12 posts tagged “holidays”
At our neighborhood Easter egg hunt, Colsen was scared of the Easter Bunny -- preferring instead this balloon. Rayna, on the other hand thought the big Easter Bunny was way too cool and spent a lot of time hugging him, giving him high fives, etc. I finally had to pull her away!
Other highlights this year included making baked "empty tomb" creations, having another egg hunt in our backyard, and having some friends from our life group over for Easter dinner.
(Our Good Friday events are recorded here. (Thanks, Alleyn!) )
How thankful we are that we have a Risen Savior who gives us abundant life!
Strider wanted to recount our April Fool's Day, but says he types way too slow. So this will be me (Amy) typing, but Strider is doing full dictation!
Yesterday, April Fool's Day, I had a great day, starting really early in the morning when I went and got my dad's underwear and put it all in the fridge. Then I got socks and threw them at my mom in her bed as confetti. And then I went in Rayna's room and got her clothes and threw them at her when she was sleeping. Then we got all the balls in the house and put them in the pantry, so when my dad went to make breakfast all the balls were in there! And when I got dressed, I found all my clothes were in the wrong drawers, so I punched my mom. Just kidding -- hey there's YOUR April fool!
Then we went to our Classical Conversations co-op for our last week. We came home from that, did some more schoolwork, then did some more April Fool's tricks, such as hiding all my mom's underwear. When Colsen woke up from his nap, he had clothes all over him, too. I threw them on him (laughs)!
We played outside for awhile and when we came in, my mom told us that she had burned dinner, so she gave us these really weird cupcakes instead. The cupcakes had potatoes for the frosting and meatloaf for the cake part!
And I played a trick on my dad saying that a guy called for him named Mr. Lyon and I gave him the phone number to call him back -- of the zoo! My dad went to a meeting and we stayed home to watch American Idol.
And that's it!
Last night around 8 pm, I got that scheming, gleeful glint in my eye as I told Pete I wanted to pull a classic April Fool's prank on our kids: moving them while they were sleeping so they would wake up in someone else's bed. Here's how our night ended up going:
10:00 pm: Feed Miles, then talk to my friend Jen on the phone until 11.
11:15 pm: Put Miles to bed. Put Rayna in Colsen's bed, Colsen in Strider's bed, Strider in Rayna's bed.
11:17 pm: Bring a screaming Colsen into our room and let him lie in our bed.
11:50 pm: Turn out the lights with Colsen still in our bed.
1:15 am: Rayna comes in our room crying because Strider's in her bed. We take Colsen back to his bed, Strider back to his bed, and Rayna back to her bed.
1:30 am: Colsen is screaming again.
4:00 am: Miles wakes up because he is a baby and he wants to eat.
5:30 am: Colsen is crying again.
7:10 am: Strider comes running in our room, throwing (single) socks all over our bed as his idea of an April Fool’s joke. Then he runs into Rayna's room.
7:11 am: Rayna is yelling, "STRI-DER!" in a pained voice
7:12 am: Colsen wakes up and comes in our room, crying.
Needless to say, my first prank of the day definitely backfired, and I learned more about who the real Fool is in this house. Undaunted, though, I am still planning to continue with my other plan for dinner tonight…
We are entering another significant season today: the season of Lent. Our family has really benefited from learning more about the traditional Church year and so we are excited to embark on this season once more.
This year, we have the added fun of celebrating with our friends as well. So here's where we were last night:
http://coleclan9rdfc.vox.com/library/post/shrove-tuesday.html
Thanks, Alleyn, for documenting this for us! And thanks for all the great pancakes, games, lessons, and even the Gilligan's Island Psalter song. :)
For the last few years when we've celebrated Epiphany, we've had family members in from out of town to participate with us. But this year, having no company in the house, we decided to celebrate with our good friends, the Cole Clan. In typical Howard-Cole-fashion, he jumped right into his inaugural Epiphany celebration with both feet, and learned all kinds of cool things to share with us that we had never known about! He told us all about Ignatius writing 100 years after Christ about the magi, giving them names and descriptions, and about some interesting traditions that the Church has followed for centuries concerning this holiday.
Steve and Paige also contributed to the merriment by creating some fun games for the kids.... Steve led each child through a very dark house with his flashlight, as they "followed the star" to find a treasure. And Paige put together a collection of mysterious items in a large sock of Howard's (which we all hoped was washed!) that we had to take turns trying to decipher by feeling. Then later the treasures were "revealed" in the spirit of an epiphany and the most discerning and observant among us won. :) Howard had us all compete in tongue twister contest with some sort of convoluted statement involving a star and sages... the Coles dominated in that game!
Then we all participated in a new tradition that I can't wait to do again next year: chalking the house. This is something people have done for centuries and centuries and has several layers of meaning to it... the primary idea being that we ask God to bless the house, and use the inhabitants to bless any visitors this year.
And, finally, we broke into the traditional (at least in our house) Treasure Box Cake.... although finding the toothpick hidden in it was somewhat anticlimactic since it fell out during the cutting. But Alleyn, the winner-designate, still led us in a rousing rendition of "We 3 Kings."
We love having these holidays -- not only to continue building family traditions -- but also to have more opportunities to celebrate with good friends! Thanks, H, A, T, S, P, C and S for making it such a fun evening for us!
The last several years we have enjoyed celebrating Boxing Day -- primarily because the idea of giving to others out of the abundance of what we have is appealing right after Christmas. We usually fill some boxes up to take to a donation center, and then get together with the extended family for some other "box-related" fun.
