It Doesn't Get Much Better...Or More Pristine

Today we met up with our friends and headed to Radnor Lake State Park. I went to college near there and used to go multiple times a week, but have only been back once since I graduated. It was the most perfect weather, beautiful scenery, and a great time with friends. We were once again with C's "best girlfriend" and her little brother who is sometimes AP's "best friend" depending on her mood :) They were all in great spirits today and did an awesome job of hiking 2.58 miles!!

We heard woodpeckers, saw turtles, and watched three deer cross our path right in front of us.

We stopped and had a little picnic and just as we were packing up a park ranger told us that there was no eating allowed. Oops, lunch was already had by all. She told us that it would damage the pristine area.

Many long conversations between these two

After taking the above picture, C came over and told me that his friend had told him that she wanted to be his wife. I can see that on her face in the picture!

The two below don't share quite the same sentiment, but can get along well when they want to :)

They were practicing their estimating, according to C.

It ending up taking us about 4 hours and we had some worn out kiddos by the time we got back in the car. We went straight home, ate breakfast for dinner, then headed to the ballpark for C's first game of the season. More on that to come!

Resurrection Rolls

Yesterday afternoon the kiddos and I attempted making Resurrection Rolls for the first time. I had read about them on several different blogs, so I'm not sure who to give the credit to, just know that the idea wasn't mine :) The process was such a great teaching opportunity. C completely understood what I was talking about and what everything represented. AP understood bits and pieces, but loved the hands on part. The end results were pretty yummy, too!

Directions:

• Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
  
• Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
  
• Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.

• Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
  Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
  


• Bake according to package directions.
  
• Cool.
  
• Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there!!
  


• Celebrate God's love!

My True Wish

Last night the kiddos decided they were going to sleep on the deck in their sleeping bags. That lasted about 15 minutes, then I heard C say "I'm scared to death" and they were back inside. Hubs has plans to stay out there with them and camp in the backyard. We'll see if they make it all night with daddy out there.

We were awoken this morning by C busting in our room and shouting "My true wish..I got my one true wish!" Want to know what his true wish was? First let me tell you that the Easter Bunny actually thought he had really well planned out Easter baskets, light on the candy, heavier on things like socks and little things that the kiddos have asked for over the last few weeks. C has been asking for the I Spy game for his Leapster for a while, so the Bunny knew he would be excited to see it there. But...... that was not his one true wish. His one true wish was the chocolate bunny from the dollar store. Note to self: stop putting so much thought into it :)

Even though it wasn't his wish, he was excited about the I Spy. I caught a "YES!" on camera.

Excuse the semi-indecentness of AP's wardrobe choice. As you can see in the campout picture she started out in her Dora PJ's, but must have changed into her "bra" after she went to bed.

There is no such thing as a family picture on Easter morning. We were running too late to figure out the timer and a place to prop up the camera, so 3 at a time will have to do :)

After church we caught up with my dad for lunch. Baba is in MA hanging out with the northern grandkiddos.

Happy Easter! We are about to attempt Resurrection cookies, I'm sure I'll have pics to share later!

Spending the Day with Nashville

Friday we spent a large part of the day at the zoo with our friends and most of Nashville! I've never seen that many cars there. It was such a beautiful day that I'm not surprised that so many people had the same idea.I wonder how long they would have sat there and watched the meerkats? I eventually encouraged them to move on, but I think they would have sat right there for an hour :)Checking out the gators C and his "best girlfriend" struck a pose. These two have very similar personalities and just seem to "get" each other. It is very sweet. Her mom took several pictures of them throughout the day that I hope to lift from her blog :)

They are holding scavenger hunts that her mom made for all the kiddos. They got stickers for finding each animal. Such a great idea!

This is only half of the kiddos that we had with us. Our little crew seemed to move slower and take it all in. It looks like C is trying to choke a few here!

We had a great day in the beautiful weather with our good friends. We were worn out for sure!

A Hunting We Will Go

Thursday both kiddos had Easter egg hunts at their schools.

Among the MDO age kiddos, everything goes smoother when the mommies are not there, so I didn't get to see AP hunting her eggs.

But since Thursday is the day I spend in C's class anyway, I got to see the hunt and help the class get ready for it. Here are all the little boys in C's class.

Every child had a sight word written on their hand. They were only allowed to pick up the 20 eggs that had their particular word on them. That kept the crazy dashing for the same egg at a minimum and helped them practice their sight word skills!