Eggs, a Garden, and Eternal Life.

In the weeks leading up to Easter my mommy friend Jill and I were mumbling about the evils of bunnies and eggs and other commercial ills.

Just like the Santa conundrum, there had to be a way to refocus our family on Christ instead of the Easter bunny, without completely killing the fun.

So I went where any smart momma goes seeking answers… Pinterest.

I found some idea’s worth playing with.  With our wonderful friends the Swenson’s we had one of the best Easter’s ever.  

Thursday we had a Jerusalem Supper.  We sat on cushions and blankets on the floor and ate from several big platters. We ate dates, figs, nuts, flat bread, Greek yogurt, hummus, and gorgeous homemade grape juice.   Steve Swenson said it reminded him of his trip to the BYU Jerusalem center.

                                                                                                           

After dinner we talked about Christ washing His apostle’s feet.  Then we took turns washing each others' feet.  The kids loved this and it was so sweet and holy to watch them serve each other like this.

Finally, we went out on the deck and put together our Resurrection Garden.  We talked about the Garden of Gethsemane and the sacrifice of Christ made for us in that garden. We talked about the symbolism of the objects and the stones that make the path to the tomb in our garden. How Christ is our Path to Eternal Life. The kids loved putting the items in our garden.

Friday we placed a little stick cross up in our garden and talked about the events on that long ago Friday.

  Saturday Morning we joined several families at the Swenson house for an Easter Egg Hunt.       Find 200 eggs?  No problem!  The kids didn’t even mind that it was a bit breezy.

 

 

Later on back home, we talked about how Jesus’ friends would be feeling very sad and missing Him.  This year we had a very personal reference.  This past January the kids experienced their first death when we lost Grandma Maw.  We talked about her funeral and how we shared stories and memories about Grandma.  We imagined that Christ’s friends and followers were sharing stories and memories about Him on that long ago Saturday.  We took a white table cloth and decorated it with our favorite stories of Jesus. Then we removed the tiny cross and moved the stone in front of the garden "tomb."

First thing Sunday morning I woke before the kids.  I rolled away the stone from the tomb.  I placed a small white cloth inside the tomb floor.  Then I lit the little candles. 

Perhaps the best part of our Easter was, when the kids came running up stairs that morning, before asking if the bunny came, they asked to see the garden. And there it was, candles lit, stone rolled away, with the morning sun streaming down on it through the windows.  Holy.

The Easter Bunny did come by bringing the usual candy, books, and of course Peeps! Then the kiddos got all dressed in their darling Easter clothes, courtesy of Mimi and Papa.

After a beautiful day at church we headed back to the Swenson’s (bless Jill’s hospitable heart!) for Easter Supper.  We used our white table cloth with the stories of Jesus on it and Kari Swenson added her favorite stories too.  

A wonderful, blessed Easter.

At least there's pictures!

Boy do I have some amazing ideas for blog posts!



They're just not getting written now.

But they are amazing I promise.  Definitely worth waiting around for.  Pretty sure.


For now we will offer up something to keep the grandparents happy.  Here's a couple of photo books I made on Shutterfly.


"Shutterfly.  When you're just too lazy to scrapbook."

One is for Ethan.  Ya know, since he's gonna be ONE and all.  Thought I maybe should get around to documenting his birth.


The other is the first stab at a cool idea I learned. 

Instead of hanging on to all those valuable pieces of artwork the kiddos bring home from school 
                         EVERY DAY
you take a picture of them.  (And throw the original away when the kids are asleep!)

In the recycle bin of course.  I'm not COMPLETELY evil.


Then you put them all together in a handy dandy little book like this one.  Must say I'm pretty excited about how it turned out.


The recycle bin was pretty excited too.


Enjoy!

Aiden's Kindergarten Artwork

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Ethan's Birthday

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly baby photo books are the perfect way to preserve your baby's precious moments.

Belts, Bunk Beds, and Is That Chocolate You’re Wearing?

I keep thinking that I need to set some kind of goal for how often I should post on this little blog.

That way I will have an objective measurement with which to flagellate myself. 

And yes, I totally had to Google how to spell flagellate.

But, in the wise words of a heck-of-a-lot of Pinterest users…

“It is what it is.”

So here’s a completely flog-free update…

We had a big night at Tae Kwon Do... 

Grace and Aiden earned their High Orange belts 

  

and I learned that I have been saying 

              Tae Kwon Do

like an idiot for about 8 months.

(More on that later.)

                                                      

They have been taking from Master Bennett since last March.  He is such an amazing and gifted teacher.  It is extraordinary to watch Master Bennett teach a room full of students, all of different ages and at different levels.

