Back to work!

 Chess with my boy!

 Typing Lesson--School's back on full force!

 Jess found that we have a turtle dove nest in our Maple tree outside our kitchen window.

Easter Sunday!

 Easter baskets  :)

 The kids received some Korean candy that was fun to try as well--very different from what we are used to--less sweet, totally different flavor, texture and color.  Neat experience.

 Cadbury Eggs

 Oh Sophia . . . posing so that Daddy could take her picture.  Silly girlie.  :)

 Philip really really really wants to go fishing.  He has been fishing in the house for days!

 Our little Easter Dinner--mostly prepared, packaged, microwavable . . . and yummy!  So fun!

Honey Mustard Pork Loin with jus, steakhouse rolls with honey cinnamon butter, box cornbread stuffing, Phil's green beans with bacon and red pepper flakes, loaded mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes (microwave) and peach cobbler (frozen) for dessert!

 The kids finished The Ten Commandments while I cleaned up dinner dishes.

Sophia in her tent  :)

Easter egg hunt!

Herb and Linda hid eggs with money and goodies around front yard for kiddos on the morning of Good Friday.  Excitement!

Good Friday Lesson

 We made the cross Jesus was hung on out of toothpicks and the hill of Golgotha (place of the skull) out of an Easter egg half and play-dough.  

 We read about what happened on that day out of the Bible and discussed it while they were constructing their crosses.  

 To help them to understand the part where Jesus (right before He died) said He was thirsty and they responded by giving Him a sponge of vinegar, we dipped our fingers in vinegar and tasted it.  How awful it must have been.

 Later on, Sophia actively joined me in the kitchen to prepare meatballs for a luncheon at Jess' school the following day.  She was a lot of help--really.  I am really enjoying having company in the kitchen.  She is quite adept at mixing the meatballs.  She says she knows I think it's gross so she does it for me--literally.  She also mixed the sauce up.  All I did was dump ingredients in the appropriate bowls!

Coloring Easter Eggs

 Philip draw a face on each of the foam stickers he put on his eggs.  Their were chicks, bunnies, Easter Bunny faces and ducklings.  (Thank you, Herb and Linda!)

 Sophia liked Philip's idea and decorated her stickers too.

 The kids and I found a neat kit that made the eggs into dinosaurs.  They were really cute.

 Then, we decorated goodie bags for our friends coming in the afternoon.  We had our colored eggs for an after-school snack.  I was shocked that they all five ate at least two eggs each!!!  It is all about presentation; pretty food tastes better.  :)

Philip was devastated when I had to explain that his egg would rot if he kept it forever.  He had become attached to his dino!  To make it better, I promised to take a picture of he and his dinosaur for him.  Isn't he a sweet boy?

homemade ice cream sandwiches!

 Herb and Linda strike again!  Linda made homemade chocolate chip cookies, then, while they were warm, put vanilla ice cream between them and brought them over.  They knew our neighbors were over and brought over enough for them too!  So kind.

 Happiness . . . 

Olivia cleaned the ice cream off with her finger and gave the rest of the cookie to her Daddy!  :)

making pork chops

picnic in the park

Baby Bunnies and Chicks

Our friends invited us to their quaint mini-barn to see their spring babies!

 Sweet little chick

 Soft baby bunny

 Naomi helped teach the kids how to collect eggs.

They each were allowed to choose the variety of egg they would like to take home for breakfast the following day.  :)

Afterward, the kids and I spent hours at their town's local park just playing and eating our sack lunch.  It was a very nice day.

Park fun!

We went to a lot of parks this week, before or after other activities we had scheduled in each town.  This is a park with a sculpture garden and wilderness trail.  We were able to observe how the beaver had gnawed on the trees and built dams.  There were also three deer near the trail itself along the way.  It also has a flower and herb garden on the other side of the park.  And, of coarse, it has a playground!  

Beaver dam and through flow device

They did this posing by themselves--funny!

After the park, we headed to the track meet to see Coach Daddy.  

Samuel helped him time the races with a stopwatch.

This is a different park than the one I mentioned earlier.  We ate dinner here after dropping off dinner for a mother with a new baby.  It has a fun little trail, neat sculpture and fun little play set.