Puddle Sharing

Of course the sunny weather didn’t stay, the rain was back the next week.  But, it was still relatively warm so Isaac and Grace took the opportunity to go puddle jumping.

One particular puddle they both liked, and they did a good job sharing that puddle. 

They quickly decided it was too small for the both of them, so they were excited to find two puddles right next to each other.  No more puddle sharing!

They soon found bigger and better puddles. 

They did a lot of jumping…

…and splashing. 

What fun!

Tulip Festival

We picked the perfect Monday night to go to the Tulip Festival for Family Home Evening. The weather was beautiful. Actually, to be honest it was a little hot. We had record high temps for that weekend in April. The warm weather was much better than the rain and mud we braved last year.

Before we could even look at the tulips we had to let Isaac visit the steam tractors (he thinks they are steam engines).  He posed for the requisite picture next to the Russell tractor.  When we told him it said Russell, he got this surprised look on his face and he said “like MY name, Isaac Russell!”. 

The next picture demonstrates how bright the sun was for us Oregonians unused to such a thing in April!  It also shows Gracie’s lovely choice of accessories for our outing...

Once we were done looking at all the machinery,

we were able to turn our attention to the beautiful fields of tulips.

We also enjoyed a few of the activities.

Emma particularly enjoyed sticking her head in the cut-outs.

Well, Lee and I may have had some fun with them too!

And of course the kids had to stand in the big wooden shoes.

We really had a great night out as a family.

We topped the evening off with frozen yogurt.  Yum!

Teaching the School Board

Emma, along with another 6th grader and some younger students, were chosen to make a presentation to the school board.

They taught the school board members a learning strategy they have been using in class.  Emma did a great job, she looked confident and she knew her stuff. 

It was definitely worth it to Emma when she got a Dairy Queen Blizzard gift certificate as a thank you.  She just might do anything for one of those…

Box Seats

Emma had a date with the Sunderland’s in a box suite for a Winterhawks game.  At the last minute the rest of us got invited too.  In fact, it was very last minute.  We dropped Emma off at their house and headed out shopping.  We had a cart half-way filled with goods when we got a phone call from Peter saying they had a few extra tickets and wanting to know if we wanted to join them at the Rose Garden.  Of course we did, so we quickly paid for what we had and then headed on up to Portland.

It was a fun, unplanned event for what would have been a boring evening! 

The kids were in seventh heaven eating popcorn and playing.

Can’t you just see the excitement on Isaac’s face?  =-)

Unfortunately the Winterhawks lost that night.  That’s ok, we had a great time.  Thank you Sunderland Family!

Battle of the Books-Celestial Edition

Isaac and Grace were so excited to get their very own “real” Books of Mormon in their Easter baskets.  They have been especially happy to take them to church each Sunday.  The excitement hasn’t worn off for Gracie in particular, her book has gone many places with us.  Future sister missionary maybe? 

They didn’t waste any time digging into their new scriptures.  They even started their own Battle of the Books.  They called it “Battle of the Books with Jesus”.  Here they are playing a round.  So funny and so cute! 

I only hope they continue to study and love the Book of Mormon.  They really like our morning and evening readings and are always asking for Book of Mormon stories.  They are also in love with Scripture Scouts right now.  The rest of us are a little tired of those CD’s, but we can’t say no to such uplifting listening material!  We have to keep reminding Emma that she was just as obsessed with them at their age.  Anyway, it is so fun to see their testimonies of the Book of Mormon start in such simple ways. 

Mommy School-Spring & Easter

Mommy school this round was all about spring and Easter.  We talked about and read lots of books on spring weather, planting seeds, new life and the Easter story.  We started off by planting grass seed together. 

Isaac and Grace were so excited to check their grass each morning.

They were happy with the results even if they were a little scraggly this year.

We also talked about the life cycle of a chicken.  I found this cute diagram and we got to work making our own.  They loved to recite the cycle and point it out on their art project.

And of course we had to have a special chick lunch!

Another day after reading a book about nests we made our own edible bird nests. 

I guess it would be more accurate to say Peeps nests!

We finally tried doing some marble painting to decorate giant eggs.  It was so fun and totally mess-free since we used covered aluminum pans.  idea here.  The eggs turned out beautiful.

The most favorite activity of all this time around was the egg hunt lunch.  An Easter egg hunt is always fun, but even more so when the contents make up your lunch!

Isaac and Grace were thrilled to eat out of the eggs.

Another day we talked about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Isaac and Grace practiced their scissor skills by making their own palm leaves to wave while yelling Hosanna!

Some friends joined us while we made paper plate tombs like last year.  The boys quickly made theirs before running off to play more “mad guys”, while the girls took lots of time perfecting theirs.

After Easter was over, we did one more quick chick craft.  Isaac and Grace painted chick bodies with a shower puff, then added the details.  I love seeing those cute spring chicks on our wall!