Ash Wednesday Crown of Thorns

Lent has begun. We all received our ashes today (though you can't see them on their foreheads anymore now) and we also made our Crowns of Thorns. Every year we start Lent with our Crowns of Thorns. These "thorns" remind us of the pain that Jesus suffered for our sins. Throughout Lent, as we do good deeds for others, we take out thorns from the crowns as our good deeds make Jesus happy. By Easter all our thorns will be removed and we will paint these crowns with gold paint and decorate with jewels as they will become Easter Crowns. This reminds us that after Jesus suffered for our sins, he opened the gates of Heaven and was crowned king of heaven and earth.

Mardi Gras

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, when we as Catholics begin 40 days of Lenten sacrifice to remember Christ's sacrifices for us and the gift he gave us with his life. Today, though, is Mardi Gras (also known as Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday). It's the day we celebrate, eat the last of our meat and desserts as we clear our pantries out for the Lenten fast.Here are the kids all dressed up for Mardi Gras.Hurray! The kids really loved popping the poppers.Baby Bear needed some special attention. Fortunately, the child backpack and a new microphone made him happy while we created our king cakes. The big kids sprinkled the king cakes (cinnamon rolls) with gold, green, and purple sprinkles.

We sang some songs with Alleluia in them. Then, we put our Alleluia away for the Lenten season. Sister made a special box to remind us of the importance of Lent.

Have a blessed Lenten season!!!

Happy St. Valentine's Day

All three kids enjoyed St. Valentine's Day parties on Friday.Baby Bear found it difficult to smile with his mouth full of candy hearts.Brother loved playing all sorts of games during preschool. His favorite was musical chairs.

Sadly, his fabulous dancing distracted him from winning. He made it down to second to last, though.Sister loved decorating her "mailbox" for her class party and enjoyed receiving a special "candy gram" from Mom and Dad. I really enjoyed being able to help out at her class party.My dh and I loved having a special night out just the two of us on Saturday night. My parents took all three kids for a sleepover Saturday evening. It was the first time in a very long time we were able to remember what it was like to be newlyweds again. While fun, it was also great to see the kids the next morning. They, on the other hand, voted to move in with Memere and Papa. Oh well. You can't win them all.

I hope all of you were able to share St. Valentine's Day with someone (or a bunch of someones) you love!!!

Skateland

During Catholic Schools' Week we had a fun family night at a local roller rink. Sister has been rollerblading for a while now and is very natural at it. It actually surprised us a bit since she and I have similar issues with gracefulness. When she's on skates, she's a graceful angel.Sister loved skating and singing. They played tons of High School Musical songs.Yes, I had to grab her and hold her down to even get a photo with Sister.This was Brother's first time on skates.He really loved holding on and letting people pull him along.He also showed off a bit for the camera.In the end, he did best skating on the carpet (which has probably been there since I was little).Sadly, Baby Bear didn't get to try skating. I didn't really want to have to go to Urgent Care that night. Maybe soon though.Brother and Baby Bear really enjoyed playing in the video game section.Once Brother found the guns, he was done with skating.
What a wonderful family night with the other families at Sister's school. We'll have to go back again soon!

A Week of Crazy Dress Days

Catholic Schools' Week is a week full of crazy dress days. For kids that are required to wear uniforms most days, this week is their chance to break out in individuality. Sadly, Sister was sick for the first half of the week. Fortunately, she didn't have to miss out on the best days including Beach Day. Since it is February, I required a bit of warmer items under her "beach wear". Shockingly, I was one of the few parents who did.We all got to have a picnic lunch with Sister in her school gym. Every picnic day has been rainy since Sister started at her school.Sister got a little crazy when showing off her attire.Baby Bear loved playing at recess with Sister and Daddy. Brother is somewhere over on the play equipment.

Super Star Sister!

Sister is a super star! In the past few weeks our beautiful girl overcame some major fears of public speaking to...

participate in her class's Monday Morning Opening,

read a poem she wrote herself for her school's talent show,

and give the introduction for an all-school mass.

GREAT JOB, SISTER!!!

Charlie's Safari Play Day

Last Friday we headed off to Charlie's Safari for a few hours of fun. As a teacher, I never supported parents pulling their kids out of school for frivolous reasons. Yet, with only a slight amount of guilt, I decided to let Brother skip preschool for this fun adventure. We were there for five hours and the boys could have stayed even longer. Crazy boys! Fortunately, I brought lunches, snacks, and some friends to chat with. Sister was pretty upset that I didn't let her skip school to go too. I just couldn't bring myself to do that. Preschool is one thing. Second grade is another.

Brother and his friend going across the rope bridge.
Brother climbing up something.
Brother and some friends up in the middle of the climbing structure.
What goes up, gets to come down. Man those slides were slick and quick! Everybody loves to bounce.
Even Baby Bear loves bouncing.
One of the bounce houses even had a fun bouncy slide.Baby Bear loved the ball area. Too bad there was only one ball. He got some practice sharing with his friend.He just couldn't get enough of the ball. Looking around for a hoop to toss it in. Sadly, there weren't any hoops even tall ones.

March for Life

On Tuesday, January 19, we participated in the annual March for Life to the state capitol steps. We were blessed with dry skies and warm weather (warm for January at least). There were thousands of people who attended. So many, we weren't even near the steps. What a blessing!!!

Here are Memere, the kids, and some friends we walked with when we arrived on the state capitol lawn. Someone gave Sister a sign to carry. She loved it!

There were so many people they were stretched out on either side of the steps and across the lawn in the middle where the flag poles are. Here's the best picture I could get from the Justice building steps. There were so many people I couldn't even get all of them into the photo. We weren't even in this picture as we were on the left side of the tree on the left in this photo. The kids were having fun climbing it, which I'm sure they weren't supposed to be doing. Sorry.

Papa gave the big kids a ride back up to the church afterwards. The little kids road back in the wagon and stroller. What a cute kid chain they walked back to the car in! (=

We continue to pray for our government (state and federal) to have more respect for human life especially as they debate over health care bills.

A birthday and a baptism, what a blast!

Last weekend we had two very fun parties that we were invited to attend. On Saturday, a friend from high school's son was celebrating his 2nd birthday up in Snohomish. On Sunday, at 9 AM, my newest nephew was celebrating his baptism in Portland. Since we didn't want to miss either event, we packed everyone up in the van and prepared for a long day of driving.

For Christmas my parents gave us a portable DVD player to use on trips. A friend loaned us some of her kids' movies so we had some new ones to enjoy. The kids had so much fun watching movies during the ride. We didn't even get bugged, "Are we almost there yet?" once. Yippee!!!

At the birthday party, Baby Bear discovered the joy of helium balloons. He would pull one down then let go and watch it go up again just to pull it down again. What fun! Sister brought her book in as there weren't really any kids her age there. Fortunately, she always has a couple books just in case.
Brother was thrilled to find a Hot Wheel track much like the one we had at one time. Brother destroyed ours by twisting the track all different directions and shooting the rubber bands around the house. Fortunately, he was able to enjoy this one without destroying it. Happy 2nd Birthday, Steven!!!

He blew both his candles out all by himself. Great job Steven!!!

Here are all the cousins ready to see Cousin E get baptised. We got there early since we had to save two rows of seats for all the family that attended. Here is my sister's family with the pastor who baptised Cousin E.

The weekend really flew by with all that driving, but it was wonderful to see good friends and family. We look forward to seeing them all again soon.