¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸Then they remembered his words.

⁹When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

The kids checked the ‘tomb’ this morning and got a surprise as well!

¹⁷After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. ¹⁸For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

We had a great time tonight as a family reading through the final supper of Christ with his disciples and his crucifixion.  We talked about what it means to be guilty and have to pay a price for your guilt, and what it means to have someone who isn’t guilty choose to volunteer to pay that price for you.  Now that is love!

The kids will be checking inside the canister (aka tomb) in the morning where there are currently broken pieces of bread and some juice that they put inside.  Stay tuned for what happens next!

Bayus informed me at bedtime, on the first night in his new bed/bedroom,  that the tree and green canopy is ’scary’. I asked him if he didn’t want it in his room (I don’t want to take it all apart and return to IKEA but I will) and he says he wants it at daytime but wants me to take it out at night Yeah, that’s not happening. I went in there and tried to do some bedtime guided relaxation (I do this on occasion with Hannah and she always has great dreams after) and lets just say 4-5yr olds aren’t fantastic at this. Me- ‘I want you to go to a place you really love, a happy place, somewhere you feel cozy….’ and he interrupts with ‘hey! I got Fred Meyer in my head! (grocery store) how did Fred Meyer get in my head?!’ to which I talk to him about his imagination and then get him to resettle and I start again- this time going with the Fred Meyer idea. Halfway through talking him through the ‘experience’ including things I know he’ll like (colors of favorite foods, sounds he likes, tasting a cookie from the bakery) he interrupts again ‘hey mama, you forgot the baby. I saw a baby there and it was a girl baby with a lady. Why didn’t you talk about the baby? There was a baby in my head, didn’t you see it? I don’t like babies. They are always trying to touch me, I don’t like babies. Babies are cute but I don’t like them’.

Ok, kid- go to sleep, I love you but I’m out.

Picture 1 is the view from the door looking in, there are glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. I have a cloud/raindrop window treatment planned but its not made yet. To the left of that picture is the kids closet which has another castle curtain and to the right is the kids chest of drawers (small as most of their clothing is in the ikea baskets and shelving in the closet).

Picture 2 is from standing in the corner with my back to the chest of drawers. You can see a glimpse of the castle closet but from this view you can’t see how the top tabs of the curtain are made to make it look like the top of a castle wall. The tree here is from the pet dept at IKEA and is meant for cats to climb on. It has a series of small shelves which the kids are using to put all their stuffed birds, monkeys and other appropriate animals in.

Picture 3 is my oldest son’s lower bunk. He has his magnetic wall to the right and his flickering castle lights at the head of the bed. I still need to make him a kingly sign for over the head of his bed

Picture 4 is the top bunk where my daughter sleeps with her fairy land in the ‘clouds/forest canopy’

Picture 5 is down below my youngest’s loft bed which is the ‘forest floor’ where the guinea pigs reside and I plan to add some lights under here and change the bean bag chair/stuffed animal storage to allow for more room in their nook under here.

Picture 6 is a closer picture of my youngest son’s bed here just under the tree tops. He LOVES the color green and chose this perfect tree/leaf printed bedding from IKEA. I found this 5′ circular green netting canopy in the outdoor decor section at IKEA and I just used some green thread to tack it up and billow it to be the tree top.

Elias then the found a Sunset cookbook (more pictures) and brought it to me to tell me he want to make a souffle next, its a tie between that and chicken kiev. We had a discussion on the differences between stirring, whisking and folding ingredients together as well as what a roux paste is and how many more things he can make once he learns how to make a roux.  Ahhh, the Joy of Home Schooling ala the Joy of Cooking!

Next on the menu:

Chicken Kiev for tonight (with garlic roasted asparagus and brown rice) and he wants to make the souffle for Easter Sunday breakfast!

Sometimes my husband throws ideas and assignments out to the kids that are far more than I think they can handle….and often they surprise me with their capabilities.  I’m so glad that between my husband and I we can balance one another and each bring our own strengths into the raising of our children, I’m blessed!

(click the pictures if you want to see them bigger and read some of the notes)

If I were to list my top choices based on what we have, love and use daily it would be:

playsilks
Lyra Color Giants
tree blocks
doll sling

If it were based on what I want now that I’ve looked through the catalog it would be:
Build a Tree House and Furniture
Knight’s Tent and Cushion
fish pond by Sarah’s Silks

If I were to base the list off what I feel I ‘need’ right now:

Another set of Lyra Color Giants
Play clips
needle felting kits

Happy Window Shopping!

Lucie was born Dec. 18, 1926, in Berlin, Germany, and moved to California in 1961. She spent many years volunteering in the community as a Pink Lady at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital. She was also involved with the Eastern Star and White Shrine Organizations in Ridgecrest.