It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Easter!

These little baskets are made from oatmeal containers covered with paper and trimmed with lace and origami butterflies.  I have made 25 of them for the children in our Sunday Preschool class that we will be teaching on Easter Sunday.  I plan on putting some special scriptures in the eggs and I wrote "Jesus Loves Me" on the handles.  We so enjoy teaching these little ones.  They are all so precious!

Oh, That's How That Works?

Mary and her little friend, Mady, had a lot of fun at the Science Works Museum this morning. Here are some pictures of them exploring and learning new things.

See what we made!

Mary has a helper

Inside a giant bubble

Wow, we are inside this together!

Fun House mirrors

Learning about pullies

Dance of the Daffodil

Mary received a daffodil in dance class today.  When we got home I took this video of her doing a dance with her special daffodil.

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Here is the link to the video: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=1098c60f55d030255e9021d&skin_id=1603&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Sweetie Pie

Mackie loves his giraffe!  It was so cute, last night he went on his own and got his giraffe and laid down with it.  He is just like a little kid.  He wants to play right up until bedtime and then he just crashes.  lol

Caught Up

This last Sunday was a special day in our lives. The Paradosi Ballet Company lead worship in a special presentation of dance and worship songs. They are a Christian ballet company based out of Tacoma, Washington. They give the most beautiful and godly performance of dance. We had seen them one time before. They had come around Christmas time and Mary enjoyed watching them but that was before she started taking ballet lessons. So, this time was much more exciting for her. She is a little older and has some ballet moves under her belt, so she was excited to sit in the sanctuary with us and enjoy the dancers. She sat on my lap so she could see better. I would whisper in her ear to notice how they pointed their toes and balanced on one leg. I told her how pretty they were and these were some of the moves that she was learning. Our pastor had told us before it all started that we were welcome to join in on the songs and have a heart of worship as the dancers worship the Lord.  So, I began to sing some of the songs I knew.  Mary in her sweet little voice began to sing too and then she started to do some of the hand motions the dancers were doing.  We had to reign her in a bit or I think she would of been dancing in the aisles with the ballet company. Needless to say she loved it.  Here is a picture of one of the dancers below.  

The Paradosi Ballet - WWW. PARADOSIBALLETCOMPANY.COM

Then an amazing moment happened.  Mary asked me, "Mama is this the last song?"  I said yes even though I didn't know for sure.  It was the last song and oh, what a song!  It was "In Christ Alone" sung by Travis Cottrell.  As they began to sing, I began to feel caught up.  I saw the dancers performing and my mind was filled with the knowledge and thoughts of the Lord.  I felt Mary's little cheek pressed against mine, I felt my tears flow down my cheeks.  I looked over at Rich and he was wiping some tears from his eyes too.  It was just a moment that I felt like I only saw my family and no one else. I felt the presence of the Lord and some beautiful memories of being a child seeing my parents standing in church holding hymnals and singing.  Here is the song that I found on You Tube.  We have played this song over and over since Sunday.  I hope you will be blessed by it as much as we have and that you are caught up in His presence too!

 

Here is the link to the video on You Tube. http://youtu.be/ZFzsU6u853I

Preachers, Posies and Ponies

Mary wishes you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I snapped her picture when she was ready to go to her ballet class.  She didn't wear the hat to class but she was clad in green so she wouldn't get pinched. lol  I know a lot of people think of St. Patrick's Day as a party day but we remember it as a missionary day as Patrick was a missionary and preacher that won many to Christ in Ireland a long time ago.  His true life story is very interesting.

This is a shot of the lovely African Violet that my husband gave me for my birthday.  It is my favorite one now.

My plants and flowers are doing really well under the new grow light that I got for Christmas.  My yellow freesia is in full bloom.  It always blooms for my birthday and is so fragrant.  It smells like jasmine.

My phalanopsis orchid is about to pop.  This is its 3rd year to bloom. 

My little owl is waiting outside for the spring and summer flowers to come :)

Lastly,  Mary and I did a really fun home school craft.  We got this great pattern to cut horses out of light weight card board and color them. I put magnets on them so she could put them on our door and enjoy them.  She did such a great job.  I colored the black and brown ones and she did the zebra and white one.  She got so excited and I thought she did a really good job for a 5 year old on them!

My little girl dreaming about horses and making up all kinds of adventures for them to go on.

My birthday? No! What makes you think that?

Bedrooms and Biscuits

I hung a kite on Mary's wall and she loves it.  It is a spring theme with the lamb and the lion.  She loves it and can't wait for some kite flying weather.

This is her bed.

Come on boy you can get up!

A big hug!

She loves her puppy so much!

This morning we made some 7-Up Biscuits.  They are so easy and tasty and yes I got the recipe from Pinterest.  You mix 2 cups Bisquick, 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup of 7-Up.  You put the dough on a greased pan and back at 450 degrees for 13 minutes.  Her biscuit is on the left and mine is on the right.  She did a much better job forming hers than I did with mine.  I think I have a little baker on my hands  :)

Birthday in Paradise

My family was so sweet to me and made my day so wonderful. It was beautiful weather and beautiful company!

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Here is the link to the slide show: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=107e4024e1e314e00cdb3ef&skin_id=1605&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Mama's Birthday

Somebody loves parties and she is ready for Mama's birthday tomorrow!

Resurrection Rolls

Yesterday Mary and I made Resurrection Rolls.  I have never made them before.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and it looked so easy and fun I had to try it.  Plus it is a wonderful lesson on what Easter is all about.  You take large marshmallows and explain to your kids that this is like the body of Jesus after he died on the cross, then dip it in melted butter, this is like the burial oils, then roll it in cinnamon and sugar and this is like the burial spices, then roll it in crescent roll dough, this is like the burial clothes, then put it on the baking sheet and bake according to the crescent roll instructions.  The oven is like the tomb.  At the end of the baking the marshmallow has melted and leaves empty grave clothes.  Then you tell the kids, Jesus has risen from the dead, Hallelujah!!  Mary was so cute and made me chuckle.  When we took the rolls out of the oven and looked at them, she said, "Where did the marshmallow god go?"  lol  She had a lot of fun, learned a lot and it was a yummy snack.  We have learned many new and fun recipes on Pinterest.  The last shot is a collection of some the things we have done so far.