Easter

Nope. Not one picture of the kids dressed in their Easter best, well, because it was a busy morning. Instead I took a few of the kids testing the candy for poisonous ingredients (it's an excuse they've learned from the parents).

Last night I made Easter cookies with Spencer. Each ingredient signifies a portion of the Easter story (i.e. eggs=new life, salt=tears shed by Jesus' followers, white=purity) and I found it to be a fairly simple way to explain Jesus' death and resurrection. I just about teared up today as I heard Spencer telling the Easter story as we ate our cookies. To think that he's beginning to understand why Jesus died for him just blows me away.

Its so easy to get lost in the details and forget the significance of the Easter story. Before you know it, things become complicated. As you're probably well aware, "complicated" doesn't work so well with little ones, especially if you'd like the meaning to stick. As I explained the power of the resurrection to Spencer, I found my eyes reopened to the simplicity of the story. Today I saw Easter through the eyes of my son. And like never before, I find myself holding tight to the promise provided to me through His death and I'm refusing to let go.

Now that's a good reason to eat some cookies :)

The kids and I colored our eggs this afternoon. Spencer ensured each egg was as vibrant as possible. I'm almost certain the color will make it through the shell. Thankfully, I'm not a fan of hard boiled eggs :).

Mia observed from her perch (AKA highchair). After seeing Spencer's mess, I was a bit hesitant to involve our adventurous daughter in the egg dying process. Instead, she was provided plenty of stickers and made her own little mess. My carpet is thanking me!

We're going camping?!

Spencer's been a bit excited about this camping business he's overheard. We missed out on roughin' it last year because we were hesitant to make any plans without knowing when Mia would be coming home. This summer will be different, or so we hope :).

With our camping trip in mind, he announced he was going to get us packed. I thought this "packing" would be interesting enough, so I went along with the plan. Spencer decided it would be best to use our rolling suitcases (I think we'd most likely be laughed at) and then invaded the cabinets. He finished earlier than I expected. Apparently we'll be taking the trip without any clothing, but plenty of smelly stuff, including: deodorant ("Daddy needs to wear this everyday so he won't stink"...glad I was left out of that one!), baby oil (your curious aren't you?), bar soap, and a bottle of lotion I've had since before we were married (spring cleaning?!). And all this packaged nicely in a small zippered case.

Now that would make for an interesting camping trip.

Specification required

We've had some beautiful weather here lately and we're both getting the itch to work on the yard. How long will that itch last? We shall see.

Yesterday I was outside sizing up our out-of-control lavender bush. Deciding it needed a haircut, I went looking for our prune shears without any luck. Before we had shears, we resorted to using scissors instead and I thought I'd revisit the old days and get a pair from the junk drawer. Spencer and Mia were playing in the garage and I figured I'd be gone for 30 seconds max, so I asked Spencer to watch his little sis.

I did come back within 30 seconds and Spencer did watch Mia as he had promised. The problem was he watched Mia crawl under the car to fetch a few stale cheerios she spotted AND eat them. Next time I will be far more specific...if there is a next time!