It's been awhile...

I feel the need to post something though there just isn't much to tell you about. The weather has been so nice that we have been spending a lot of time outside recently. Last week started out so miserably but turned gorgeous the last couple of days and it happened to be spring vacation so there was no school. We were able to spend most of the day at a park with friends on Friday. Saturday I spent the day trimming the copious hedges around our house. They reside on three sides of our house and have been in need of a trim since we moved in. I finally borrowed my father-in-laws hedge trimmer and had a blast cutting all the ugly brown scraggly stuff away and now they are somewhat uniform in shape. Luke would have done it but for some reason I really wanted to. It was really hard work but it was rather rewarding. Hopefully we are going to be able to just rip out the hedges in front because they are a sorry site with dead spots and what not but we'll see if that actually happens this year.

This week I have been a helping mom at Noah's school, which is always an interesting experience. 18 little boys and girls in one room...need I say more? Friday is my last day this year (this is my fourth week) and I'm mostly happy about that--it's just been more fun then I expected it to be I guess and it also means that the year is coming to an end, which will be sad for Noah. You can definitely tell by the kids behavior though that they are getting ready for it to be over. They just don't listen quite as well, they get more excited and are a lot louder than normal and I've noticed that they just aren't as nice to each other. Noah has made so many good friends this year and I hope that he will be able to maintain some of these friendships even though they won't be going to school together any more. But then I guess that's more up to me than him.

It's not a Dyson...

But it works! I am so excited because I got a new vacuum. The old one was ok but not working so great anymore and when I ran out of bags, we decided it was time to just replace the machine instead of making the trek to Sears to replace the bags. So, now I have a bagless vaccuum in which I can see all the dirt that was picked up after one trip around the living room and I feel like my floors are so much cleaner (even if they aren't--perception is key) than they used to be. Ah, the simple pleasures...

Finally!

A beautiful spring-like day...Yay! After we picked Noah up from school we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and relative warmth and play outside. It was so nice to actually enjoy being outside.

Biking

Swinging

Sliding

and Chalking

It was fun while it lasted at least. Today it's 40 degrees and raining. Lovely.

Easter 2007

Well, it was cold but it was beautiful...We woke up at the crack of dawn, literally, and headed over to our friend Elizabeth's house for a sunrise service in the meadow with our family (Luke's parents and his sister's family--our homechurch group) as well as Elizabeth and her husband, Stan. We had a lovely service (a little shortened from the original plan since it was so cold) of singing, Scripture, and Communion. While normally I would balk at having to get up that early, it was not hard this morning to be up to watch the sun rise and spend time remembering the Resurrection and praising God for what He did for us.

Easter has become more meaningful to me as I've gotten older especially since I've had kids. It hits home a lot harder what God did in sacrificing His Son now that I have a son. And now, not only is it more real to me, I have the responsibility of sharing that knowledge and my faith with my kids. It's hard to explain it to a 5 year old let alone a 2 year old in a way that they will understand it on any level but I know that Noah and Lily will carry with them the memory of these special mornings and hopefully it will help to make God's love for them more real.

For several years now, three extended families have congregated for an Easter celebration of food and fellowship and this year it numbered at 34, I believe. This included Luke's grandparents, parents, and his sister's family. The second extended family is his mom's friend Debbie, whom she grew up with, her husband and mother, and her three kids and their families. The third family is his mom's business partner and friend, Elizabeth, her husband and parents, and one of her daughters. It is a really neat group and we always have a great time together. It is wonderful to see the generations all together and how the families have really interwoven over time.

All the kids: Ariel, Lily, Kayla, Olivia, Sophia, Elias, Nicolas, Alex, and Noah

Lily in her Easter finery (thanks Grandma H.!)
before ...

...and after the jell-o bomb hit

looking rather angelic...

Sweet Siblings

Yummy Dessert

My contribution to our Easter celebration (which I will post more about later) this year was a dessert: Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. I got the recipe from Kraft and it was a hit! It was easy too so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Cream Pie 35 NILLA Wafers, finely crushed

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

2 medium bananas, halved lengthwise, quartered

2 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, divided

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 cups milk

2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided

2 Tbsp. PLANTERS Salted Peanuts, coarsely chopped

PREHEAT oven to 350ºF. Mix wafer crumbs and butter until well blended; press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 5 to 8 min. or until golden brown. Cool completely; top with bananas.

MAKE chocolate curls from 1/2 square of the chocolate; reserve for garnish. Microwave remaining chocolate and the peanut butter on HIGH 1 min.; stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Drizzle over bananas; set aside. Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping. Spread over bananas; top with remaining 1 cup whipped topping.

REFRIGERATE at least 3 hours or overnight. Top with chocolate curls and peanuts just before serving. Store leftover pie in refrigerator. Mmmm Mmmm Good!

Breakfast with Bear

And these are just some pictures of the kids playing together:

And to prove that Noah doesn't just have tea parties with bears...this is the lego rocket he built.

I just had to post this...

A Most Depressing Sight

Notice the date. Yes, these were taken today, April 5th! This weekend is Easter for crying out loud. It's supposed to be warmish not snowing! Granted the snow squall did not last long but it's dang cold out there! I just hope it's warm enough this weekend so that Lily can wear the pretty new spring dress I bought for her with the money that Grandma sent for her birthday (at least I bought a sweater to go over it). We also have a sunrise service planned for Easter, which will not be very fun if there is no visible sunrise and it's as cold as it is today...we have it in the meadow outside our friend's house and last year it was really quite lovely. Ah well.

Jewish Traditions

My friend, Nancy, had a really interesting post on her blog about one of the Jewish traditions of Passover. I have always been intrigued by Jewish traditions and how they really point to Christ so this was a great read. Check it out at Seth and Nancy's blog.

Some pictures from our Saturday

It started out as such a nice day...

The kids piled on Daddy for a mid-morning nap

We went to the park to enjoy the beautiful day and somehow this is
the only picture I have to show for it...

Later, while just hanging out listening to music in the living room,
Lily decided to use me as a lounge chair. She's such a nut!

...We got some spring cleaning done at the house after enjoying a nice lazy morning and then went to the park with the last minute idea of taking lunch and having a picnic. The first park we tried was closed still and so we headed over to another one across town where we ended up running into some friends. Noah was glad to be able to play with his pals but then they had to leave and the park no longer held much fascination for a boy who was growing mysteriously tired. Luke was too so we headed home and the rest of the day saw Luke and Noah both coming down with yet another illness. Noah, thankfully, didn't get too bad but Luke on the other hand was totally down and out on the couch and I am having to take him to the doctor today after he registered a 103+ degree fever last night. Luke's dad was nice enough to offer to come pick up the kids to get them away from the sickie. So, hopefully they will not catch this whatever -it-is. What a year this has been for sickness.