Easter 2012

Easter Celebration 2012

Unfortunately, in all the business of preparing for Easter, I did not get a picture of some of the fun things we did leading up to Easter.    Here are a few of the things we did that I did not get pictures of:

-12 days of Resurrection Eggs

-On Good Friday we darkened the house by closing all the curtains & blinds, hanging blankets over some doorways, etc.   We ate a special dinner by candlelight to commemorate the Earth falling dark for 3 hours after the death of Christ.

-Read the Easter story out loud from the Bible.

-On Easter morning we had Hot Cross Buns and Resurrection Rolls for breakfast.

-After church on Easter morning, we invited all of our family over, and Mr. Hicks, our piano teacher, for an afternoon of games & dinner.   I got picture of the games but none of dinner.   We had a  beautiful table set with fresh flowers and little wooden crosses at each plate.

Saturday, April 7th

Coloring Eggs

Planting Magic Jelly Beans- This is a fun new tradition that we are starting this year.   The night before Easter we give the kids “magic” jelly beans to plant out in the yard.   I wonder what will happen?? 

Look how big Lyra is!!  I can hardly stand it…

Nice picture of the two big girls!

Sunday, April 8

Easter morning they woke up to their baskets at the table.   They each got a small gift from Daddy & Mommy (sticker books) and in their baskets they had a hollow chocolate bunny, a large hollow egg & some small chocolate eggs.

Lyra was the very first one into her candy- she did not waste ANY time diving into the chocolate!

Inside the eggs were little chocolate bits of candy.

Easter morning- ready to go to Church!

Easter afternoon- waiting for everyone to arrive!

Uncle Bob is stealing the baby’s candy!!!    Paw Paw & Mimi (Kip’s parents) always bring Easter baskets for the kids each year- they are full of candy & little toys.    It is *so* sweet of them to do this!

They even brought a “basket” for Alec!

Easter Egg Hunt- we waited until the afternoon to do this so that the grandparents and other family members could participate.

EEEK!! Look what happened overnight!!!   The magic jelly beans grew into great big striped lollipops!!!

Paw Paw & Mimi helping Savvy hunt for eggs.

After the egg hunt, we got out the stomp rocket and all took turns.  Here’s Uncle Bob’s super jump with Kip & Alec behind him.

Alec’s jump!

Look at Sarah go!!!

Nathan, holding his lollipop, and jumping.   Bob & Sarah setting up ladderball in the background.

Ladderball!   Mr. Hicks, our piano teacher, on the right.

Mary, celebrating a successful throw!

Uncle Bob is not thrilled with Savvy’s kiss…  To chocolatey, perhaps?

St. Patrick’s Day

 

St. Patrick’s Day 2012

Friday, March 16, 2012

We spent Friday night making leprechaun traps.    The kids used blocks, baskets and various other items to build their traps.   Savvy built a simple little trap baited with skittles.   Nathan built a trap that had the bait surrounded by his Revolutionary War soldiers.  Mary drew a beautiful lady leprechaun because she just knew the leprechaun wouldn’t be able to resist her!   She even set a little tea party with small cups of water, skittles and chocolate chips.    The kids were ALL kinds of excited when they went to bed!

  

 

Saturday, March 17th

The kids woke up and raced downstairs to see if they had caught any leprechauns.    Those sneaky leprechauns had escaped AGAIN!    The traps were sprung, the candy was gone but they found (chocolate) gold coins left behind!   

   

 

And, then, you won’t believe what we found!   Did you know leprechauns love to play tricks??   LOOK what they did to our house!!

They used the bathroom and left little green leprechaun droppings all over and dragged the toilet paper from the bathroom, through the laundry room and into the kitchen!

   

  

 

Our milk was colored green and there were little green shamrock sprinkles spread all around.

       

Our couch was turned around backwards, the kitchen chairs were all piled up and they left Lucky Charms for our breakfast!

         

 

We found the couch cushions spread all over the entranceway.   That naughty leprechaun even got into Mary’s potholder project and put in some green loops!