This year, though, most of us felt like we weren't quite up for another big gathering right away, so we've decided to mix it up a little. We did go through the house and find a bunch of things we no longer needed to box up and give away, but we're going to do our big group gathering next week. This year we've decided we're going to have a "Trash-to-Treasure Auction" to raise money for a charity. The idea will be that everyone can bring items they no longer want but would still have value to someone else, and then we'll auction them off to the highest bidder. (We may also throw in some baked goods or other homemade items as well, to see if there are any interested takers there) Whoever brings the item that garners the highest bid will be rewarded by getting to choose the charity the money goes to. We'll probably also combine the auction with a boxed lunch of sorts, to carry the the boxing theme through. Otherwise, we'd have to go with what Strider votes for, which would be boxing matches...
So, if anyone wants to join us, feel free!
This year was a special celebration for us because we had all 4 grandparents here for dinner! Bud and Jane flew in on Wednesday for a visit until Sunday, and Mom and Dad came over for the afternoon and evening on Thursday. The kids loved having all the attention to themselves, and I loved the fact that the adult-child ratio was 2:1.
After a little football action and a lot of cooking action, we all took a mid-afternoon walk, on which we collected a bunch of fun fall nature items. Then we came home and
concocted a special Thanksgiving hat with all the collected things.
After a very yummy dinner, we passed the hat around so everyone could have a chance to wear it and share what they've been thankful for this year.
Everyone looked stunning, as you can see.
So the kids got all dressed up in their costumes last night... and we realized our camera is currently enjoying a trip through Europe (and reportedly having a grand time -- it will be back to check in with us soon I think), so I couldn't take any real pictures. I hauled out the ol' video camera, but since the battery was low, I had to leave it plugged in. So between the cord limitations and the darkness of the evening, this video is not all that great.
For those of you who can't see the videos on this site very well, here's the cliff notes version: Strider is a basketball player (and I cringed everytime I looked at him in his Carolina jersey), Rayna is a basketball cheerleader, and Colsen is.... the basketball.
We went around to some neighbors' houses last night which was, of course, fun. Rayna, in her annual tradition, treated each house as a destination and wanted to stop and talk to everyone for quite awhile- - I had to keep dragging her on. Colsen was new to the whole phenomenon and at first was giving me very quizzical looks about both his costume and why we were going up to the neighbor's door. But once we got to the 2nd or 3rd house and he realized he was accumulating candy at each spot, he quickly became very enthusiastic about the whole process. I had planned to just keep him in the stroller for a lot of the stops, and let Rayna and Strider run ahead, but Colsen would have NONE OF THAT. So all 3 of them had a blast!
We woke up this morning in this great country, in a time of peace and freedom, and we are so glad! And today we get to celebrate that fact, and honor those who have fought to make it true.
Memorial Day = Parade to us, so since we couldn't go to a parade, such as the Hamilton, New Jersey Memorial Day Parade (our favorite), we decided to do our other version of this tradition, and have our own at home. It took some convincing to get Strider to go along with it this year.... I had to get out our old photo albums and show him how much fun we've had in years past. The last time we had done this was 4 years ago, so I told him, "Let's just make it our every-4-years-tradition!" He said, "Ok -- but I'm NOT doing it again in 4 more years!" So this was our last one in which everyone will participate I guess. Here's how it looked:
.... and sounded:
They decided to sing the U.S. President's song.... we had a hard time coming up with a good, patriotic song. Strider thought "Take Me Out To The Ballpark" was the best choice, but it got vetoed.
And just for fun, here's a picture from our "Memorial Day Parade of 2004":
What a difference 4 years makes!
I think Memorial Day is supposed to be a time of remembering those who have gone before us and given their lives in service to this country -- and we certainly do give thanks for them.... especially my grandfather who fought in WW II. But we also would like to honor those who are still (thankfully) very much alive and also have given much of themselves in service to our country. We are blessed in our family to have many such men... Pete's dad, my uncle Gary, my cousin Mike, and of course....
... my brother who has been to Iraq twice.
So, thank you guys for helping to make this country so great and so free!
This is what kept me up thinking in bed last night until 1:30 am.
I've decided that in my campaign to "reclaim holidays" for the good, we are going to celebrate May Day (May 1st) this year. I've been wanting to do something on this day for several years now, but it always sneaks up on me. Not this year --- I'm going to be prepared. And YOU (whoever is reading this) can do it, too!
There are many supposed origin legends and rituals that have been celebrated through the years with this holiday, but the one I'm focusing in on is the idea of the May Day Basket. I love the idea of reaching out to neighbors by delivering a nice treat or flower basket anonymously. So I'm not exactly sure what kind of basket we'll be making/leaving for people, but I think it will be fun! It will be a good way to encourage some older neighbors, as well as surprise some of the younger kids.
So here are some ideas to get YOU started, too.... There are some web sites with directions/suggestions for how to make little flower baskets (which you could alternatively fill with candy):
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/holidays/maybaskets.html
http://basketmakers.com/topics/seasonal/mayday/frprojmaybasket.htm
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/may/mmaydaybasket.html
Or, if you don't feel like doing a basket for a neighbor, how about taking something to a nursing home? Or at least sending an e-card to someone? Let's spread some love! :)
Strider and I hastily composed a (pretty pathetic) poem that we think we might use with our baskets... Feel free to use it or (please!) improve upon it...
MAY you find a little more joy toDAY
As you go about work and play;
MAY you feel even more loved toDAY
And enjoy the adventures along your way.
This we wish you,
And more, to say,
You’ve been “pick’d”
To have a HAPPY MAY DAY!
SO, since May Day is exactly one week away now, consider this your wake-up call. Start making plans, get your supplies (if any needed) over the weekend.... and next Thursday let's reach out to our neighbors! Spread the word... and let's reclaim a good tradition.
(Cue music.... "What the World Needs Now" or "Pass It On" or something...)
