Simply Easter

"Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise..."

As my long-time readers know, I am not a fan of plastic Easter.  I can't stand the idea of forking out big bucks on shrink-wrapped gifts for kids.  For those who are not believers in Jesus and the Resurrection, why would they want to hand out candy and presents only three months after Christmas?  Why even celebrate?  Its ridiculous!

"...you will do well to pay attention to the message..."

For those who are Christians, Easter is the most important day to remember and celebrate.  And to cheapen the message and the day with plastic and other crap totally steals the focus.  Especially for children.  Especially for the children. They should be the LAST to get plastic junk.  Oh, but then the toy and candy industries wouldn't get to profit from their parent's sentimental whims and guilt over being bad parents.  So quickly Fiona was able to rattle off, "Jesus died for our sins...AND WE GET JELLYBEANS!" Ugh.

"...as to a light shining in a dark place,until the day dawns..."

We choose to celebrate Easter very, very simply (after many years of trying this thing and that).  No church, no new fancy dresses from Costco, no magical footprints on the carpet, no pastel decorations.  This morning, I read the Easter story straight out of the Bible to Shane and younger.  I read each version from Matthew all the way to John.  

"...and the morning star rises in your hearts."

While I read, Ian and Mark hid three dozen hard-boiled eggs I colored last night.  Then Mark made breakfast while we watched Veggie Tales Easter Carol.  During breakfast we had a few opportunities to point out sins in our children and remind them that Jesus taught a different way of living.

Shane finds the first egg!

After that, the egg hunt was on...

Comparing first eggs

The Easter Monkey hid that egg!

Ian was Daniel's buddy

"Look Mom! I found a chicken egg!"

NOT an Easter Egg

"No, Daniel, you have to PEEL them first!"

The secret to vivid, natural color? There is no secret at all!

The Easter Snail

So, the big question is, why do we, The Downens, choose to celebrate Easter simply and not part of a church body?  We believe we can receive the message of Easter from anywhere, as long as we believe.  We can see it and feel it as we watch the sunrise on our forest and the illumination of our budding fruit trees.  We can hear it when we listen to Mahler's Symphony No 2.  And already, we are forgetting and over-indulging on hard-boiled eggs and jelly beans. Help us to avoid temptations and the candy in the kitchen!  Today is going to be a beautiful, sunny day, so out we go into God's creation to enjoy it!

New Big Van

This is our New Big Van!!!

I haven't even driven it yet.  We spent ALL DAY yesterday buying this van.  I should have been more prepared.  Who in their right mind takes a 4 (almost 5) year old, a 2 (almost 3) year old, and a baby car shopping?  Without food?  Or distractions?  Me.

Problem #1: Daniel gets carsick.  And he is freshly potty-trained.  I made sure he had a pullup on, just in case he had an accident.  But this boy doesn't do accidents on purpose anymore.  Between being carsick and needing to go potty...well, he cried all the way to the dealership, which was an hour and a half away.  He held both back, that swell little man of mine.

Problem #2: It was lunch time and all I had were a few hold-me-over snacks for the kids.  Three cheese sticks, two bananas, and a bag of mixed nuts.  I assumed that we were going to do drive-thru like last time, but since we were getting ready to borrow several thousand dollars while wiping out our savings account, Mark was on money saving mode.  No drive-thru.  By the time we got to the dealership, the bananas and cheese were gone!

Problem #3: The wait.  We knew that we wanted this van.  We didn't need to test drive or anything.  We just needed to make the right deal.  We as in Mark.  My job was to keep the kids occupied.  First we walked around the indoor car displays and counted how many red cars there were then how many white cars then how many black cars.  Then we named the letters on the sides of the cars.  Then they told us to go to the "play area," which was only a box of Mega blocks and an empty dollhouse.  But there was TV!  I figured out how to change the channel to PBS and we watched many many politically correct shows for kids.  The paperwork took forever!

Problem #4: Loan issues.  Something or other happened and Mark had to call Ian and teach him how to access his passwords on the computer and look up some information online.  Walking a computer newbie/child through something like that took a lot of patience!  But everything worked out just fine.

Problem #5: The Exit.  Mark wanted me to drive the van home so I could get used to it right away.  I was fine with that.  But I needed to move the car seats from the Honda to the van and I was not going to do it without him helping me corral our tired-of-waiting kids in the parking lot.  He couldn't leave the loan paperwork.  So we decided that I would just drive the kids in the Honda and he could drive the van.  In traffic.  All the way home.  At this point Fiona was spinning in the parking lot and dropped the bag of mixed nuts.  The bag split open, spilling our only food source on the ground.  Feeling bad about the nuts, Fiona threw a temper tantrum because she wanted to ride in the new van.  She screamed and cried and kicked her feet on the seats and hit her head on the back of the seat.  And its a good thing Mark did drive the new van sans kids!