              

 

We have a tradition of inviting our neighbors over for dessert on St. Patrick’s Day.    This year we had a rainbow fruit platter, bowls of skittles, green milkshakes, rainbow drinks & a green Pistachio Bar dessert.  

Pistachio Bar Dessert

Rainbow Drinks

  

 

Our neighbors invited us over for an Irish Dinner before everyone came to our house for dessert.   I had high hopes of getting a good picture of all four kids in their green clothes.    The oldest three were willing… Lyra…. not so much.   See below.       

 

 

 

Searching the clover patch in our front yard for four leaf clovers.

Valentine’s Day 2012

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Each year we make cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.   This year, like we did last year (http://threelittlejewells.com/2011/02/22/valentines-day-2011/), we put hearts inside the cupcakes.   We didn’t get to some of the Valentine’s crafts I wanted to do- we had such a busy few weeks cleaning up & reorganizing from Christmas, doing 2 birthdays, etc.   Valentine’s Day snuck up on me this year and I was unprepared- oh well, I’ll do better next year!

 

We do Valentine’s Day like we do birthday mornings- this is what the kids came down to this morning.    Each got a small gift ($10 range) and a small box of chocolates with four pieces of candy in it.

 

Nathan and his much-desired Knights sticker book.

 

Mary & Savannah each got a little Paddywhack Lane set that I got on clearance a few weeks ago.

 

Savannah fell and scraped her arm on the brick fireplace hearth several days before.   She’s been using this sling for her “hurt arm”.

 

Lyra got the Build-A-Bear bunny rabbit that Nathan made for her several weeks ago.   He was given BAB money and a coupon for his birthday and he had enough to do two animals so he chose to make one for Lyra.   We put it aside for Valentine’s Day.

 

We had a candlelight dinner that night with all of the children.   When I was a kid my Dad used to recite this verse when we were at the table.  This picture reminds me of that.

Psalm 128:3   Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home.   Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table.”

Thanksgiving, 2011

Thanksgiving, 2011

Mom hosted a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner at her house in the mountains.   I wish I had thought to take some pictures of the table spread or some nice group photos but I was to busy with all the children and forgot.   I did get a few pictures of “the kids” all playing Candyland-  Bob’s daughters Jackie & Kileigh (22yo and 20yo, I think), Alec (13yo) and the four little ones- Mary (7yo), Nathan (6yo), Savannah (4yo) and Lyra (20 months).

Alec in the background, Nathan in Kileigh’s lap, Mary on the right.

Savannah and Jackie.

Jackie, Alec & Kileigh

Kileigh & Nathan

Mary getting a piggyback ride from Uncle Mikey.

What else did we do?

-Ate a lot of good food and a lot of pie.

-Played games- Candyland for the kids and SET for the adults.   Shira was banned from playing because it’s like playing basketball with Michael Jordan.  No one else has a chance, least of all us regular folks.   Kelly, Sarah & Mike ended up arguing over the game.  Mom said “It’s just like old times!”  haha!

-Went for walks

-Played hide-and-go-seek

-Pinched Lyra’s fatness.

-Played with the cat.

-Kids made puppet crafts.

And last, but certainly not least, I brought these funny glasses.    You wind up the nose and it makes the eyebrows waggle.  Hysterical.   I made everyone take a picture with them on.  I’d post Mom’s picture but I think she’d kill me if I did.    FYI: Bob & Nathan have one of those gherkin pickles. 

Advent Resources

~~**~~ADVENT~~**~~

I love Advent.  After several years of Advent failures, I feel like we’ve finally figured out how to do Advent in a way that works for our family.

Advent starts in two weeks and I’m so looking forward to it!   Here are a few of our favorite resources or activities.

1.  The Advent Book  is amazing.   The illustrations are just gorgeous.   The pages are made out of sturdy cardstock and are made to last.   This is definitely an heirloom book and one that will be passed down to your children.

2. My second favorite is One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham.  Beautiful illustrations, beautiful telling of WHY we needed Christ to come.

3. We will probably do a few activities from The ADVENTure of Christmas: Helping Children Find Jesus in our Holiday Traditions.

