Easter Party

I absolutely love Easter. Without question, it is my favorite holiday. The sweetness in the air, all the new little buds and flowers, longer days, more sunshine and mild temperatures. There is so much to love. Everywhere you look there is new life. The asparagus and strawberries popping up in the market, baby chicks at the feed store, gorgeous flowers brilliant and cheerful, birds singing. There are so many wondrous miracles to behold. And all things truly testify to the reason we celebrate Easter, the reality that Christ lives. How blessed we are to be surrounded this time of year by so many precious reminders of our Savior.

This weekend we had our annual Easter Party. It was so much fun to see so many of our good friends and neighbors. The weather couldn't have been better, which is always the most stressful part of planning this party. Once I felt comfortable with the forecast on Wednesday, we started preparing, shopping, and cooking up a storm. The kids were egg stuffing maniacs!

The food was delicious, thanks to lots of kind friends, and the kids ran and played the whole time. The zipline was going all day, although I never made it down there. Better not to know sometimes! :) Zig orchestrated the Easter egg hunt. He and a group of Dads split up and hid the eggs all over the yard while another group of guys distracted the kids with a kickball game.

I had an egg decorating station set up in the green house with traditional cups with dye and also paint. We were going to have the kids decorate their eggs in the style of Jackson Pollock, but most were so busy playing that there was never a lull. I was pretty occupied as well but when I went down to the greenhouse in the evening, I noticed most of the eggs were dyed and a few people did give the string technique a try! The kids and I tried it later in the evening and I really thought the process was fun and the finished product very neat.

Spotty and Phoebe enjoyed all the extra attention. We borrowed the Glover's guinea play pen and put them out on the lawn. They were the "special guests" of the party.

Now we're off to Texas tomorrow to celebrate babies, special anniversaries, and Easter with all the cousins! Air travel alone with four kids aside, I am totally excited and can't wait to be surrounded by all my siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.



Jackson Pollack technique

These little blue dotted eggs were supposed to be baby birds, but I had to bag the beek and eye details when I started running out of time. The sample one we made was cute though!

Raniculus are my new favorite spring flower...well, second behind the poppy orange colored tulips.

Brunch



Maisy, Nina, Kate and Gracie






I had to get a picture of Lisa because she's wonderful and she's wearing my favorite colors!



Wendy, Lisa, Amy, Debbie and Lori basking in the sunshine.

Zig about to start the egg hunt.

Hannah,Kayla, and Ellie, the animal lovers.

It appears as though Rollin had a successful egg hunt. I hope he didn't trample anyone. We should have put him in the 7 and up category.



Max playing by the fountain

Sam looks like he sees one!

Micah and Kate

Isaac, Clara, and Jane

Ketsy watching Rune play kickball.

Nina taking a little break.



I think it's bath time!






Happy Easter!

welcome spring!

Robinson Crusoe

Each year our school hosts the Missoula Theater group. This year the play was a loose adaptation of Robinson Crusoe. The Missoula Theater company provides the professionals, the props, the scripts, all of it. Our school provides the kids and the PTA volunteers. The plays are always very impressive, especially given the fact that they only practice for four days and perform on the 5th. The only downside about Missoula is that because it is done so quickly, they can't accomodate all kids. So unlike many elementary school plays, not everyone gets a part. Many don't, actually. The auditions are on Monday afternoon. Lots of parents stay, but I was so relieved when Sela just told me to come for the very end. It's pretty brutal and there are lots of tears from both parents and children, understandably. For some reason, Sela's grade has a ton of girls who try out. Sela didn't make it last year but didn't hesitate about trying again. I was proud of her for her persistence. I was very nervous for her all day because I knew how much she wanted to be a part of the play. I said a prayer for her and I also had a little consolation gift for her in the car, in the event that she didn't make it. I think I was more nervous than she was.

I had only entered the gym for about 30 seconds and they called Sela's name. What a relief! I think she finally figured out what they were looking for. And it's not just a smiley face like they mention in the flyer! I could see in her face how totally thrilled she was. As soon as I heard it I wanted to get out as fast as possible because once everyone is announced, then the tears come. It's heartbreaking for me, because the kids are so young and all want it so badly. But I had to wait until all the parts were announced for them to release the kids.

All Sela talked about all week was the play and how much fun she was having. She was part of an "evil" tribe on the island. They sang and tried to scare other characters. Sela looked like she was having a blast on stage. She was very animated.

Zig, Rollin, and Nina went the the first show and Nina and I went to the evening showing. Nina was so excited for Sela...she gathered flowers for Sela from the yard and we made some little bouquets.

Nina finished up the evening with what is seeming to be her new favorite past-time, chasing her little buddy, Mason.

I have to say, one thing I do love about Missoula is that they go hard and long for one week, and then it's done. Sela was at school from 8:30-8pm several times, but it doesn't drag on. Five days start to finish. I love that.

awesome possum!

Oh boy. This is a good one. Zig has some pretty varied and unique talents. I learn new things about him all the time! Today he caught his second wild animal in our yard. Last year, somehow he caught a mole. Those pretty much live underground. Strange. And today, what do you know, he caught a possum. The possum story is pretty much like the mole story, in that he was planning to "get rid" of the possum just like he had been with the mole. Mole turned out to be way too cute, despite completely tunneling and destroying part of our yard, and Zig ended up driving him off somewhere and letting him go. I think he came back with a vengeance this year, but let's not dwell on that! Apparently, Zig found the little possum too cute to harm as well. huh? I'm sorry, but the cute factor is lost on me. However, I do love that he has a soft spot in his heart for animals. I really do.





The way he found the possum is Kona had him cornered early this morning. Zig fell asleep last night without shutting the chicken coop, which is pretty much a dream come true for possums and racoons. But, alas, we do have Kona, and he takes his job as night guard VERY seriously. The possum was up against the fence and Kona was laying a few feet away standing guard, salivating. I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a picture of the scene. It really looked like the possum was up against the fence under arrest. Afraid to move a muscle. Scared to death. Kona has a shock collar so he knows he can't get too close to the fence. The possum must have been terrified. Each time he tried to move, Kona let him know that his moments on this earth were numbered.

Zig asked me to distract the kids. He was afraid the opossum might have rabies and harm the chickens so he was going to "get rid" of him. I seriously did not want any further details. He took a shovel outside, and about 20 minutes later, he was calling to the kids to come see the opossum he had caught. He had somehow pushed him into a crate we had used for the chickens or Kona or something. The kids ran outside, of course, and were so happy their Dad spared the possum. Me, being the animal lover that I am, tried to muster some enthusiasm! Actually, the "ick" factor wasn't too bad. I think this was a very young one because it was quite small.

Zig drove the possum to some forest area and he and the kids set it free. And the absolutely most hilarious thing about this whole ordeal is that Zig told me "This is definitely a story you can put on your blog! Did you get any pictures?" This coming from Mr. Privacy, please don't talk about me on the blog. Either he thinks my blog is very lame (I'll agree) and needs some excitement, or this was a supremely proud moment! Forget all the other accomplishments in his life that I can't mention, he caught a freaking POSSUM!

I love you, babe!







p.s. photos by Sela

constant companion

I had to step back from my chopping and snap a few pictures of the delicious little mess that is Evan. He was grabbing for everything he could while I was trying to make an afternoon snack. He went crazy over the Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit. Can't say that I blame him...my skin could seriously be turning a hue of pink given the amount I have polished off in the last two months! There is no substitute for this variety of grapefruit. A near perfect fruit. Everything's better in Texas, right Zig?! hee hee.