Strawberries

Dad gave me a bunch of extra strawberry shoots (42 to be exact), and Joel helped me plant them last weekend. We're trying out this vertical planter, as space in our yard is limited. We'll see how they do. Joel's hoping his work will pay off so he can snack on berries all summer in the backyard. :) High hopes!

Easter

I bought Family Life's "Messiah Mystery" kit this year to do with the kids in preparation for Easter. There were six "sessions" to do with the family once a week during the Lent season, with activities to do as a family, reading and discussion, and "clues" to look up (prophesies of the Messiah in the Old Testament). We got a little behind and had to play catch up, but it turned out to be a valuable experience, and I'm glad we made time to do it with the kids. Our next door neighbor, Kate, joined us for most of it, which was great. We managed to get our grassy hill "empty tomb" planted in time, as well. We celebrate so much at Christmas and have lot of fun traditions surrounding that season, but Easter is just as important, if not more important, as believers in Christ, so it's important to me that we make sure we have fun traditions then, too, and help the kids understand and celebrate the deep significance of this holiday, as well.

This first photo is of an activity we did with the "Messiah Mystery." We measured and drew part of the tabernacle with sidewalk chalk in our street and driveway. Kari is standing in the "Holy of Holies." :) It really helped to see it drawn out to be able to picture where the curtain was and see physical space.

The day before Easter, we went to the church egg hunt at the Pates and then to Kari's soccer game. The rest of the day was spent doing yard work and baking. I got my hot-crossed-buns done! We went in with neighbors to rent an aerator for our lawns, so the guys worked all afternoon on our yards, and that evening we had an impromptu barbecue. We still hadn't dyed our eggs, though, so after we got back home, we had a 9pm egg-dying session. Kind of nice that the kids are old enough to do it on their own now and that they're able to stay up later without paying for it too much the next day. I love that they still want to do things like dye eggs. They wouldn't hear of skipping it! :)

Photo by April Fisher--love how she captured Grant at the Easter egg hunt

We had a very nice Easter service and church and went over to Mark and Shari's afterwards for Easter dinner this year. It was a great day. 

Grant and Oreo

He was trying to stay away to watch a Blazer game, but he just couldn't quite do it. He and the cat were cracking me up. The last picture had me laughing out loud.

Spring Break--Sunriver

Here we are, another month gone by between posts. It's cliche, but it's true--time is flying by! It feels like it's speeding up all the time. I think me working has made it feel more crazy. Each week is a bit of a puzzle, making sure all the pieces fit together and that we don't drop one. We are relying on our village of family, friends, and neighbors to get everyone where they need to go. It's fun, but it's a lot!

I was forced to slow down the week before spring break due to sickness and had to cancel my sub jobs. I got strep throat that lingered longer than usual after antibiotics, and Joel was home almost all week with a fever and virus of some kind. We spent the week doing nothing but watching shows, sleeping, and reading. I could have done without the misery of strep, but it was kind of nice to be forced to rest and to hang out with Joel all week, even if we were sick.

He and I recovered in time for our spring break trip to Sunriver. This year was a little different because of the wintry weather they were still having. It snowed almost every day we were there! We didn't ride bikes at all, which was strange, since that's something we always do in Sunriver. It was just too cold. We did, however, participate in the Sunriver March Mudness Run for the first (and last) time. Last year we had planned on doing it but didn't because Kari had a broken ankle. So, we promised her that this year we'd do it. The morning of the race, we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground. I waffled and considered bailing but ended up deciding to suck it up and do it anyway. It was cold--really cold--and windy, and the hour and half wait outside before the race was not pleasant. Kari had a fever and wasn't feeling well, but she insisted on doing it anyway. We survived and definitely made some memories, but I will never do it again! I admit the big mud hills with ropes to help you pull yourself up out of the mud were pretty fun, but the rest of it, I could do without. Aubrey, Joel, and Grant actually all enjoyed the race. I ran with Aubrey, and she was a trooper! Kari, the one who really wanted to do it, didn't enjoy it all that much, but I think it was mostly due to the fact that she was miserable and feverish. We were in such a hurry afterwards to get clean, warm, and dry, we didn't think to wait and get an "after" picture with all our friends. We hopped on the first shuttle back and headed straight for the showers and hot tub back at our house. That hot tub felt SO GOOD. We all hung out in there a long time, laughing about the crazy thing we'd just done.

We took walks, played games, watched March Madness games, read, and chatted with our friends. It was a good few days away, and then we had the second half of the week back at home to relax and enjoy the break (all but Greg--he went back to work, poor guy).