1 Year, 51 Weeks.
Easter is one of the more traditional holidays I enjoy, partly because it meant that the malls were closed and I had the day off to spend time with the family. It also involved getting together with friends and family and enjoying some really good food. And who doesn't enjoy a good Easter egg hunt, or two, or three? I know, I know. The true meaning of Easter doesn't have anything to do with that, or a bunny, or chocolate. I don't even know how those things came about to represent the holiday...probably some marketing scheme for retailers to make some additional revenue between Valentine's and Mother's day. Well it worked, obviously.
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And really, what says Easter more than a gift basket of chocolate and wine?
This retails for [no joke] $149.99! |
Don't get me wrong. I love the get togethers and festivities and chocolates as much as the next person. But honestly how many people, and especially children, truly associate the holiday with the death and resurrection of Christ, fulfilling the Plan of Salvation and triumphing over Evil and sin?
Probably not as much as the throng in line to get their pictures taken with a stranger in an Easter Bunny costume.
That said, here was our week:
- Friday Brae had the day off so I took them all to the park in the morning, and when big fat raindrops started to drop not 10 minutes after we got there, drove across town to take them to the Orlando Science Center, a more weather convenient option for recreation and entertainment.
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| Maddy working the tools puzzle. |
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| Braelyn working on her sketches. |
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| Kohl working the miter saw. |
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| I think she was trying to wash her hands! |
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| Doing the water play. Thank goodness for the splash guards! |
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| Watching a very slow tortoise. |
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| Daddy, this is how it would be if I had horns on my head! |
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| Hard cheese at the kitchen play area. |
- Sabbath morning we headed to church in our Easter best, and after naps headed to the Bergherms for an Easter shindig with the usual suspects. Wonderfully decorated and impressive as always, Jennifer created a "Resurrection Egg Hunt" where the children looked for eggs in numerical order for them to finish a Bible puzzle at the end. Very creative!
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| We swung by Winter Park's egg hunt. 10,000 eggs and we came up empty handed! |
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| Stomping on the flower garden after church. |
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| En vogue. |
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| The children dye some eggs. |
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| Kohl working the land, playing farmer. |
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The sisters gather some eggs together.
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| Putting her puzzle pieces together. |
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| The children's table. |
- Sunday morning we jetted to the east part of the state and had our traditional Easter Brunch and egg hunt at Duncan's parents' home. Ron and Elaine Gregory have had us over each year ever since Brae and Calleigh were 1 year olds, and 4 years later our group has ballooned with the additional children. It was nice to partake in some great food and watching the children participate in the gathering of eggs. They worked up such a sweat they braved the 74° F swimming pool afterwards. That afternoon they went down for naps and then Tangie took them to the park, while I participated in another Easter holiday tradition: watching the final round of the Masters golf tournament!
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| Going bananas on our way to Ron and Elaine's. |
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| Maddy walks between her 2 whiter sisters. |
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Brunch at the kids' table. I don't know why Blake and Evan were showing off their muscles
and why Calleigh was either laughing or crying. |
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| Can you spot the eggs? |
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| Last minute instructions: The #1 rule is....there are no rules! |
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| Our group, 2012 |
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| The kids examine their loot while the parents snap away. |
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| Can you tell which twin is which? |
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| Mommy helps Maddy ease into the pool; Kohl realized it was way too kohled for him! |
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| Our gracious Easter hosts 4 years running. |
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| A visit to the park with Mommy in the afternoon. |
- Monday Brae had the day off from school so I rounded up the kids and took them to PetSmart to look at the animals, as opposed to taking them to a zoo. Well, the plan backfired on me, and now we are proud owners of 5 new pets, all goldfish (thank God), each one representing and named after a member of our family.
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| Checking out the many pet options the store had to offer. |
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| Happy she didn't come home empty handed! |
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| Trying out the many food samples on |
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| our weekly Costco run. |
- Wednesday the twins and I attended a tea party with Braelyn's class at OJA, complete with muffins and cucumber sandwiches! I'd never before imagined in my life that I, a pretty rugged, devastatingly handsome and masculine male, would ever attend a little girl's tea party, although I knew it would probably happen later down the road. But I went, and I LOVED IT. I mean, yeah, the tea was nice... That evening Brae and I attended our last Adventurer's meeting of the year and prepared for Investiture this upcoming Sabbath.
Madelyn's injury of the week:
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Maddy was jumping from the grass onto the patio and tripped, hitting real close to the eye on an
exercise step stool. At least she was smiling for the picture, |
Accident/broken item of the week:
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| Broken wine glass from the rack, shattered into a thousand pieces. |
Random:
- I just recently saw a preview for this chick flick coming in May called "What to expect when you're expecting" and it looks pretty funny, especially when all the fathers are together and confess about their mess ups with their kids. Any dads out there concur? No judging!
Quotes:
- Last Friday we were just about to have dinner when the house phone rang. I didn't recognize the number on the screen, but it was local so I picked it up:
Man: "Hello? Hi, I'm so and so with such and such and can I speak to a female
in the residence between the ages of 25 and 40 for some market
research?"
Me: "No, I'm sorry so and so, but we're having dinner right now and
don't have time for market research."
Man: "Really? Because this would only take a brief moment..."
Me: "Alas, I'm afraid that brief moment has just passed. Goodbye." [click]
Telemarketers must love me!
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| Easter Sabbath @ Forest Lake Church. |
Have a great weekend!
I loved all the pictures and specially the commentary on the significance of Easter! Very true! Just a reminder, be very careful w/ Maddy, she's had a head/face injury 2 weeks in a row already. Great blog! Lala
ReplyDeleteLala, I was thinking the same thing. Poor Maddy seems to be on the short end of the stick with these injuries lately. We need to keep a close eye on her. Glad you enjoyed the tea party and I must say, I did enjoy the description of your manliness. It sounded like you were describing Duncan, in fact. I did catch your little "Kohld" joke. Very clever! See you tomorrow. I just can't wait to miss my nap and instead sit through 1.5 hours of an investiture snooze fest. But alas, I will try and have positive thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThat was a beautiful Easter picture of the 5 of you. I tried to save it to my computer, we'll see.....We were cold and snowey, so we didn't wear any spring clothes, and everyone was sick, anyway...We cancelled several events and stayed on the couch all day. But we are all doing better now, even Papa 2 might make it! Our love to you all!!!! Love, Nana
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