April 2016 happenings

April was a very full and fun month for us! 

I gave Eleanor her first haircut. I didn't cut much, but the back needed to be evened up.

Before:

After:

Sweet little golden locks

We did lots of fun school activities this month, including lots of reading aloud in our jammies... 

Side note: we've been reading through the whole Little House on the Prairie series this year and the following was a breakfast table discussion one morning:

AK: Did you know that Laura Ingalls Wilder lived until 1956? So Grandma could have met her. Grandma was 6 years old when Laura Ingalls died.
Caroline (horrified): LAURA DIED?!?!?

We also did a unit study based on honeybees. (Science: habits of honeybees; math: hexagons; literature: The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco; art: drawing honeybees) 

In Lego Club, the girls designed and built bridges able to support weight. 

Caroline worked on her numbers by playing lots of Go Fish!

Watercolors of flowers in the front yard.

Anna Kate and her Swimming Creatures diorama at the science fair display day.

The pre-k class displayed their work too!

And had an end-of-the-year party!

In other news, Luke and I went on a date night, thanks to friends from church!

One weekend, I got together with my old girls discipleship group that I led in college. These girls were in seventh grade when I was a freshman and I led their d-group through my senior year (their tenth grade year). 

On the way to meeting up with them, I was able to stop by and see Whitney and her little boys for a while. Thankful for such a good friend!

Speaking of good friends, the Kayles and their four little ones stopped through Camden on a road trip and went to Caroline's T-ball game with us. Such a fun quick visit!

And, the girls spent a lot of time in the hammock. Daddy built a pretty neat stand this spring!

Resurrection Celebrations

It may have been 3 months ago, but I wanted to post some pictures of all of our celebrations of Christ's resurrection this year. The girls were so excited to go to the egg hunt and party the week before Easter. 

I love this picture, not just because of the sweet girls, but because it's a reminder to me of the blessing of our church family who is always so good to us. All three outfits are hand-me-downs from other little girls in our church, and the bunny baskets were handmade with love by Mrs. Grace who loves my girls dearly.

Decorating cupcakes was a big hit. Also fun because Caroline can now eat regular cupcakes (something she hasn't been able to do in the past!).

Big sister helping little sister find some eggs! Caroline is such a sweet helper with little ones.

Dying eggs!

These little girls are too silly!

Love this picture of Eleanor and Emmeline. Ellie and Emmy for now, but they're growing into their names!

Our preschoolers at homeschool co-op did some fun activities too!

Their pictures say "Jesus is Alive" and remind us of our new life in Christ.

More egg hunting!

We planned a few special things to do as a family to illustrate the beauty and the wonder of the resurrection. Here we are making resurrection rolls. A marshmallow (Jesus' body wrapped in cloths), rolled in butter and cinnamon (the oil and spices to anoint the body), and placed in a rolled up crescent roll (the tomb). Bake for a few minutes and when you take them out of the oven, the tomb is empty!

On Saturday night, I had the girls go outside and fill a pan with dirt. We placed a little terra-cotta pot in it and put a big rock in front of it. We talked about how nothing seemed very beautiful that night as the disciples went to bed. 

But Sunday morning, everything changed! The stone is rolled away and we have new life!

We had a few special little gifts for the girls set out Sunday morning.

And when you have three little girls and have to be at the church building by 6:30am for the sunrise service, everything (down to shoes, tights, and hair bows) better be set out in advance.

Sleepy little girls digging into their baskets before the sun is up.

Excited to celebrate baptism with our church family!

And a few pictures of our family.

He is risen, indeed!