Problem #6: Driving Home.  Once Fiona calmed down and we entered traffic, Lula started crying.  Lucky for her, I made a fresh bottle before we left and Fiona could hold it for her.  (See Fiona? I needed you with me!)  As soon as Lula was sleeping and we had crawled about ten miles down 405, Daniel started crying that he needed to "choke in a bowl."  I had the empty nut container (complete with screw on lid) and I handed it back to him.  I am so thankful that he is able to take care of his "choking" needs-warn me before it happens and aim well.  And I had a container with a screw-on lid.  By the time we merged on I-5, things settled down...until the big semi-truck woke everyone up with its loud brakes.  And the kids were hungry from not eating all day.  And Lula needed to pull over for a diaper change.  But after that things went much much better and we went home, happily ever after, the end!

They've Got Talent!

Last night, the Cub Scouts held their annual talent show.  The talent show used to be part of the Blue and Gold celebration, but this year, the committee decided to separate the two.

Ian's talent was to share his digital animation.  He show three of his video clips: Bill Takes the Cake (which I posted here), Jack is Bad (a clip about Jack replacing Bill's cake with a rock), and Ninja Penguins.  The audience loved Ian's clips and laughed heartily.

Ian on stage, presenting his video clip

Shane's talent was singing The Pi Song and then reciting as many digits of pi that he could remember:

He remembered 66 digits (but repeated two as he remembered his place).  Way to go boys!

Fiona's Special Day

Fiona was a super-star today!  First we went to her dance class where she started learning her recital dance for June's performance.  She gets to stand in the front of the group for the tap portion (get ready for some cuteness!):

Evie made the movie and DANIEL provided the naughty sound effect.  It was completely unrelated to the dance because he was facing me.  I gave him a little cheek squeeze and told him he was being naughty.  He said, "I'm passing gas noise!"  So ignore Daniel and watch how cute Fiona was...until we got in the car, ran some errands, and headed home.  Then she said, "I'm a sweetheart, but Daniel's a sweet FART!"  UFF DA! I said to her!  "Well, Dad says it!"  Just because we hear Daddy say something does not mean you should repeat it!

When we were unloading the car, Fiona dropped a gallon of milk, right on the carpet!  The jug burst open and spilled everywhere!  She ran outside crying to tell me, but Ian was quick to respond and got the milk into the sink and was running down the hall with a stack of towels by the time I got inside.  We soaked up the spilled milk, I told Fiona not to cry over the spilled milk, and then we had to steam clean.  Once upon a time, I couldn't possibly get anything done while I had babies awake, and I certainly couldn't do anything while they were asleep either because I might wake them up.

What was I thinking?  It's easy to steam clean with a baby on the floor!

Smiles

Lula has discovered how to smile for the camera.  She has been so full of sweet, cheerful smiles that I'm thinking I should change her first name to Joy!

This picture is especially sweet because she is terrified of baths:

Anytime I try to put her in the bath tub, she cries and tries to crawl up the front of my shirt-much like a cat would in a similar situation (trust me, I know-and don't ask).  Today, after she ate some stinky baby food (Gerber peas), I needed to bathe her, but didn't want to deal with the crying.  So I sat her on her towel with a little soapy water and a washcloth.  By splashing and playing with the washcloth, she got herself quite clean! And the floor too! I love multi-tasking!  After her bath, she smiled some more...

...and then took a nice, long nap:

*sweetness*

Seriously Spring!

Time to plant trees!

Mark went up to Bellingham yesterday to pick up his annual tree order (the trip deserves its very own post).

Planting buddies

He took the two girls and Daniel into the woods this morning...

My favorite spring wild flower...

...and a springtime wild girl!

 ...and then after I got home, Mark rototilled the small garden because I brought home some rhubarb and asparagus and...

Mark works while...

...Lula watches!

 ...some meat chickens!  Wilco had a deal where you could get five free cornish cross with the purchase of a 50lb bag of chick food.  We got 20 birds and 200lbs of food.  I also caved on three americauna chicks.  I'll go back in a few weeks for turkeys!

Spring Ritual: De-spidering muck shoes!

Today's weather is absolutely gorgeous!  We've spent most of the days working on trees, chickens, and...

...playing in the dirt...

...looking at bugs...

...and looking for spiders!

We seriously love spring here!

