Volleyball Season

Emily is on the U13 Regionals volleyball team for the Puyallup Juniors Volleyball Club this year.  A few of her team mates from last year are on the team with her, but mostly she has gotten to know a lot of new girls. Dave and I were both talking about how much we think she has improved this year.  I love watching her play.  I love cheering for her.  I love that it is an indoor sport!!!!

 I love this picture because it shows how high Emily is jumping.  Look how much higher she got up than her team mate who is several inches taller than her.

Butterflies

 I took the kids up to the Science Center in Seattle this last week as a grand finale to their Spring Break.  We haven't been since last summer.  I always regret not using my pass more.  We love going.  Our favorite thing to do is to visit the butterfly green house.  It was so crowded this time though.  But we were rewarded for braving the crowds with this beauty.  We have never seen anything like this green one before.  It was still drying out it was so new.  I had to photograph it from far away over lots of shoulders   I HATE crowds.

 I was super happy with this shot too.  These little guys are the busiest of them all and hardly ever hold still for more than a second.

 As I was trying to get my friend Afsi's little one to give butterflies a chance (she was terrified) Emily came up to me like this.  The butterfly landed right there on her face.  I love her eyes.  It was too funny.  In the background there you can see Jennifer Thompson.  She is the mom of one of Emily's very best friends.  It was such a crazy coincidence meeting there family there on such a busy day.

Emily had me cracking up.  She was making the funniest faces.  She might not have a boyfriend yet, or anywhere in the near future, but this little guy was totally in love.  And who wouldn't be.  Look at the cute girl!  (you can see her red "jello" ends on her hair - left overs from crazy hair day)

Double Rainbow...What Does It Mean......?

What it means is that frequent views like this are still in our future.

We are not moving this summer as we had hoped.

We had a real estate agent come to the house on Thursday.  The news wasn't what we were hoping for.  With Dave's purchase of the dental practice out in Gig Harbor we had hoped to move there this summer.  But it looks like those plans will have to wait.

We don't have enough equity in on house to cover moving expenses   Who would have know that it would cost so much to sell a home.  With taxed and real estate fees we are well short of the amount of equity we would need to even walk away empty handed from our home.

So we are staying for another year and then reevaluating the state of the market.

So while it is sad to be placing life on hold for a bit (it is never fun to have to wait for changes that you know are inevitable   It would be much nicer to just move on with life's new direction) it is also nice to know that we will be seeing lots more of our beautiful views!

I am glad to have a bit longer in the house I love.

Great Wolf Lodge

The Easter Story

One of our Easter traditions is making Easter cookies and telling the Easter story.  Next year I will have to take pictures of each step.  I love this tradition because sometimes it is hard to help our kids understand the true meaning behind the holidays that we celebrate because they have become so commercialized.     

We make our cookies before heading off to church.

• 1cup whole pecans
• 1tsp vinegar
• 3 egg whites
• pinch salt
• 1 cup sugar
• zipper baggie
• wooden spoon
• tape
• Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important, don't wait till you're half done with the recipe!)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was Beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1tsp vinegar into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup sugar.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60.

 Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66.  This year Dave added some Ken Barbie dolls placed by the oven to act as centries.

GO TO CHURCH!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 and 22.

When you return home, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9.

 Making cookies.

Ken doll guards!

Egg Hunt 2013

 Typically I am watching the weather like a hawk as Easter comes closer.  I am looking every day at the forecast hoping that there might be even a slight chance of sunshine for our egg hunt.  Usually it is wet, cold and yucky.  And we have even had to resort to an indoor hunt.  But this year we had absolutely gorgeous "we must be in another state" Easter weather.  The Easter bunny was very tricky this year and color matched the eggs with their hiding spaces.  The kids were still finding eggs a whole keep later.  It was lots of fun.

 Kate finding a egg hidden in one of my very favorite trees.  

 Chase and Kate have found baggies full of letters which the assume are clues to the location of the golden egg.  They tried forming a pact to combine their clues.  Silly kids.  Dave and I had a special Easter surprise for the kids this year.  I wrote it out and then cut out each letter and put them in little bags that we hid out in the yard.  

Chase found the golden egg this year, putting Kate's reign for the last three years to an end.  It was hidden taped to the underside of this table.  It wasn't even a hard spot this year but it took the kids forever.  We had to give the kids hot and cold clues.  Chase finally clued into the clue that every time he walked by the table I raised my camera and found the egg.  With all the eggs he found with dollars in them combined with the $10 he found in the golden egg he collected $22.  Pretty good Easter haul.  He hasn't decided what to save for.  He says for now he is just :hoarding it".

Once the kids had found most of the eggs they came inside to try to decipher the clues for their big Easter surprise.  They came up with several interesting arrangements.  

Some of their combinations:

dark great elf door

great dog elf door

wolf dog tearing leg

I had to give them a hint that I had color coded individual words.  This was there reaction to figuring out that we were taking them to Great Wolf Lodge!

Sara-ism

We just had a tree delivered to the house and planted yesterday.  I was telling Dave that they did a great job and even fertilized it.  Sara then says, "Are we going to have baby trees now?"

(that is what happens when you have chickens)