Go Angels!

Luke's first Angel game...just the boys!

School happenings...

In cleaning out my cell phone pics, I found several shots from Kate's field trip to the Cabrillo Aquarium in San Pedro (such a cute little aquarium), all school skate night at Skate Depot, and Kate's class chapel (she played Mary Magdeline)....

Sharks sleeping on top of each other on the bottom of the tank...so weird

Petting tank

Grunion Ari & Kate

Gracie, Kate, & Katie at Skate Depot

Kate and Grace at chapel

Lily, Gracie, Kate, & Tatum

Ari and Kate celebrating the first day of spring break! =)

He is Risen!

He is risen, indeed! 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope throught the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." -1 Peter 1:3-4

Easter day was spent as it has every year...Easter egg/scavenger hunt to find baskets; Resurrection rolls for breakfast; church; lunch at the Jacobs'; dinner at the Parker's. 

***The end of the day was not the same as every year...as we're sitting around chatting after dinner, my dad walks over to say, "Parents, your children have been throwing rocks over the [side yard] wall into [the neighbors] Mercedes." WHAT?!! Yes, Luke and Brooklyn had thrown 30+ rocks over the wall into the neighbors driveway where his nice, black Mercedes was parked. The dads went over to assess the damage while the moms dealt with discipling. Obviously, our 4-year-olds were not intentionally trying to damage anyone's property but AHHHHHH!!!! My first thought was "oh, this is only the first of many..." Give me strength!

HAPPY EASTER!!

Easter eggs...

The kids and spent this morning before Easter Sunday dyeing and decorating Easter eggs. The "Easter season" is not long enough, in my opinion. Its such a sacred holiday to believers and I love the traditions we've established as a family. Because Easter is the holiday that celebrates the foundation of our salvation, I try to do everything I can to keep our focus on this great gift we have been given by our Creator. We've dyed eggs in the past but I never had a lesson or moral to go with the activity. I did a little research this year and found a few ideas that we managed to work in while we decorated...

This one came from Pinterest for jelly beans but it works:

Red is for the blood He gave.

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright. 

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins we made (we didn't have black but oh well).

White is for the grace He gave

Purple is for His hour of sorrow.

Pink is for one new tomorrow.

Our day with Liam...

Liam will be spending a day with us here and there while Mommy gets some work done. Luke and I are very excited to get the chance to play with this little guy. Last week, he was with us for most of the day and we all had a great time.... 

Walked around the neighborhood...

Watched Luke play in the sand at the park...

Found a giant log and rolled it around a bit...

Hung out in the old bouncer (I knew holding onto a few things would come in handy some day) while Luke showered....

Had some boy bonding time....

Flat Kate...

Kate's class is currently finishing up a social studies project called Flat Stanley. If you haven't heard of it, the general idea is to send a paper doll- they each made one that looked like themselves, hence "Flat Kate"- to people in different cities, states, and/or countries. Flat _______ gets passed around and visits many different areas and each "host" takes pictures of his/her adventures.

Flat Kate started her adventure down south where she visited the Milburns and saw the Austin, Texas skyline and Capitol building...

...then, she headed to the Schatzels in Oklahoma City and Seminole, Oklahoma...

From Lauren: Flat Kate had so much fun this week in Oklahoma. We didn't do too much because it was very cold outside and she wanted to stay inside to cuddle the new baby genevieve.

The winters in Oklahoma are very unpredictable. We have lots of days that are warm and sunny and lots of days that are very, very windy and cold. We sometimes even get snow and ice storms. But the weather we are most famous for are the tornados. Don't worry, those only happen in the Spring, so Flat Kate was safe from those!

She spent most of the week in Oklahoma City. This is the capital of Oklahoma and our biggest city. There are lots of fun things to do here. We have Stockyards City where the ranchers come to sell their cows. We have Bricktown, where every building is made of red bricks, and REAL Kate has even been there! We have a  zoo and a science museum and a cowboy museum too.

Flat Kate liked Oklahoma City a lot. She helped her friends Ben and Desmond make their Valentine's Day cards and got to meet a few of their Okie friends that came over to play. But her favorite part was when she traveled to the small town of Seminole. Her friends have a farm there and she loved getting to see what life is like in the country. Seminole used to be the second biggest city in Oklahoma when oil was discovered here. But now, it is a tiny town of only 5,000 people. She loved the big red barn where they keep hay to feed the cows and she got up close to one of the baby cows. She learned that this was called a heifer because it is a girl cow, and a boy cow is called a bull. Cows are very similar to buffalo and buffalo are our state animal.

It was cold, so Flat Kate wasn't forced to do any farm chores, but she did bring in the small town newspaper! She wanted to read more about the state and she learned that Oklahoma has more Native Americans than any other state and the word Oklahoma is two Cherokee words (Ukla and huma) and means "red person". 

We had so much fun with Flat Kate and can't wait to see what all she gets to see!

 

...then, she arrived in the Big Apple to visit Aunt J who showed her such a great time (these are less than half the pictures!)...

...after a busy few days in the city, Flat Kate needed a relaxing destination so off to Hawaii she went to spend a little time with the Hastings whale watching, surfing, climbing coconut trees, and hanging out with a real local Hawaiian boy!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our wonderful hosts around the country! Is it weird to be so jealous of a paper doll? I totally wish I could fold myself up in an envelope and come visit you all, too! =) 

XOXO

School Easter parties...