Easter and Some Other Things

Happy Resurrection Day! Hope you guys had a great holiday. :o) Here are some pics of our day, then some other things. 

This year, we did an "Easter garden." On Good Friday morning, we went out into the backyard and dug up some dirt, grabbed some twigs, leaves, grass, flowers, weeds, etc, and made a "garden." We put a small pot in the container to show Jesus's tomb and covered it with a rock. The idea is that we've uprooted these things, thus, cutting them off from their "life." By Saturday evening, everything looks pretty dead. We talk about how when we cut these things off from their "life," their roots, they can't thrive anymore. There isn't any way for them to grow, they can't grow themselves apart from the roots that gave them life. They have no hope. Then, on Sunday morning....

.....Flowers! The stone was rolled away and before they got up this morning, we had taken out all the dead things and replaced them with live beautiful flowers we had just bought the night before. Jesus is alive! Everything that was dead now has the hope of Easter, the hope of being alive again in Christ. I really like this idea, and I think we'll make it part of our Resurrection Day traditions. This being the first year, it was really a surprise to the girls to see all the fresh, beautiful flowers in their "garden." I really like how it makes it "magical" in a way, akin to Christmas morning. Of course, Christmas is important, but were it not for the Resurrection, it wouldn't have mattered! We want them to understand that Easter is a big holiday, too. (Not sure what face Shiloh is making here, but it was the best we could do. I forgot to take the pic first thing in the morning, so this was later in the afternoon and they weren't as cooperative!)

Okay, back to the morning. Some of the girls' spoils...

Shiloh and the 2nd and 3rd Chronicles of Narnia movies. She just discovered them and LOVES them!

Tickets to AgapeFest, a Christian concert that's coming to town next weekend with lots of bands she likes, specifically Francesca Batistelli, one of her favorites! She's been hearing it advertised on our local Christian radio station, and it never occurred to her that she would get to go. She was really excited!

Ahhh!!! Anna and Elsa, the Disney "Frozen" dolls!

SarahMae and her My Little Pony train set. She LOOOOVES Shiloh's train set and so we got her one just like it so they don't argue, plus some of her own ponies. She played with it all morning!

Baby in a carseat. We loooooove the babies in car seats. :o)

 After church this morning. They were so done with pictures, although this one isn't too bad. :o)

We have some friends who were also without family on Easter, so we invited them over today and had a big lunch with an egg hunt. SarahMae was a pretty huge fan of the peanut butter pie with whipped cream. :o)

Wow! Big eyes!

Hah! We put one up in the tree and she had to climb to get it, which, of course, she did gladly!

These are the one that some of you guys got in the mail, although I wasn't too impressed with the resolution this time. So, here they are in digital form if you'd like to reprint them. :o)

Rick and Shiloh were in our church's Easter pageant, but I only got a pic of Shiloh.We're still waiting on the ones of Rick with the other disciples. 

Now, some random ones. This set contains more recent ones from my phone.

Shiloh sewing. She really enjoys sewing. She prefers hand sewing or embroidering, but she asked to use the sewing machine that day. She's getting bolder. She says it still freaks her out when it goes fast, but she's getting better. :o)

She made a harp with her Kinex.

And was showing me all the roly-polys she found under a log in the backyard later that afternoon.

A little out of order, but the is a pic of her hairstyles at one of the Pageant performances. She had to wear her hair in a braid or straight down, but her hair is so crazy long it would have gone everywhere, so I put it in a double braided headband. We, of course, were running late as usual, so I only remembered to snap a pic as we were leaving the church that night. It was really cool!

SarahMae in the van, waiting for Shiloh to get out of ballet. We were trying to stay occupied. :o)

These are from Rick's phone and date back quite a ways. I used his phone to take some of the Easter pics, and as I was sending them to myself, realized that he had a ton on there I'd never seen! So I sent those to myself as well, and now I'm sharing them with you!

Shiloh during nap one afternoon. We always have a mandated "quiet time" every day. For at least an hour and a half, everyone goes to their room. As a homeschooling family, this is important. Very. Important. I love homeschooling, but we are around each other every moment of every day and a break to "reset" our attitudes is often in order. Mostly for me. :o) Shiloh doesn't always nap, but she does frequently. She still doesn't sleeps so well at night, so she can "catch up" some days during quiet time. And it's cute. :o)

Rick and SarahMae painting together. I'm guessing Shiloh took this one!

This was hilarious. This must have been during all the snow we got, when our snow gear was ever-ready by the back door. This is SarahMae, in her mismatched pajamas, with her snow boots (two sizes too big b/c literally EVERYwhere had run out! I eventually found this pair at Once Upon A Child) and Shiloh's snow hat. It's so cute!

 Ta-da!

On a giant turtle outside a roller skating rink we visited one night. Not sure why a roller skating rink would have a giant turtle, though...

I work at a crisis pregnancy center one Saturday a month and Rick usually takes that time to do something special with the girls. This day, our local Butterfly House had a special sort of blue butterfly that was emerging and they were EVERYwhere! Rick said you would almost be afraid you might breathe one in there were so many!

There was also a playground nearby, so they visited there, as well. I love these pictures of them!

Okay. I did not push her in the dirt. She was swinging in the big girl swing in our back yard on her belly, face down. I SAID "SarahMae, be careful or you'll fall in the dirt." Two seconds later, she runs to land in the swing on her belly, misses the swing and face plants in the mud. Nothing was hurt except her pride. And I took pictures. Mostly because I'm an awesome mom. :o)

I think this was after Bible Time one night before bed. Too precious.

Rick took off one Wednesday and we went to the zoo. The weather was awesome!

Shiloh and Rick playing around with Rick's phone. They're adorable!

Shiloh and Chico. This monkey has been around forever. 40..50 years? My mom played with it when she was little, then I did, now Shiloh does. Except she's not allowed to take him out of the house because he's so old and falling apart. Hence, why she looks so teary. Sensitive girl. :o/

She made an origami heart and wanted us to take a picture. She really likes making these, we find them all over.

Same pajamas, different night, she wanted us to take a picture of her and Shelby in their matching PJs. Again, super sweetness.

And that's all I've got for now. I'm trying to get better at posting, hopefully I'm beginning to succeed! The girls are doing well. Shiloh is studying for Memory Masters,  a test where she's required to memorize 300 something facts across many subjects, and she'll take that test next week. (Here's a link to a blog post explaining it in more detail.) It isn't required for our curriculum, but once she heard that trophy was involved, she was all in. I think she'll do well, but it's a very rigorous test and there are no second or third places, just all or nothing. If she misses just one, she's out. We'll see how she does, we'll reward her ourselves regardless, she has a great memory! She's also rehearsing for the Cinderella ballet with the ballet company to open next month. She's a mouse again, but a nice mouse this time, which makes her happy. :o) 

SarahMae is as much a toddler as ever. She loves her babies, pushing boundaries and saying "NO MAAM!!!" as loudly and as often as possible. :o) One of her favorite sayings right now is "It happens sometimes!" as she shrugs her shoulders. She's a super smart kiddo, notices and listens to everything, can recognize many of her letter and can count to 20! Not just reciting it, either, she can actually count out up to twenty of something and tell you how many there are. Genius!! ;o) She loves to sing, and make up her own songs, and is loooooonging to follow in her big sister's footsteps and dance ballet. She's always asking "Is SarahMae three yet? Me dance when me three? I dance ballet yet???"

We love these girls! Hopefully, these pictures brightened your day. Love you all!