Our Own Little Stay-cation

We wanted to get out and about, but we knew we couldn’t go far with John not being mobile.  We decided on the Nature Center here in town.  We had a good time rummaging around in the woods.

We stopped off to look at the snakes and salamanders, and Grace fell in love with this beaver. 

Grace and Ethan hopped the creek stones to get to this little island.  Gertie wanted to join them, so she just waded through the water.  She was pretty excited to be there with the big ones, though.  Look at that smile.  And they are pretty cool.

Gertie was coaxed into posing next to many stumps and dead trees.  She’s awfully cute next to trees and stumps.

And then we discovered a big tree root that had been uprooted when the tree fell over.  A perfect little hideout for these gangsters.

And this is the only picture of Ethan without his hat on.  I missed his hair, sticking up like it does.  I had to see it, if only for a moment.

Have a happy Tuesday.

Happy Easter

Yesterday Gertie and I went to an Easter egg hunt at a local church.  We had so much fun.  They went all out with a bunch of carnival games and a puppet show and cookies and punch and a truckload of eggs out on the big church lawn. 

John hurt his back again on Thursday, so he’s been laid up since then.  I’ve realized (not that I had any illusions otherwise) that I don’t make a good Dad.  In my house the good Dad cooks and grocery shops and takes very good care of his family.  I help, but we make a good team.  I like the team.

 

Pray for speedy recovery for him.  This tends to take him out for a good while.

We also decorated eggs yesterday.  It was a great time, as usual, and these are the favorite works of art from each of my kiddos.

Gertie’s still got the napped-on remains of the bunny painted on her face at the egg hunt.  Gertie was quite impressive in our own personal egg hunt this morning.  She held her own with the big kids.  And if she thought Ethan found too many eggs, she just took them out of his basket and put them into hers.

Grace was off to church early to prepare to play her cello as part of the worship team.  She did great, and I was a proud Mama watching her.  Ethan was in the service too, swinging flags.  Very fun to watch.  I barely pulled off getting the ham and potatoes in the oven before we left for church, but our dinner was delicious, even though my hands were the ones that prepared it.  I am thankful for that.

And I’m so so thankful that Christ rose from the grave on this day many years ago.  I needed it.

Happy Easter, all.

The New Bike

This is a post I’ve been wanting to update.  Little Miss Gertrude got a new bike.  Of course, we’re in Minnesota, so she’s riding with hat and mittens.

She’s working on getting the pedaling thing figured out.  I would describe the progress as a bit slow.

  And every time she gets close to the edge of the sidewalk, which is often, she gets off and straightens herself out with her hands.  Like this.  I love this…

Basketball

this is grace. my mom wanted me to add some captions to these pictures.

look at our boy

i told him to just pretend i wasn't here, so he walked away...

Marisa's Song

A month goes by...I just don't seem to be in a blogging mood lately. I am wondering if it might be because my wireless has gone funny and now I have to sit tethered to the computer desk instead of roam any old place, and usually my husband's soft, fluffy Lazyboy rocker in the family room. And I've had stuff I'd like to blog about too. And I'll get to all of it, but the reason that drove me to actually sit down and publish is that my darling and extra-talented son won his poetry contest at school. They call it the Eberhart Poetry Contest, and they chose one finalist from each school in our district. He had written this poem for an "old" friend that has moved away. It was a song, actually, and he had to alter it slightly to fit within the guidelines of the contest, but here it is.

Marisa’s Song

Don’t you remember how it used to be?

Well, if you don’t, I’ll tell how it was.

It was you and me sitting under that old tree,

Then you would chase me, catch me. I would laugh.

Don’t you remember how it used to be?

It was just us two. We made a good team.

We would just sit there, play a game or two.

We might just have fun, or we might be sad.

But everything changed and got rearranged.

Now I’m just a creep who can’t go to sleep.

Mellowed out dude, you could call me rude.

Thoughts have gotten caught thinking about you.

Think I should let them.

We would just sit there.

Play a game or two…

Don't you just love this kid?