He has a gift for sensing just how much to expect from each student.  He will push them to stretch and achieve but not so far that they become frustrated.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Plus it’s waaay cool to watch him break like 7 slabs of wood  with his foot. 

We’ve coerced our friends to take class with us.  Braden and Kari earned their Orange belts! 

Their mom Jill and I have been taking class too.  There are no pictures of this. 

But let me assure you…don’t piss Jill off.  She could totally spin kick you in the head.  

Oh, and turns out…  I, along with Oxford and Webster and all us other English speaking know-it-alls have been pronouncing our Korean incorrectly.  Oddly enough, Tae Kwon Do is pronounced 

Tae (rhymes with say)   KWON  do (sounds like dough.)  

 NOT     Tie       Kwon     DOUGH.  

Don’t even ask me how to say kick.

Next up, the great migration of 2011.  Hopefully it will be complete by 2012.  We have shuffled just about everyone’s rooms.  After much debate Grace and Aiden decided they want to share the big downstairs bedroom.  How cool is that?  So we got some bunk beds!

 

They are loving it! 

 

  





      


They are so cute together. They really are each others best friend.  Makes me a very thankful Momma.

 

Another thing that makes me a thankful Momma is that now Ethan is sleeping in Aiden’s old bedroom.  Thanks to our friend Jill (you know, spin-kicking Jill) for loaning us a crib.  He now…

Sleeps Through The Night.

Can I get a Hallelujah?

Currently that is as far as the shuffling has gotten.  Eventually the idea is to move the library up into Grace’s old room and make the now-library into an exercise room.

Eventually.

And speaking of Ethan... 

He is 8 months old now.   I like to call him Squishy.

Click here for Squishy reference…

I worried and debated quite a lot about stopping the breast feeding thing (see “flagellate” above).  But, ya know, babies receive all of momma’s good antibodies and stuff by the age of six months and well…

there’s chocolate.

Completely for the antioxidants of course. 

We only give him DARK chocolate.

What kind of a joint do you think we’re runnin’ here?

What do I tell my students?

So I’ve been sitting on this little blog for a while now.

I lost some sleep playing with all the fun layout and design toys and marveling at the creative brilliance and amount of free time some people have. 

Did you know there is a whole world filled with people who dream up and design really cool bloggy stuff and then give out said bloggy stuff on the web for free??  

So people like me (who can’t afford Photoshop) can still look respectable. Thank you cool bloggy people.  

But that is as far as I got.

Writer’s block set in.  

The first post. 

What do I say?  It’s the first post.  It has to be great. 

What if it sucks and people come to my blog ONE TIME, see that it sucks, and never come back? 

What if someone comes to my blog, sees that I use words like “suck”, decide that I am a vile scourge on Mormon’s everywhere and never come back?

What if they don’t want to let their blogs come over to play at my blog because I am a bad influence? 

Or worse … have typos?? 

And that still leaves the biggest question... what font am I gonna use?

You see my dilemma. 

You also see why Ryan’s runnin’ for sainthood.  Sometimes I say this stuff

  out loud. 

 

Really.

So the blog has sat bare but for a couple pics of the kiddos.  Then I realized… getting someone to write, someone who doesn’t want to / is scared / lazy etc.

um, well, was kinda my job. 

 

I’ve coerced 15 year old guys into writing poetry.  I should at least be able to make myself write something.  

“Just start writing.  Get something down.  Write, ‘I don’t know what to write about’ till something else comes out.  Start your pencil moving (or fingers typing).  The key to writing is writing.”

So look! “I’m sailing! I’m sailing! I’m a sailor! I sail!” 

 Oh, wait, no, look… I’m writing! I’m a writer. I write. 

Besides, who’s gonna read this beyond Daddy and Margo? 

They don’t mind if I say suck…trust me.  They’ve heard worse. They just want pictures of their grandkids looking like they’re giving Ryan and I a run for our money.

Which they do. Daily.

And then, about a New York Minute later, they’ll do something else and Ryan and I will look at each other and think, “Holy s*%t. How did we ever get to be parents to such amazing, extraordinary, Christ-like, freakin’ brilliant kids?” 

 

Well, I mean, I think that.  I’m pretty sure Ryan doesn’t think in swear words.

So here’s our first post.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back again for more momma wisdom sprinkled with profanity, obscure movie quotes, and references to Christ.

What do you need to write down today? 

Hi!

Hanging in my saucer!

6th Birthday!

Daddy-Daughter Date Nite