Easter

I hope you like pictures...

Easter weekend involved lots of work, fun, and family!  My mom and James' mom and sister came up for the weekend.  This means two things, 1. we tend to get alot done around the house 2. James and I get to go out! :)  Saturday mom and I went to a class on how to make a rain barrel.  We even used a power drill!  Mom got  picture of me but it's on her phone so I can't share it... man!! :)  While were doing that, my wonderful husband was replacing the huge pedestal sink in the bathroom with a much better cabinet sink model.  The kids, of course, played in the box.  Is there anything better than a big box to play in???  I still remember when we got a new refrigerator growing up.  We played in that box for weeks!  I guess I should say I forced my brothers to play "house" and "school" in the box for weeks. :)  Anyway, here are some box pictures and other misc play pictures.

On Easter morning we all got up and went to church.  After church  I had the "task" of decorating our Easter bunny cake!  I, of course, had a helper...

 

O shaking the "grass" to put around the bunny

Once the bunny was frosted, we needed to sprinkle it with coconut for that fur-like look! 

I like this picture because if you look behind me, you will see what Grandma Sharon and S did most of the morning.... look at what was cooking!  S loves, loves, loves, to be in the kitchen and look at what is cooking!

Speaking of what else was going on during our cake decorating....
Aunt Kim peeling potatoes.

Dad mowing the yard

Gaga cooking(and taking most of the pictures in this post- thanks Mom!)

Grandma trying to keep S entertained

Back to the cake...
Here we are making sure the cake is completely covered so we...

can put on the eyes and nose...

and ears!!

 (yes, the eyes are two different colors)

Can't forget the whiskers!

I like this picture because it shows my little guy's favorite pose!

Now that the bunny was done, we had to frost the cup cake baskets!  I had a great idea to make the extra cupcakes into Easter baskets with green frosting, jellybean eggs, and Twizzler pull-n-peels for handles.  Every thing worked but the handles... oh well!  O decided she needed to frost her own cupcake.  

The finished cupcake...

The finished face...

The finished bunny cake!  If you want the bunny cake recipe, go here.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Another Japan blog and other blog suggestions

I promise to put Easter pictures up this evening.  I just finished editing them.  A long process.  And I think my children are up from their naps so blog time is over.
I wanted to share a blog I found about recovery/relief efforts in Japan.  It's http://www.calvarytohokurelief.blogspot.com/.  Please check it out.  I've read some amazing stories about how God is working there!

Since I'm recommending blogs....
Here's a great one if you want some cute stuff, fun things to do with your kids, or yummy meal ideas http://taloolakids.com/

Here's another one about a mom who has an amazing gift of seeing God in everyday situations.  She spoke at our MOPS meeting yesterday and I was challenged by her words http://lessonsfromaisle12.blogspot.com/

Happy reading!!

This weekend's videos

This weekend we went down to Augusta/Wichita to visit(and have my mom watch the kids on Saturday evening so James and I could go out for our anniversary!).  We did a bunch of stuff so I'll probably blog more pictures another day.  On Sunday evening we were playing in my mom's backyard and my kids were cracking me up!  I decided to upload some videos, no matter how long it took!  Well, something must have changed because I was able to upload all of these videos in the time it would take me up upload one a few months ago!  So, this is a blog of videos.  I hope you enjoy!

In this one, O is doing her "job."  She kept saying, "I have to do my job" and would go to get a "screwdriver" or "hammer" and fix something...

Now it was S's turn... isn't he so strong?!?!? :)

 I was surprised she was going so fast on this...

This one really cracked me up!  I think it was because I know when James sees it he is just going to roll his eyes and say "nice." 

He did hit it though!  If you listen really close you can hear him say "bat!"  He would say it every time he swung the bat!

Last one... if O is my photographer, S must be my director...

Pigtails or hat?

A couple weeks ago I convinced O that it would be ok for me to put her hair in pigtails.  She really doesn't want anything done with her hair so this was a big step.  I thought they turned out cute(even though I realized I need some practice with putting pigtails in a wiggly almost 3 year old's hair!)

 She got to chose two colors for her hair... and we played with the rest.  Isn't this a very "Vogue" picture??

S apparently thought I needed some practice as well...

or he knew what his sister was going to try to do to him...

At one point during our "fun time on Mommy's bed," O started laughing.  I turned and she had realized she could see herself in the mirror that's in our closet.

So we had a good time.  I keep asking and she hasn't let me put her hair in pigtails since.  That means we may need to cut it short when it gets hot this summer.  Another thing she doesn't like to do(but we bribe her with suckers so it turns out ok.).

You get two posts in one today....
I finished my second knitting project!!  This one went much faster, but with almost the same result. :)
I knitted a hat for James.

Cool hat, huh?
I had to make it a little bigger than the pattern said because when I measured his head it was an inch bigger than the size of hat the pattern makes.  So I talked to my knitting teacher about it and we figured out how to make it an inch bigger.  As I'm knitting I keep thinking to myself, this looks big but there's really no way to try on a hat while you are knitting it.  So I tried it on my head after it was done...

 I think I look like I'm ready to go rob a gas station.  Problem is, so does James...

Doesn't even look good rolled up.

(yes, he was humoring me with this picture).
So I'm going to ask my knitting teacher tonight to see if there's a "safe" way to shrink a hat.  If not, I need to find a family with a rather small boy to wear a knitted sweater with a dad who has a really big head!  I'll let you know what I find out.

How to make a kite... kind of...

First you get a piece of construction paper and have your mom try to draw a kite on it.  Choosing the same color as your sister is optional.  Color as much or as little as you desire.  Chewing on the colored pencil is also optional, and not recommended.

 At some point, have your mom cut out your kite -like shape.  You may still color after it is cut out, but chewing on the pencil is still not recommended.  Apply stickers as needed.

 Then you need some string.  Make sure you pull a super long strand out so your mom has enough to put on your kite.  Have a hole punch handy so your mom can punch holes for the string to go through.  Using the hole punch on your hand is not recommended.

 Tie a string across the kite, attaching at the holes that were punched by your mom.  Tie another string in the middle of the first string for a handle(if your mom thinks of an easier way of doing this, skip this step and do it her way).  Make sure all straps of paper are colored thoroughly.

 Now fly your kite...

 by running around...

 like crazy people.

 If kite flying gets old...

You can always hide...

 and climb on whatever is available.



This concludes the kite making/flying lesson.  We hope you enjoyed and go forth and make your own kite.

More Japan pictures

I hope you haven't forgoten about praying for Japan... I haven't.  Sorry I didn't get any pictures from my trip posted last week.  We got a little busy.  But here are some now!

While there Andrea and I went to Kobe, which is down by the coast, to walk around here are some interesting and fun pictures!

Andrea pointed out that "Japan Coast Guard" is in English!

 

Hope you enjoyed!