Easter Sunday

Here's a glimpse of our glorious Easter day!


Easter morning: Eliza needed her sunglasses because the sun was out . . . wait, the Son is out!

We had our own Easter miracle in the church pew! Typically, we've been sitting upstairs in the balcony to be less distracting to those around us. But today, we were going to sit down front. Our kids are not necessarily perfect in church, but they are getting old enough to know better. And sometimes the issue isn't that they are fighting, it's that they are getting along too well--laughing and tickling. Seth was sitting on one side and I on the other, with all four kids in between us. We'll see how this goes. . . . and it actually went perfect! They were so well behaved- we were so proud of them! And they had nothing to keep them preoccupied other than a pen and the children's bulletin and the sermon and praise songs, of course. A couple more Sundays of good behavior and they might get the Wii back. Did I mention that they were threatened? Oops, must have left that out!

After a wonderful church service, we had an Easter morning of family activities instead of Sunday School. It started with egg races, then we went to hear the story of Jesus told by the colors of jelly beans, then it was flower pot time and lastly, we had a family picture taken.

Easter egg races--Emmet's on the floor in the middle blowing his egg across the floor!

Becca on the left and Seth & Eliza on the right.

Ephraim in the middle and Seth doing it for Eden.

Eden refused to participate in such silly games!

Craft time! Coloring our flower pots.

And the boys coloring. They were having a good time, especially with Levi nearby.

Emmet and Eliza waiting on the others to get their dirt and flowers.

All done! The boys got new shirts and the girls' pink and purple shirts are new, but their dresses are from last year. I probably just broke some unwritten rule about Girls' Easter Dresses! I'll be making their Easter dresses for next year. I've already started looking at dress patterns.

The boys giving their flowers to Great-Grandma Elizabeth. She'll keep them for a week or so and then we'll take them home to plant.

Closing their eyes to pick out an Easter Egg treat!

Chocolate inside!

Elmer with Emmet, Ephraim, Eden, Elizabeth and Eliza
I rarely let a special occasion slip past without a picture of the kids with their great-grandparents.

And then it was off to Grandma Donna & Grandpa Arlin's house. But before we could eat . . . there were more pictures!

My kids with John & Mark.

With Grandpa and Grandma. We also took a group picture, but that's on Paul's camera so I'll have to get that one yet.

A boat ride . . .

and swinging time . . .

and golf cart rides . . . made for a great Easter afternoon.

You're never too old to swing!

Pictures of the week, April 17 to April 23

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Palm Sunday singers!

Monday, April 18, 2011

A few deals at Wal-Mart. These games were on sale, and then with a coupon (or actually 5), I spent just under $25 for all of them. I'll probably keep CandyLand and one Memory but the other games will be a great item for Toys for Tots or Angel Tree Ministry.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Seth got our wireless router hooked up and now we can use Ephraim's laptop anywhere in the house and we can both be on internet at the same time!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A few deals at Target. The trial size deoderant and toothpaste were free--some coupons do not say "excludes trial size" so I used a couple of those. And the Brita filters earned me the Target $5 gift cards. The worse part about my trip was that I was charged for 3 shirts instead of the two that I bought. But they gave me a refund when I went back in a couple of days.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Ready for Maundy Thursday services. It was a great worship experience and we truly felt like we were at the Last Supper. The communion table was set up with real/still disciples there, too! Wow!

The girls are wearing dresses that Donna made and the capes, too.

Friday, April 21, 2011

"Day at the Museum"

Saturday, April 23, 2011

A great day for kite flying!

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

I had previously purchased some kites from Target . . .not the $1 ones, but the $6 ones made out of sturdier fabric. I bought a ladybug, gecko, turtle and fish. And we didn't have to wait long for the perfect day to fly a kite. Saturday, the 23rd was just right. We went out to the hayfield after quiet time. I got Emmet's turtle in the air right away!



It took awhile to get the fish in the air for some reason. I mean, even though I had four different animals on the kites, they were all shaped the same!

That's Ephraim in the dark blue.

Ephraim on the left and Eden on the far left. You can see Emmet and Eliza on the right . . .

all tangled up! And we had some troublesome cats, too! They were chasing the string and the kite tails!

Eliza with the ladybug clear up there! She did a great job holding on!

Lovin' it!

Dualing kites! We didn't have any major tangles until the very end . .

Ephraim's on the far right and his kite is in the upper left! He didn't have much string left.

It's so much better with two!

We had a great time flying our kites that we were doing it for about 1 1/2 hours! I flew two of the kites at the same time for awhile and thoroughly enjoyed myself! Ephraim got pretty good at getting his kite in the air on his own, too. And we only let go of one kite at the very end, but we were able to rescue it from the corn field. When we were done flying kites, I unclipped the strings from the kites and carried them to the house. Ephraim carried the kites. Somehow, while I was carrying the stings, they became entangled! I spent the next hour undoing the stringy mess, but it was worth it!

Easter with Cousins

After the Historical Museum we went to my parents' house for a Friday night Easter meal. The kids had a good time playing in the basement--building a fort!
Ephraim's in the front, Eliza's on the left with the radio, Emmet's got the Penguin and Eden's got the baby doll!

When we're there, there's often a project to do! Remember that grain bin we helped bring down?? Well now all the bolts that the boys picked up need to be matched with nuts and washers. I'm not sure if the kids were helping or slowing Grandpa down!

And then we had an Easter Egg hunt. And because Grandma's a banker . . . that means money in the eggs! And a few pencil erasers, ponytail holders, tattoos, etc.

Emmet, Garret & Ephraim

Eliza and Alyssa.

And rebuilding the fort in the basement. Ephraim, Emmet, Garret & Eden in the back and Eliza in the front. I had told her to get down so I could see everyone in the back and she did just that--literally!

Group photo! Eden, Eliza, Emmet, Garret, Alyssa & Ephraim! Love it! We had a great time together!

Historical Museum Trip

On Friday, April 22, the boys didn't have school. I had planned to take the kids to the zoo with a friend and her kids, but we had to opt for plan B. First, our friends weren't feeling well and the weather was cool, rainy & windy. So, plan B was the Iowa Historical Museum in Des Moines. Ephraim has been asking to go for a while. I think he thought it was going to be like the movie "Night at the Museum."


The kids were thrilled to see the mammoth skeleton just inside the door! According to Emmet it is a "real life skeleton."

The coal mine exhibit.

The kids standing by coal mine pictures of Buxton, Oskaloosa and Ottumwa.

Emmet wanted to be alone. The Buxton picture is on the left, Oskaloosa on the right and Ottumwa above him.

Soil erosion exhibit.

Marine life fossils from Iowa.

Layers of the earth.

And lots of Indian exhibits.

That's Poweshiek on the left and Keokuk on the right, making a trade.

Churning butter.

Model of the USS Iowa.

Eliza and Emmet.

Eden and Ephraim.

One last stop at the Mammoth exhibit.

The kids were absolutely perfect throughout the whole museum! Really, they were, except for Eden throwing one fit about petting the black bear but it's not her fault she couldn't read the "Do Not Touch" sign.

We had our lunch in the lobby (bologna, chips, grapes--no apples for Eliza this time, haha). The museum is free, so that's a bonus! We spent about 2 1/2 hours here. Another highlight was the Lego Principal Building made from 44,000 Legos! Anyway, it was a fun trip with the kids!