Easter Pictures

Easter was unusual for us this year.  The day before, Saturday, we surprised the kids with not 1 but 2 puppies.  Yikes!  We told them that we were going to drive out to Mark's employee's house to visit.  Once we got there all they did was play with the litter of 6 puppies.  It was crazy...the kids actually.  The puppies were docile and just wanted to stay underneath the cars to get away from the heat.  When we were ready to go Mark had a puppy he his arms and I gave Alex the other one and said lets go.  He was so oblivious about the whole situation that he put the chosen puppy back in with the litter.  That's when I realized that we totally forgot to let them in on their surprise.  After I told him while I was laughing, he was shocked and just stared at all the rest of the puppies.  He couldn't believe it and started laughing.  Well the next day was a gloomy one; glad to it was Easter and we were celebrating Jesus' Ascension, but that one of the puppies (Lilly) was very sick and Mark need to take her to the hospital.  Needless to say, he came back home empty handed and alone.  We all cried alot; Tony took it the hardest.  Monday came around and the owners of the puppies drove 45 minutes to deliver another one.   Her name is Rosie and is the sibling of Rex and they get along very well.  In fact, we think she might become the alpha dog ;-)

Rex with the kids.

Getting ready to have our Resurrection hunt. 

Similar to the egg hunt, but there is one egg that is empty and who ever finds that one is the winner.  They then scream Jesus has Risen (indicating that his tomb is empty) and is then excited that they didn't get anything in that egg.  I think to have a game where a child is excited to receive nothing is great plus to have an awesome meaning behind it too ;-)

Alex playing with Rex.

Aliana was our Rescurrection Hunt winner.

After Mark got home, he took the kids outside along with Rex for a tractor ride to make everyone feel better and to love on the healthy dog that we had.

Rosie arrived and the kids are trying to hand feed her dinner on a nice place on the patio.

Then they took her for a walk and to explore her new home.

Rosie is doing well.

Our family has increased!

We would like to introduce our babies.  They are full bred German Shepperds, 7 weeks old.  Their birthday is February 14, 2012.  Their names are Lilly (girl-short haired) and Guinny (boy-long haired).

We just got them and are taking them home on Saturday.

Actually straight to Petco to get all their necessities.

We are really happy that we bought a brother and a sister.  They sleep and play just like this. They entertain each other.

Introducing them to the backyard.

This is Guinny. 

Look at that baby belly.

We were planting flowers in the front while the kids play with the babies and I found Lilly sleeping between the wild flowers.  Cute picture!

Puppy play time.

She is the runt of the liter, but can keep up with her brother.

Their favorite place to lay is in the cold dirt.

Easter Date

We got a couple momma's and about 9-13 children together at the park before Easter.

So my kids and I surprised everyone with flower cupcakes and balloons with little gifts attached to the ends of them.  The purpose of the balloons was to signify Jesus rising to heaven; we released them and as they rose up we said thank you Jesus.  It was cute!

Unidentified Fly Insection (UFI)

We had something similar maybe a week ago but not this big and it acted the same.

Tony named him Bat Bug.

Resurrection Eggs

We tried this good demonstration and example of what Jesus did for us.

It didn't go as smoothly as I would have wanted, but we still finished.  Next year will be better since they will be older.

Beating the pecans: representing Jesus.  They were the Roman soldiers.

All the ingredients signify what He endured:

pecans- his body

vinegar- what he was given to drink while on the cross

egg whites- life, Jesus gave his life for ours

salt- his tears

sugar- how sweet the story is that Jesus died for us

Showing daddy Jesus is in the oven.  She actually had just came running in the back door and went straight to the oven with her face and hands pressed up to it.  She says, "I don't like Him locked up in there!"

Tasting them and seeing if they are hollow inside, which in turn represents Jesus has risen and the tomb is empty.

Horrible Tornado Mess

Here is a video about what we were experiencing yesterday, although me and the kids had God's hands over us protecting us.

Here comes the storm.

These pictures were taken in a matter of seconds. 

Look at how fast the clouds are moving right over us.  This is looking to the west of our house.

This is our "safe place" where we camped out for about 30 minutes.

Here is a picture of the tornado coming down hwy 287.  We live just west of this hwy.

The tornadoes came through the whole metro complex area. We live just south of Kennedale, west of Mansfield, southwest of Arlington and south of Fort Worth, north of Burelson.  Right in the path. 

Afternoon of Fun

We had a great Saturday outside with the kids while doing some landscaping.

There was pool time, roasting their own hot dogs camping style, picnicing with a nice spread and then s'mores of course.  I think they are more fun to make than to eat ;-)

This is so funny. 

They get so messy with the marshmallow and chocolate that they try to see who will kiss them in this state. 

I heard Aliana talking to someone and when I rounded the corner of the house I found she was talking to herself and sitting like this. She was talking to God....precious!

Artists for a week

Ok, so this was really cool.  I got this idea after taking an online museum tour with the kids on their Usbourne Science book.  All the artists that were introduced to the kids, the kids would then create something like that specific artist. The ones that we focused on were (I'll list them in order of the art on the wall) Ellsworth Kelly - color composition, William Anastsis - Timed Art and Motion Art & Pablo Picasso - Abstract Shape Art.  The last one that is not pictured was Umberto Boccioni - tin foil sculpture.

Alex's art display

Tony's Art Display

Aliana's Art Display

This was part of the Australian study we did and created an Australian Quilt.

From top left to the right and then down....

-Kangaroo (national animal - marsupial)

- Boomerang (originally used as a weapon, now a sport)

- Emu (national bird)

- Sydney Opera House (largest in the world)

- National Flag

- Golden Wattle (national flower)

- Sheep (herd sheep and cattle the most on a station , not a ranch or farm)

- It's country with all territories and states

- Great Barrier Reef (can be seen from space, largest in the world)