My, My How The Family Has Grown!

Many years ago...before we were married and just barely dating, Eli and I were at Pepperdine for their big youth rally, Youthfest. We sat on this swing together and had our picture made. Last week we were down there for the lectureships and this swing was outside our dorm. My mom brought the kids down to meet us on the last day and before we left we took this picture. I was trying to find the "young and kidless" picture to share, but I'll have to keep looking. I was afraid if I didn't post now, while I'm thinking of it, it might never happen. As I was sitting there with my family (worrying that the swing might not hold us all) I was thinking about how God has blessed my life with a husband who loves the Lord and 4 great kids. I am so thankful for all that He has given to me. God is so good!

First Days of Spring

So it is already spring. I was thinking about this the other day and realizing that it has been a whole year since Kira, Kaya and I went to visit the Rush family in Mexico. Our first day there, Kim had to make a mask for Quincy to wear to school for the first day of spring. It was so much fun that we made them for all of the kids to enjoy. When we went to pick him up at school, all the kids were wearing them. He was waiting for us and flapping his bird wings.

Panoramic Easter Eggs

As a kid I was alway mesmerized by these little eggs. It looked as if it was a real world "for easter creatures" in there. I think that we would usually get them from our Grandparents. The easter bunny that visits my house cannot afford to buy these little treasures at $5-$20.00 a piece. So, we decided to make a memory all of our own.

Joyce Wynn, a really crafty lady at church, had the molds to make her own and thought that my family might enjoy making them. What a process! It was fun but not something I think that we'll do every year. First you have to knead 4 1/2 cups of sugar with 3Tbs. of water to make the sugar stick together. Then press it into the mold that has been rubbed with cornstarch. Then the egg is dumped out onto wax paper. You cut the holes to peek into and then wait 4-8 hours so that the outside gets hard. Then you scoop out the sugar from the inside(we now have pastel colored sugar that we are sweetening our coffee and tea with) and let it dry for about 24 hours before they are ready to decorate. We broke a few eggs during this process and had to start over again.

I guess the point to all this is just to say I will never see those pretty little eggs the same way again. And now I know why they are so expensive. What a lot of work! My kids are dying to bite into them. I am making them wait until after easter. Hello cavities!

When you run with the big boys...

You might skin your pretty little knees!

This was a lesson Kaya learned on Sunday. She wanted to play outside after church with her big brothers. It was during a fateful game of "Johnny, Johnny can I cross the river please?" that she took her big fall. These are our first Bandaids of the season. Nothing says "little sister" like a pair of bandaged knees peeking under your dress. She'll keep up with them no matter what. She has fallen before and said to Eli "Daddy, I think I broke my knees." Then gave them a quick brush with her hand and off she went again.

One more talented actor/singer

It was then Ethan's turn to try being upside down man. Enjoy!

I Heard Roaring Laughter...

The other day I was cleaning up in the front part of our house, you know doing dishes and all of my glamorous chores when I heard hysterical laughter coming from our back room. I went back to see what was going on. The kids were watching this video that they had just taken of Canaan.

Kira and Ethan had Canaan upside down on the couch and all dressed up. It was some good old fashioned talent show fun. He is singing one of his all time favorite songs. I love to hear my kids all laughing and having a good time together. It is one of my favorite things!

Enjoying the snow

So, it has been snowing here for the last 2 weeks off and on. There has been some that has stayed on the ground. So far my kids have been able to roll our entire yard up into one giant snowball that sits in the front yard for a day or two. Today it finally snowed enough that it would have been impossible to push the snowball around, had it been made. Schools were even canceled. We took a little break too. The kids were out playing in the snow almost all day. We dug out our snow clothes and the kids stayed warm. I thought I would share a few pictures of our snow day. They were jumping on the trampoline. It gets pretty slippery, it is a good thing it has a net or they might slip right off. I think the kids would agree that the best part about
playing in the snow is coming in to a cup of hot chocolate. A fun treat that we don't usually get to enjoy in the middle of the day.