Easter Day

Today we enjoyed attending church, finding Easter baskets, having a family Easter egg hunt and reviewing the story of Easter with the resurrection eggs (see details below).

Here are a few pictures of the kids in their new Easter outfits. This is the only photo that Emma willing posed for today. She was more interested in getting into her candy. She is wearing a dress Isabelle made her for Easter.

 

Resurrection Eggs

One of the traditions we have done for several years are the Resurrection Eggs. We place the listed item and the printed out scripture in a large plastic egg and number them 1-12. We take turns opening the eggs and sharing the scriptures and discussing the meaning of them. This is always a nice way to remember why we are celebrating Easter.

Egg 1:

One sacrament cup

(Matt. 26:36, 39) Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saieth unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Egg 2:

Three dimes

(Matthew. 26:14-15; Luke 22: 47-48) Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,  And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

Egg 3:

Twine with knots in it

(Matt. 27:1-2) When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

Egg 4:

A piece of soap

(Matt. 27:24-26) When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Egg 5:

Square of red fabric

(Matt. 27:28-30) And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

Egg 6:

A small nail, toothpick cross

(Matt. 27:31) And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Egg 7:

Two dice

(Matt. 27:35-36)

35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there.

Egg 8:

A tiny bag of crushed rock

(Matt. 27:50, 51 & 54) Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Egg 9:

Strip of white cloth

(Matt. 27:58-59) When the even was come, there was a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus disciple; He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth.

Egg 10:

A stone

(Matthew 27:60, 62-66) And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparatation, the chief priests and Pahrisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefor that ahte seplulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead.; Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

Egg 11:

Bayleaf spice or cloves

(Mark 16:1-4, Matthew 28: 2, 5) And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

Egg 12:

An empty egg

(Mark 16:5-6) And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

Dancing in not so sunny St. George

This weekend Zachary, Isabelle, Zoe and I traveled to St. George. The purpose- clogging competition. What the kids really wanted- outdoor swimming with friends.

We had a caravan with friends, with kids swapping vehicles to be with their buddies. I got the van full of 8-10 year old girls and they had a good time. It went much better than I had hoped it would. I just put on some good tunes and chauffeured them down. Most of the drive down was rainy and then snowy (at the freakin' end of March!). St. George was cool and rainy most of our 2 days there. The kids made do with the indoor swimming pool and seemed pretty content. Zach ran around town (literally) with his friends when he wasn't at the competition. I got to enjoy late night dinner laughs with friends.

Zoe's team received a 1st and she also received a 1st on each of her All-Around Solos. Isabelle's 3 team dances each received a 1st and one of her dances received a High Scoring Team award. Zachary was in 2 mixed (couples) dances, which each received a 1st and one received a High Scoring Team award. He was also in 2 boys dances which each received 1sts and Soul Man received a High Scoring Team award. Overall, a very good showing.

Zachary also gained a few female fans at this competition. One of the other directors told both him and our director that her dancers loved his muscles, which were featured in his Slam dance (he was wearing a basketball jersey). He got some good teasing from his buddies over this. :)

Here are a couple of the dances from the competition.

Zach is on the far left in this video and yes it is him doing the flip.

Isabelle starts out second from the left in this dance. I wish the video was a little better quality, but we'll take what we can get.

Clogging Competitions Begin!

Spring is a busy time for us with dance. Our studio attends four clogging competitions between March- May. This weekend we attended our first clogging competition of the season. 

This was Zoe's first time competing on a team. Her team danced to Cowboy Sweetheart in the beginning level and they were so cute! She also competed two All-Around Solo dances. (The solos are danced by multiple dancers at the same time, but each dancer is judged individually). Zoe got a 1^st place on each of her solos and her team received a 1^st place high scoring team. Here are videos of Cowboy Sweetheart and her solos. In the team dance Zoe is on the left side of the center diamond formation.

Zach and Isabelle also clogged at this competition, but Isabelle’s camera died before we got to record their dances. We will record them at the next competition at the end of the month. They both did great though! Isabelle danced to Genie Jam (1^st place), Ease on Down (1^st ) and Grundy County Auction (2^nd). Zach danced with his boys team to Slam Dunk Da Funk (1^st) and with his mixed team to Rock This Town (1^st) and Precision (1^st). At the next competition his boys team will add another dance that we are looking forward to- Soul Man.

Books, Books & More Books

I LOVE to read. When I was a kid, my younger sister would complain that I read too much and would try to get me in trouble for it. Can you believe it?! And sometimes it worked! More than once I had a book taken away because I wasn't doing what I should have been doing (usually chores or homework). When I was a teen I started reading in the bathtub. No one could take away my book then! I still do this, but not as often as I would like. You can't get much more relaxed than that. My second favorite place to read is cuddled in my bed at night. This also rarely happens because Mike goes to bed so much earlier than me and once he hits the sack, no lights allowed. So most nights you will find me cuddled up on my loveseat reading into the wee hours.

Recently, I started back on a book binge after a couple of years of not reading nearly enough due to a busy life. But I realized that I need that time to escape and have made it a priority in my life again. Anyway, the purpose of this post was actually to mention some favorite books I've read lately. If you're looking for a good book give one of these a try.

North and South

North and South was written by Elizabeth Gaskell in the 1850s. It is set in England during the industrial revolution. Margaret Hale and her parents move to an industrial town from a small country village where her father was a parson. You get a glimpse into class differences, industrial life and the religious crises Margaret's family face. This book was first serialized in Charles Dickens periodical Household Words. It was later printed as a book, with changes and additions from the serialized version. Elizabeth Gaskell has a beautiful way of writing and drawing you in and I found this book very believable and enjoyable.

The Mazerunner (series)

This book is set in a futuristic, dystopian society. For years boys have been waking up to a new home in a place called the Glade. Their sole purpose is to survive and to find a way out of the Glade though an ever changing maze that surrounds the Glade. This book had plenty of suspense and mystery and pulled me right in. I also recommend the sequel The Scorch Trials.

Books by Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale is a favorite new author of mine. The Goose Girl and Book of a Thousand Days are both retellings of Grimm fairytales and I loved them. The Goose Girl is the first of a loose series called the Books of Bayern. The following books in the Books of Bayern series are original fairytales by Hale based off of secondary characters from the Goose Girl. I have immensely enjoyed all of these books. I will also throw a plug in for Austenland (also by Hale) which is just a fun chick-lit book featuring Jane, an Austen addict, who takes a trip to a resort that caters to Austen fans.

I could go on and on, but if you want to check out what else I have been reading you can visit my Goodreads link on the sidebar.