What about Jesus?!?

I had a few moments tonight to google some ideas for activities to do with the boys to celebrate Easter. It is the most important day of our faith, for without Jesus rising from the dead, He would be just another good, moral teacher. This is what sets Him apart as Lord and God!

So, I googled, "preschool easter activities" hoping to find some ideas. The first page I opened had a huge list of ideas. Cotton ball bunnies, jelly bean sorting... even songs like "He'll be hopping down the path when he comes... He'll be bringing lots of candy when he comes." Not ONE idea out of many (40?50?) even mentioned our Savior. 

I don't know why this surprised me, but it did. Isn't Jesus the whole reason we celebrate this day as a holiday? Should we at least mention his name? 

I fear that we are a nation that cries "Lord, Lord," and we claim to be"Christians" (Christ-followers). We have it in our Constitution and even engrave our money with "In God we trust", yet I fear that we do not know the God that we claim to follow... that we have somehow lost sight of Him in the midst of the American dream. 

I don't mean to sound preachy. I am challenging myself here, too. Do I really know the Jesus that I claim to follow? Or do I mold Him to fit what into my own comfort zone? 

Oh, God! May we know you. May we truly see you. Make yourself visible in the midst of the Christian-ese things that can cloud our vision. Make yourself known to us, even if it knocks us to our knees in worship and awe! Amen.

Indian Summer

When we moved into our new house nearly 5 months ago(!), it was in great shape. There are very few projects that need to be done to make it feel like our home. On the inside.

SO, that has left us to a whole lot of yard work. Luckily for us, we've had a beautiful Indian Summer in the middle of March and two little "helpers" to make the work go...faster? Or maybe it's just more fun with a little help. We borrowed two little wheelbarrows and A had gotten some gardening tools for his birthday, so they really look the part of gardeners.

Here's what we have done so far:

-Tilled an area for the garden.
-Decided it wasn't big enough, so tilled more.
-Then realized that it wasn't going to get enough sunlight, so tilled a different patch of land.
-Dug out about 50 wheelbarrows full of dirt from one area of the yard to flatten it and carted it to another to raise it up.
-Dug rocks out of the "flower" gardens. By rocks, I mean everything from river rock to 200 pound granite boulders. The previous owners apparently tried to grow a rock garden and were extremely successful. We now have a huge rock pile in the back yard that will be repurposed for something else that has yet to be determined.
-Cut down several bushes and tree branches.Enough to have two huge wood piles that surround the rock pile. (Is this sounding like boy-heaven or what!)
-Moved slates from a patio to a pile on the driveway. These will be repurposed for another patio in a different location. Apparently the previous patio was built prior to the existence of a HUGE walnut tree in the neighbor's yard. Enjoying dinner while getting pelted with falling walnuts doesn't sound fun at all. We've picked a new location and just need to till and then flatten the land to get started on the patio.

So that pretty much recaps the last two weekends! So much work, but it's starting to look really good. We still have a pretty long to-do list but are hopeful that this weather will hold up and we'll have lots of time to get our stuff done.

Birthday Pics

Here are a few pics from A's bday parties. Yep... two. I had planned on only having family over to celebrate, but A came home from school one day bubbling with excitement as he explained how his friends at school couldn't wait for his birthday party. He had invited them all over, and they were wondering when it would be. He was so excited that I didn't have the heart to say no.

 A's sweet friend, C, invited us to a hockey game to celebrate A's bday. It was a High School Cyclones game, which was perfect. High quality game so it was fun to watch, but not professional so it was FREE! It was a fun way to spend the morning. 

With one of the hockey players. You can't tell from their faces, but they were SO excited to meet a real hockey player!

Birthday party #1 - celebrating with family.  

 Birthday Party #2- Celebrating with friends. Super hero party! The kids all decorated capes and masks and we played lots of super-hero-themed games. Very fun!

Opening presents was a group event :) Everyone helped! 

Super heroes getting ready to save the world! (or play a game...whichever comes first)