A Bit of Swimsuit Modeling

Gaga is in town, and yesterday, she raided the Gymboree outlet for some swimsuits for the kids.  They were sooo proud of their outfits, so this morning, they modeled them for us:

Happy Easter!

If you could sum up in one word all that I want to be as a parent, it would be:  purposeful.  (Okay, I guess it would really be loving, but purposeful is a close second.)  And so, as our family embraced the Easter season this year, I tried to be as purposeful as possible of capturing the true meaning for my children.  As with Christmas, I had to think a lot about why we do what we do, and how to celebrate the holiday in a way that glorifies God.  Here is what we came up with. 

Yesterday, we wrote a letter to our sponsored child and explained to him the meaning of Easter and why we celebrated it.  It was just a wonderful coincidence that we had gotten a letter from him, and so I took advantage of the opportunity to write back.  Also, Luke and Anna drew him some pictures.  I loved Luke’s block lettering.  He copied it from the DVD cover:

The conversation around the letter really set the tone for the day.  Next, we took some inspiration from the jellybean “paintings” we saw at the children’s museum and made our own jellybean art:

I made royal icing, which is what we use for gingerbread houses, and I taped some white paper to cardboard.  Despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing, it turned out pretty well.

We also may have snuck some of the icing in the process:

If I had planned it better, I would have had some way to decorate the borders.  Instead, after they dried, I just put them on plate stands and made a little display.  Anna made the empty tomb with an angel on top, and Luke made a cross and a tomb:

Then, after dinner that evening, we made Easter story cookies.  These were a hit, and I would highly recommend them to anyone with small children.  I got the idea from a website called Modern Sacred Family.  Here is the link for the cookies.  We followed the directions exactly.  There are several Bible passages you read, and each step of the cookie making process represents a different part of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Um, and Anna is wearing pants on her head, and Luke is wearing an amazing outfit.  He had on swim trunks from helping his dad wash the vehicles that afternoon, and from giving his outdoor toys a bath, which he did completely by himself:

Also, leave it to an English nerd’s son to get symbolism at age 4.  When I explained to the kids that the cookie mounds were Jesus’ rocky tombs, Luke responded that, “And we need sprinkles for confetti, because He rose, you know.”  Genius!  So we definitely added sprinkles, and will be sure to do that every year we make these cookies.  At the end, you put them in a preheated oven, turn the oven OFF, and then wait until morning.  We sealed the oven with tape, like it was Jesus’ tomb (b/c they totally sealed Jesus’ tomb with tape, right?).

Then it was bedtime for the kiddos.  While I laid down with Luke, we briefly talked about Easter the next morning.  I told him that the Easter bunny might bring him a basket, and he was excited, but responded, ‘But the Easter bunny is not real, you know.  It’s really you.”  I admitted that it was, but that it is fun to pretend.  He agreed, and from that point on, he didn’t say anything about the Easter bunny not being real.  To me, that is the perfect scenario.  We get to enjoy the Easter bunny, without being deluded by him:).  And frankly, as the Easter bunny, I am totally fine with getting the credit:).

One thing I got each of them were these adorable printouts:

You put them in a frame, and then you can use a dry-erase marker to write different little messages.  Adorable.  But I seriously paid $5 each for these printouts before realizing that I could have spent 5 minutes making them myself.  Brilliant.

And of course, this morning was Easter:

Their big Easter basket gift each year is a new Bible.  In the future, I might change it up sometimes with devo books, but for now, storybook Bibles are still big hits.  Luke’s Bible is really cool.  It is a beautifully illustrated comic book Bible, and he has spent over an hour looking at it already.  I think it will really make the stories come to life for him.

We also opened the tomb…

…and saw that our cookies were empty, just like Jesus’ tomb (there are a couple different tombs in this metaphor:)).  The cookies are also quite tasty, by the way!

Before church, I took a few pictures of the kids in their Easter clothes.  My mom made Anna’s dress for me when I was little.  Anna wore it last year, and it still fit great this year!

Then I tried to get a shot of the kids holding up their new Bibles, but they got too distracted by reading them.  Oh well—even better!

Then we went to church and had a great service.  And then our Life Group went to a nearby playground for a picnic lunch and an Easter egg hunt.  Around this time, Anna informed us that her Easter basket was “also an Easter helmet!”

