Earth Day 2011

 We enjoyed a very special Earth Day this year! We got to plant a tree in our yard. This year Genesis and Craig decided to get a live tree for their Christmas tree this year. They called it their little Charlie Brown Tree. Since they live in the city and had no place to plant it, they gave it to us to look after. That way they could come and visit their little tree and watch it grow. We were delighted! It was a nice little family activity!

We will be able to watch the tree and the girls grow!

Rosemary measuring up to the little tree! Almost eye to eye!

That tree needed a good drink of water!

We will enjoy taking care of the little tree through the hot summer!

Easter Sunday

Singing while waiting to leave for church.

Cute craft Cecily made in Sunday School.

Nearly six years of marriage... still newly weds!

The only kinds of pictures of get of Rosie these days are action shots!

The one picture we managed to get of all of us!

Pretty dress from our friend the Ockers! Thank you for both of the girl's dresses!

Baskets filled by friends from church! 

Loving her pink egg from Johanna!

Seder Dinner

We had the great blessing to attend a family Seder - Celebration of the Passover- on Maundy Thursday (The day in Holy Week where we remember Jesus' last supper with his Disciples.). I hope that it will be a tradition we repeat each year. We went to the Seder at our Sister church-- Lakebay Community. (We have a relatively small community out here, so we like to work together with other churches, especially Lakebay Community. For a time we had combined youth groups with them.).
Anyways, this Seder was really well done. It had a nice flow to it. And we ate a full meal in the middle of it. The girls were able to stay engaged and participate through out. They condensed it a little bit from the tradditional Jewish ceremony but tried to make it as integral and complete as possible. There wasn't any commentary or explaining of it, (which is what I experience in the past, it is great for learning, but makes it long and difficult for kids to sit through.). It was such a blessing to have such a multi-sensory experience and to share it with our kids.

Rory doing one of the readings.

Rosie helping Daddy break the Matzah.

Cecily and her good friend Amber hoisting their glasses for one of the toasts. Cecily thinks we should do this with our juice for now on!

The Seder Plate from the head table.

Ceremonial hand washing.

Holly helping Cecily with her ceremonial hand washing.

Daddy breaking off more Matzah.

Rosemary raising the Matzah.

Rosie hoisting her grape juice!

Vandehey Play Day

Making Crafts with Grandma Bear.

We enjoyed a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Vandehey right before Easter. Grandma was ready with crafts for the girls. They decorated little bags to carry their Bibles to church with them on Easter Sunday. They also decorated pencils. The girls love making crafts!

Their completed bags. I think Rosie's is the purple and Cecily's is pink. 

Grandma Bear had also found the Resurrection Eggs that she had made 30 years ago. (To hear this story hop over to my blog Mammalattesays and check it out!) Grandma and Grandpa hid the eggs around the yard. It was a beautiful day and they had a blast finding the eggs and filling their baskets.

After a nice lunch we opened the eggs and learned all about the Easter Story. 

It was a very special time for us all. 

Rosie's First Trip to the Dentist

Such a big girl - sitting in the dentist's chair.

Open wide! 

Rosie finally made it to the dentist. She is two and a half now and I tried to get her in last year, but I think she was sick on the day of the appointment. Then I had my surgery, and the rest is history. At any rate... she did awesome! No cavities! However, she has my teeth, so she has a lot of crowding. Which means, like me, she will probably have to have a lot of teeth pulled. Too many teeth for such a little mouth!

Conversely, Cecily seems to take after Rory in the teeth department. She has really deep crevasses and needs to have her molars all sealed. She is more prone to cavities like Rory was. 

The girls did so awesome! By the way, Pediatric Dentists really do rock! 

The girls were very comfortable there! 

Got Wheels?

Rosie with her ice pack on her bum ankle.

Some how while dancing around after dinner Rosemary sprained her ankle. It was a very Jen thing to do. In fact it was a very Benign Hyper-mobility thing to do. (The hyper flexible condition that I (Jen) have--- and I will not be surprised if Rosemary has it too.) 

Rosemary is a super busy little girl. She doesn't let very many things slow her down...especially not for very long. We knew she was really hurt when she wouldn't walk on it and wanted to be carried. It was pretty sad to see her limping along. Fortunately our friend and Chiropractor Dr. Cohen at Backbone helped her out and she was back to running in no time!
By day two she would get up and play for a bit, limping around, and then come back to mommy. Then I would bundle her up with and icepack and she would lay on the couch and watch a movie.

My two little invalids. I was really busy!

Bundled up with her ice pack watching a movie.

To save my back a bit, we used the stroller as a wheel chair.

Peek a boo!

Enjoying her lunch form her chair!

Pretending to sleep in her wheel chair.