Ancient India

How about a homeschool post?  We are touching on Ancient India for a few days before we get back to Rome.  According to our book, the women of India were the first to use lipstick (but I'm pretty sure the ancient Egyptians did as well).  Men wore nail polish to attract women and show how brave they were.  The older kids were not interested in this style of hands-on history, but Fiona would never turn down makeup.  Ever.  She cannot wait until she is old enough to wear makeup and high-heeled shoes.

Unfortunately, the only color lipstick I have is bright, bright red.  I only have it because we used it for clown makeup last Halloween! 

Daniel is my brave warrior...but being two-almost-three and Daniel, he wanted what Fiona had as well...

...he is a very ugly girl.  When I told him that, he got angry with me and said, "No, I'm a very ugly BOY!"  (He had a bath right away and is looking himself once more)

Fiona is very expressive, both in face and in action.  The black and white edit makes the lipstick a little less...scary...and returns her to a more innocent age.  Some of the pictures I snapped make her look waaaay too old and grown up.  In fact, I asked her to look like a grown up and this is what she did:

This picture is her favorite:

Yikes!

The New Leprechaun

IJ, an avid reader of my blog, has never quite forgiven me for fooling him when he was younger.  But he's a good sport and is proud to step up and take Ami's place as my co-conspirator.

"Hey, what's that?"

 While in Pennsylvania, I bought some gold coins from the chocolate factory in Lititz.  Ian scattered them for me by the blooming daffodils while the other kids were getting their boots on.  You see, I had to make them go outside.  The rain had stopped and the video games were making me crazy.

"Yes! Gold!"

It was easy to get them to find the gold.  As soon as Fiona had her boots on, she exclaimed, "Look! The daffodils are blooming!" I barely had time to get the camera turned on before they found the gold.

Pinewood Derby

The Downens weren't as lucky as we have been in years past.  I was very thankful for this; having all three place last year and have two place the year before put too much pressure on us to win this year.

From left to right, we have Daniel-8th place, Shane-9th place, Ian-8th place, Fiona-11th place, and Evie-4th place.  There were 38 scout racers and 18 sibling racers.  Evie got beat by two Boy Scouts and the sister of the boy who won 3rd place in the scout races.  Shane would have placed 3rd or 4th if the weight on the bottom of his car hadn't fallen off.  It actually dragged on the track during his second heat and fell off after he crossed the finish line.

The winner of the derby had a time of 3.11 seconds.  Second place had a time of 3.18 seconds.  Shane and Ian had times of 3.22 and 3.24 (or something very close to that).  When places are determined by tenths and hundredths of seconds, poor sportsmanship and sour grapes abound.

Gone are the days when boys build their own cars from start to finish using only what comes in the box, hacking out body designs with a hand-held coping saw.  Now we have pre-built kits, cars designed by professional engineers, souped up wheels and axles purchased from online dealers, and most of the car body removed and replaced with metal weights.  All so they can bring home a shiny piece of plastic and have a little segment patch.

It must be a guy thing.  I was grumbling to our cubmaster about Ian being a sore loser and that he should be thankful he even placed last year.  The cubmaster said it was normal for males to be this way and I should be worried if he wasn't complaining.  Whatever.  I'm just glad its over and we only have one more year...until Daniel is old enough for Cub Scouts!

The "Eyes" Have It

One should never leave a box of googly eyes and a camera where my kids can reach them.  Who knows what kind of mischief they will get into?

We are getting ready for the Pinewood Derby tomorrow.  We've had a few successful years...

...and a few bummer years as well.  This is the first year we have entered cars for Fiona and Daniel. Fiona designed her own car and it is so HER.  Daniel gets Ian's loser car from his Bear year.  Let's see if it'll have a better race tomorrow.  I doubt it; the siblings all race together, so he and the girls will be up against Boy Scout siblings. Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day. 

Dirty Laundry

I give myself permission to post the following dirty laundry *wink*.  This morning, I pulled this shirt, freshly laundered, out of my dryer:

This used to be Ian's best church shirt when he was three.  Obviously Daniel ruined it.  I am at peace with the fact my boys destroy their clothes (we do live in a big dirt pit with all the bulldozing we have going on), but man, this dirt spot was awful.  Can you see the strange spiral shape above? Right before I left for dance, I drizzled some stain remover I bought from Costco on the shirt.  When I got home and rinsed it off (no scrubbing!) I could see the clean spiral-shaped path!

I added a second drizzle and scrubbed half the shirt.  I was totally amazed at how quickly the dirt disappeared!  That lady at Costco was not lying!

A few minutes later, the whole shirt was presentable!  I haven't even washed it yet.  I am so amazed at what this awful chemical could do to a shirt that was headed to the garbage can!  Now what should I do? Pollute the environment with chemicals to preserve a shirt or pollute the environment buying new shirts and throwing destroyed ones away?  Choices, choices.