Then she proceeded to do some very lady-like climbing:

I was really glad that we got to do a nice, small, low-key Easter egg hunt.  Our neighborhood had had a big one the day before, but I decided to skip it, since my kids are still so young.  This one is much more my speed.  Beforehand, I had the idea that our “prize” egg should be empty, since “things” are nice, but the real prize in this life is Jesus’ resurrection, and so forth.  I thought it would be cool if whoever found the empty egg would get some sort of prize, like a book or DVD about Jesus.  Unfortunately, I had my cheesy brainstorm too late, and we didn’t have time to get a prize.  Oh well, it might have been pushing it, anyway:).

I’m not sure why Luke wore his basket like this:

It was a beautiful day, but it was 84 degrees!  The kids were sweating by the end!

Luke found a money egg.  The funny thing is, we didn’t hide a money egg:).  Score!

Afterward, we came home for naps (me and Anna) and quiet time, and then…Gaga came into town!  She took us out to dinner at Olive Garden, so needless to say, it has been a full, blessed day. 

One thing I realized while celebrating Easter so purposefully is how much we humans are helped by celebration and tradition.  Greg and I talked last night after the kids went to bed about Easter traditions and how there is part of us that loves the idea of being really low key at Easter b/c we celebrate the resurrection everyday.  But really, as wonderful as that sounds, it isn’t true.  Jesus’ resurrection definitely informs and influences my life everyday, but I can’t say that I celebrate it in a happy, excited manner everyday, if I’m honest.  But last night, I told Greg, “You know what?  I am really excited about the fact that Jesus died and rose from the dead!  I am so happy about it!”  And again, I am always happy about it on an intellectual level, but there is something about purposefully choosing to celebrate it that brings the awareness to the emotional level.  Last night, when Luke and I lay in bed talking, I talked about how, if Jesus didn’t die for us and conquer death, then I would be so sad whenever I thought of Uncle Mike.  But now I’m happy, b/c I know he’s in heaven.  Our conversation, combined with all the events throughout the day, really gave me a much-needed reminder of how exciting and joyful the Gospel is.  I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating my amazing Lord, and I hope that—however you observed Easter—you enjoyed celebrating Him, as well.

Kentuckiana Trip, Day 6: Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

On Wednesday, it was still cool and gloomy, so we headed in search of some indoor fun. It wasn’t hard. Indianapolis is home to the largest children’s museum in the nation, and perhaps the world. Seriously.

That crazy thing is glass.

In honor (I guess) of a new movie costume exhibit, Bumblebee from Transformers was at the entrance to the museum.

That “painting” is made entirely out of jellybeans.

As is this one:

Next, I tried to get Luke and Anna to mimic the painting for a picture, but they did not see the genius of my vision.

Needless, to say, there was a lot to do at the museum. We started out at a costume exhibit that was full of displays of old movie costumes. Anna was more into the dress up bins that were scattered throughout.

Then, it was on to the Dora the Explorer exhibit.

Luke enjoyed playing on a ship…

…while Anna busied herself at the Animal Rescue Center:

You put the animal on the scanner, and a voice identifies it, tells what’s wrong with it, and gives advice on how to help. This frog had a sore throat. That’s all Anna needed to hear:

She spent so much time taking care of this poor frog that she drew comments from the other mom present about her nurturing nature.

Next, it was off to the flower planting zone:

She was quite solemn and diligent about planting flowers:

While Anna was gardening, Luke was in a rocket ship:

Then they both worked very hard gathering acorns and feeding them back into a tree, in a self-perpetuating cycle.

Afterword, we went to the Science Works exhibit, which was a lot of fun:

In this exhibit, a worker put an earthworm in front of the frog, who quickly ate it.

It was disgusting. Luke loved it. Compare his reaction to the little boy next to him:

Next, we undertook some family projects. Family project #1:

Family project # 2:

Family project #3:

Luke also enjoyed the Dock Works. He liked figuring out the pulley system:

Last but not least, we stopped by the massive model train exhibit:

And then we attempted to get a picture of all four cousins on this rotating chair thing. It went like group pictures of small children do.

We stopped by the gift shop on the way out to get a souvenir. I tried to talk Luke into a rock collection, b/c he has been waaay into rock collections lately. Instead, he had his heart set on a little parachuting man…but as a consolation, he talked Anna into a rock collection. Then we headed home for the afternoon before going to church that night.

This was our last full day in Indy before heading back to the great state of South Carolina. We were excited to return to warm weather, but very sad to leave our cousins and aunt and uncle. It was a great visit!