Egg Dyeing 101

The boys and I spent holy Saturday dyeing Easter eggs and getting the house ready for our Easter celebrations while daddy was studiously studying at the library.  

I blew out half of the eggs before we started and then realized that with toddlers and preschoolers quantity matters more than quality when dyeing eggs and had to blow out another dozen while the children screamed politely asked for more.  They had a lot of fun and the eggs turned out quite nicely.

P.S. Chris bought me a new camera....can you tell?  I think my pictures are already better and I have no idea what I'm doing :)  

Indoor Gardening

I've been wanting to make terrariums with the boys for a while and I finally got tired of the empty jars staring at me and gathered up our supplies this weekend. I used this tutorial except we didn't use any charcoal--we're wild I tell you :)

David had fun dumping gravel and scooping potting soil.  In retrospect we should have done it outside.....and used wider mouth jars.  It was really hard to get our hands in and actually plant the plants, and by our I mean my.  I bought three succulents to use but I only ended up fitting one in.  The smaller jar only has moss that we dug up outside.

We put in a cute little house thing that David picked out at the pet store and some rocks and shells from our "collection."  Well, I'm using the phrase David picked out  loosely, what he really chose was a glittery pink treasure chest which I didn't think his daddy would approve of, so I may have had a hand in guiding him towards a less pink option......I think they turned out pretty well over all!

What I really want to make is something more along the lines of this except of course much more manly.....I keep telling myself that it doesn't make sense to do it here and I should just wait until we move.  Chris thinks I"m being silly and just trying to relive my own childhood fantasies of having my very own tiny garden.....he's probably right.  But I'm doing it anyway :)

Daddy Day Care

I ran out to a Dr's appointment this week and came back to find Chris had turned our living room into this:

The boys were understandably impressed.....of course all that changed when they came downstairs the next morning to find it dismantled....oh it's so hard to be little...........

Bunkers are for Climbing

We had a last minute detour into the Army Heritage Museum this week for a quick *and free* adventure.

Henry got tangled in the barbed wire fence.  I had a mini panic attack before I realized the fence was plastic faux barbed wire.  I don't know which is worse...that I let him get so close to a potentially dangerous fence before checking it out or that I entertained the thought that the museum would have put up such a dangerous fence and let the children fend for themselves.....

Moving Forward...

Things have been quiet here as we've been processing our grief, but life keeps moving on....the boys still need their mommy--apparently just because mommy is sad doesn't change the fact that the house still needs cleaning and the children need to eat and play and bathe.......

Along with our pain we have also had so many blessings raining down on us.  The timing of our loss was really perfect--if such a thing can have perfect timing--Chris had the entire week off for spring break so he was able to stay home every day and take care of me and the children.  We've had prayers and lasagnas flowing to us without an end in sight, both of which seem to have overwhelming healing powers.  Shortly after we lost our little Katharine the weather miraculously turned beautiful.  This was extremely irritating at first--didn't the world know I was grieving?  Rain seemed a more appropriate choice for weather.  God knew better though....I know, that's a huge surprise isn't it?......The wonderful weather has allowed us to get outside and has done wonders to lift my mood.  You can't help but smile when Spring begins to bloom all around you.  

This first week at home without Chris I've been able to take the boys outside every day and go on ridiculously long walks.  On one such walk we landed at this usually quiet park..... 

Only on this day it wasn't quite so quiet and of course the boys wanted to sit themselves directly in front of this chain-sawing monstrosity......so much for time for quiet reflection.....

They spent a lot of time burying my feet with their "diggers".....

So many thoughtful gifts have arrived on my doorstep this week; flowers, books, and this wonderful bracelet from my sister-in-laws.....

For the most part I've been doing well--spending time with my boys whose laughter is such a blessing, reading, and soaking up this wonderful sunshine.  I know this loss will always be with me, but I can feel myself being strengthened by it already and I know that we will all be okay.....

Thank you all for your continued prayers, I am sure that I can feel them and they have helped to bring us such comfort and peace.