Easter, He is Risen!

We made it through Lent and Easter was wonderful!  One of the most wonderful things about home schooling is the ability to tailor our school day and lessons around what is going on in our lives.  We finished our famine/water unit right before Holy Week so it was a perfect time to take a break from our normal curriculum and concentrate on our faith.  We still did Math, Spelling, Grammar and Reading but in place of Social Studies and Science we concentrated on Holy Week.  We made a large poster with each day of the week written on it starting with Palm Sunday and each day we filled in the importance of that day and scripture references and drew pictures.  We also did a huge Stations of the Cross project where we talked about each station and printed them out and made books out of them.  Landon needed to hand his in for his First Communion class so he also wrote what each station meant to him and how each made him feel.  Somehow I don't have pictures of any of that......

Speaking of projects though, we undertook a large project in honor of Easter that was a lot of fun but also a lot of work!  We have talked a lot with the kids about how one of our callings from the Lord is to show others our love of God.  What better time to do that then at Easter?  We made an Easter craft with our friends who home school as well.  Then we went to the local nursing home and hand delivered them to each resident.  It was fun to make the craft but it took awhile as there are 60 residents!  The kids loved handing them out though and the residents loved having them bring the craft to them.  We have decided we will definitely do that again, possibly even for Mother's Day next month.

While we place a large emphasis on Easter as a holy day, we also enjoy letting the kids do other Easter activities so we went to an Easter Egg hunt at the nursing home the week before Easter and they had so much fun.  They also dyed eggs here at home.  That was actually a big thing, as with Daniel's allergies to eggs we have never allowed him to dye eggs.  We were very careful though and he had no reaction and he had so much fun!  They enjoyed their Easter baskets on Easter morning and they looked so handsome for Mass that day.

Last but not least, we made Resurrection Rolls for Easter.  They were fun.  You just use crescent rolls and Peep Chicks and the kids wrap the rolls around the chicks but when you bake them the chicks disappear like the empty tomb.  They were yummy and fun to make.

Closing Out March

I honest to goodness cannot believe March has already come and gone.  Time is flying by with all the fun we have I guess.  Speaking of time flying, we had a happy event in March but one that is always bitter sweet.  I am referring to Daniel's birthday.  I am still in shock my baby is 4 years old now!  He has brought such joy to our lives and while I love watching him grow, I also wish I could keep him a baby just a little longer.

For his 4th birthday we decided to keep it all a bit low key. We had just returned from our trip to the rattlesnake round-up so we decided to have a simple party here at the house.  We invited a home school family that we have become wonderful friends with and our former landlords who are awesome people and who we are blessed to have in our lives.  They all came over for spaghetti and cake and the kids had a blast playing with the new wagon we got Daniel for his birthday.  It was a fun day for sure.

Okay, on to school stuff.  We finished up our water unit with finishing the study of the water cycle, ponds, rivers, lakes and oceans.  We checked out a ton of books at the library on what lives in each place and explored the differences and the importance of each to our lives and the lives of people all over.  The boys then each made a mural of ocean life and made sure to include the different depths of the ocean and what lives in each.  They then did an oral presentation on their mural and what they had learned, for Joe and I as well as Joe's sister who was here visiting.  They really did well and we are proud of them.

Lastly, I wanted to share a couple of photos I took at the end of March of a sunset.  I have to admit that the move to Texas wasn't the easiest thing for me.  It is not that I didn't want to move but it was a huge change from EVERYTHING I knew.  It was shocking to me how different things were in the two states.  Not that things were any better in one or the other, just different.  I am not even talking about the weather and scenery, just the difference in people, ways things are done, etc.  Anyway, it was a huge adjustment for me and I have often wondered if I would ever feel "at home".  Over about the last 4 months though, I have noticed that I have felt more and more at home.  Part of it was getting a longer term lease and finally having a house and being able to unpack all of our things.  Another part though has been just doing the things we love again like riding the horses and roping, taking the family trips, feeling like a part of the church and different groups and loving home schooling more then I thought I ever could.  I still love Colorado and always will, but I am loving where we are and finding beauty in new places and I can only thank God for helping me get to such a good place.