4.  I’ve made two new purchases this year- the first is  The Jesse Tree  by Geraldine McCaughrean.   I’m planning on reading it and using the ornaments that Ann at Holy Experience gives away with her  FREE Advent Devotional Book every year.    Kip always cuts down a little branch from a pine tree to use as our Jesse Tree.

And I just ordered this!   Isn’t it lovely??!?    I’m so excited- I love it.   I’ve wanted to do an Advent wreath for years.   I thought about making my own but when I saw this last summer I just fell in love with it.   It should be here sometime next week and I can’t wait.   I just need to track down some pink & purple tea candles and we will be all set.

In the center I am thinking of doing some pine greens, maybe a pillar candle… I’m not sure yet.  I have some cinnamon scented pine cones that I will use in some of the little holes.

5. We have a Fontanini Nativity set that I bought when I visited Rome with my Mom in January 2003.   I bought it at a little store right in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral.   It was steeply discounted, probably because they don’t sell to many Nativity sets in January.     Every year we set it up in the bay window in our kitchen and we put the three wise men upstairs in a far corner of the house.   Each day they move just a little bit closer to the Nativity.   Baby Jesus also doesn’t come to the Nativity until Christmas morning.

This year we are moving our family devotional time to right after supper.   We will begin with lighting our Advent candles and then open one door in The Advent Book, read the scripture & put an ornament on our Jesse Tree.    Then we will read one chapter of The Jesse Tree from Geraldine McCaughrean.    I’ll read One Wintry Night and do some of the Advent crafts during the day with the children.  Each night, after the children are in bed, I move the camels a little bit and so they run to find those in the morning when they are searching for Jingle, our Elf on the Shelf.

Savannah, Lyra, Nathan & Mary- Advent, 2010

Halloween 2011

Halloween, 2011

This year we have a Colonial Era Soldier….

 A Beautiful Princess…

A Delicious Bunny Rabbit… 

 

And a Pretty Little Butterfly!   (she’s on the wagon for our neighborhood hayride.   Kip hooks up lights and drags it with his suburban- very fun!)

 

Surveying the loot… 

The Night Before Halloween

Mummy Cupcakes and Candy Apples….

10/30/2011  Carving the Jack-O-Lantern.   My Dad & Sharon arrived for the night on their way to Florida.   We had a quick dinner, carved the jack-0-lantern, ran out to pick up hay for the Halloween hayride, and listened to Dad tell the kids stories from his childhood.   Fun night but a late one!

 

This was Mary’s design!   She drew a picture of how she wanted the jack-o-lantern to look and Daddy, our chief artist, carved it. 

 

Listening to Pap Pap.

It’s impossible…

It’s (almost) impossible to get a good picture of all the kids!  Here they are at our church’s 4th of July picnic.  We are inside because there was a torrential downpour outside!

I think Lyra wanted to get down…

Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to the Greatest Dad I Know- My Husband!

The children made (with my help) a tape measure card for their Dad- I think it came out pretty cute!    Here’s Kip with Mary, Nathan & Savvy.  Sweet Roo was sound asleep in her cribby.

Easter, 2011

Saturday, 4/23- Easter Egg Hunt at Kip’s Parent’s House.

Sunday, 4/24- Easter Morning

Mary with her Easter Basket- this was my basket as a child & it was my Dad’s basket when he was a kid!   He thinks that Aunt Harriette gave it to him.

Kip & I usually give the children only a very little bit of candy & then a toy.  This year they each got a chocolate bunny, peeps, a cadbury egg & some Reece’s Pieces in their basket.   Nathan got his long wished-for Science kit, Mary got Kaleidoscope gears & Savvy got some books to go with the Tag Reader.    Lyra got a couple of outfits.

Lrya was mesmorized by the basket- I never could get her to  look up at the camera.  She was to busy investigating!

Savvy with her lamb from Build-A-Bear.

Nathan doing his science kit with Kip.   He loves this kind of stuff!

Hunting for eggs in the front yard!