Easter happenings

He is risen! We have enjoyed this Easter weekend very much so far, and are looking forward to spending the afternoon with family. Last night we dyed a few eggs, using a kit from the Dollar store, which advertised, "a touch of gold"! We were quite pleased with how vibrant the colors were and the gold accents really did make them something special:

 

Then this morning we spent at our church, celebrating Jesus, that "HE IS...the resurrection and the life". We have been doing a sermon series on the statements of Jesus, so these "HE IS" statues have become a fixture in the church the past few months, each week, they have been decorated a little differently:

 And, as usual, the Easter Bunny usually arrives at our house while we are at Church, and he did not disappoint this year, bringing chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, a movie and other goodies for the kids:

We pray that you, also, are celebrating the Risen Lord, Jesus, today as you celebrate Easter with those you love!

march moments

The days are long, the weeks and months and years are short. So true! In the past few weeks we have:

...enjoyed "Blasting off with a good book" at the preschool's annual reading night. A great theme for my astronaut boy!

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...enjoyed homemade shepherd's pie and apple pie from the pie filling I canned last fall, all to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day:

 ...gone on a preschool Easter egg hunt...

...enjoyed seeing Cassie and Dora snuggling together:

...and enjoyed a "spring break" snowstorm, on Grandma's birthday!

We have also seen my sweet girl through surgery to repair the hole in her eardrum that never healed after her second set of tubes, kept her quiet for the past 10 days (and at least 10 days more) and prayed over and over that it would be successful, since we won't know until the next recheck.

We have had a quiet but relaxing spring break from school, with books and movies and playdates with friends.

We have seen daffodils bloom, both before and after the snow.

And we have approached Easter...

a parade...with dancing!

Today was our local St. Patrick's day parade...the "first annual", which hopefully means many more to come! It was fun to march the parade route with my girl's Irish dance group, the Maple Academy of Irish Dance. It was her first performance with the group after changing dance schools in the fall. This school includes not only girls from our area but also classes in Bethesda and northern Virginia. The girls all seemed to have a lot of fun! Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch with hubby and the boy.

love those tongues sticking out in concentration!

Happy (early) Saint Patrick's day, everyone!

monster trucks invade baltimore!

(subtitle: How to make a 5-year-old boy really happy)

When the boy turned five last month, we decided to skip the traditional kid party at home (which may or may not have been decided when mom couldn't come up with adequate enthusiasm for a "Cowboy party". Not sayin'. But it might have something to do with that.). Instead in a moment of inspiration, I suggested we take a couple friends to see Monster Jam when it came to town. Thankfully (!) that idea was met with great enthusiasm. And today was the day!

The day actually started on Friday, when there were several "celebrity appearances" around town and hubby, Papa and the kids got to go see "Max-D" up close and personal at the local Wal-Mart, and came home with autographed photos and a lot more excitement for today.

Then today we met up with two families with boys who are friends with ours, and had a blast watching all the great monster trucks!  "Max-D" remained the boy's favorite, while my girlie cheered on "Madusa" (with her female driver), and others cheered for Grave Digger, Spider Man, Higher Education, Captain's Curse, Crustation, or the Grinder. It was really loud. It was silly. It was so much fun. And it was perfect for a five-year-old celebrating his birthday.

Hopefully I will be back blogging here more frequently, again, friends! February saw me fighting off minor illness that just dragged on and on and I just had no energy...not to do fun activities or crafts, not to take lots of fun photos, not to blog. Thankfully, I think its all behind us now...and spring is coming!!!