Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter 2014

Easter was fun this year... I got lots of pictures! My kids are so grown up and in such a good place in life right now. It makes things fun!

We dyed 3 dozen  hardboiled eggs.

I buy the basic kit and we do a simple egg coloring.

 

Its tradition and its fun. 


Even Nesiah got into the fun! 


Eggs.... 


Trying something they saw in facebook... 


A sign of the times... as soon as they were done dying the eggs, the boys begged to eat them. We did not hide any eggs, instead we sat down and chowed! lol
My 9 yr olds each ate 6 hardboiled eggs! 


Easter Sunday.. Jesus is risen. We are so thankful that he died on the cross for us! 


We celebrate his Resurrection with our church family and friends! 


My attempt at a family picture in the cold morning air, right before church! Nesiah was NOT impressed.


We had breakfast at church, as usual there was lots of yummy food and yummy donuts! The kids were delighted.
We had communion and a beautiful Easter service, after which we headed to my friend's house for lunch. We were thankful for the invitation to join their family. 


The yummy food! (stole pic from G. )
We had ham, potatoes, corn, asparagus, pickles, stuffing, jello salad, rolls, and mac and cheese!
Then AFTER the Easter egg hunt we had pies.. lots of pies. pumpkin pie, strawberry pie, cherry pie, apple pie and ice cream!  


Grandma read the kids a story while the adults hid the eggs! 


Where are the eggs?!


There were 14 kids, 12 and under! Miss G hid 280 eggs!!! 


Lets count our eggs!! 


The kids had so much fun! We miss out on a lot of "cousin fun" because all the kids cousins (their age) live in other states, so it was fun for them to be included with these kiddoes! 


They searched and searched... 

Nesiah got the extras from the kids who had found to many! 


We limit our sugar, but today I let the older 3 have lots of freedom. 

They had donuts, pie, ice cream and loads of candy. Yup, my kiddoes who generally eat gluten and sugar free. 


 At dinner time, I gave them permission to eat as much candy as they wanted... an hour later, 2 groaning boys came to me. "It looked so good and was so fun but now,  mom, it hurts so bad."



The entire crew, minus 1. 


Mr. O gave rides in his model T. 


The kids thought it was great fun! 


We had a wonderful day! So thankful for Miss G and her extended family for including us today!



Sunday, April 20, 2014

Fun can alter brain chemicals in traumatized kids...

Because some days are just silly and I promised you "#reallife


Sometimes instead of folding laundry, it gets used to make a "fashion statement". 


Laughter is medicine for the soul.... 


Humor is important when you are parenting, especially single parenting kids from hard places.

Stress and trauma releases stress hormones which can alter the brain, especially in young children... 


But laughter and fun release another kind of chemical reaction in your brain.... 


So we strive to add lots of giggles into our days...

http://empoweredtoconnect.org/topics/brain-chemistry/

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Living History...

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we took a roadtrip to see The Daniel Boone Homestead. They had some special education things and an Easter Egg Hunt. Mr. J and Mrs. C ( honorary Grandparents) offered to go with us to help with the kids. It was the perfect beautiful Sunday afternoon, relaxing with extra hands to help with the younger ones. 



We love the first stop on the tour. Everyone was dressed in period clothing. We could view the house set up just as it would have been back in the day.



Can imagine cooking like this?!


This lady was very informative  and gave us lots of good info on living back in the 1800's.


Check out the baby high chair!


Rope bed and a trundle bed. My kids are really into the Little House on the Prairie books right now, so they were fascinated by seeing an actual trundle bed and a straw tick!


Spinning wheel where she was spinning flax.


Next stop was the blacksmith shop... (interesting tidbit, my dad was a blacksmith when I was a kid)
This guy was making nails.


He had lots of good info for the kids. They listened politely, but they JUST WANTED EASTER EGGS!


 Next step, the barn...

This guy was much more interested in handing out Easter Eggs then giving us any history!


Checking out the sawmill with Mr. J. (Mr. J and Mrs. C accompanied us on this fun trip)




                                                    

Interesting history facts...


These are the graves of the people who owned this farm after Daniel Boone...

Daniel Boone is one my kids favorite people from history. David who rarely reads, read an entire book about Daniel Boone. The kids can tell you all kinds of info about Daniel Boone that  are not taught in a regular history book.