saw cave paintings and fossils, both things the girls are studying in school anyway :)

Finally, we opted to beat the snow home instead of going to the Children's Museum (which I've heard is a good one, so we'll have to catch that on the next trip :) and instead found a Dave & Busters--a.k.a. Grown Up Chuck E. Cheese :) It brought back memories from our beachfront days and the hours we whittled away with friends, food, and fun. Good days! The kids were just happy they got tickets to buy prizes (the decision process of course was lengthy and the snow piling up, but we finally helped them split their haul evenly and were on our way).

Though it wasn't a wonderfully memorable family vacation, it paved the way for (what we hope are) good decisions for the years to come . . . it's all in God's hands anyway :)