Our Bunny Cake

Yesterday, in keeping with our family tradition, we made an Easter bunny cake! I cooked the cake on Friday and let it cool overnight. Saturday morning, with pajamas still on, I iced the cake and Mackenzie decorated it. Josiah was not interested in helping, hence fewer pictures of him in this post. Mackenzie did a GREAT job of coming up with the idea for the bunny's face. She created it all by herself.
She even did the yellow icing decoration on the pink bow tie all by herself. She did a mighty fine job of creating a bunny! I was impressed with the candies she choose and the layout she created. It really was fun to work together on the bunny cake.

My attempt at getting Josiah to pose for a picture with the finished cake....silly boy!

Sweet girl, all dressed and ready for the day, posing by the finished cake.

Me and my girl.

Time to dive in! Yummy stuff. ;)

Got a picture of him smiling! Guess the cake was yummy enough that I got a good picture after all.

Sweet little guy. We all had fun eating the bunny cake!

Another post in the making of pictures from today's egg hunt and church pictures, too...to be continued. Happy Easter, Everyone!

Church Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday was our church Easter egg hunt. The kids were so excited! Above is Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren, and Allison. Josiah being silly with his basket on his head just before the egg hunt started.

We wore long sleeve clothing as it was cold! Maybe this coming Sunday, for Easter, we'll get to wear more traditional Easter clothing. ;)

Josiah hunting eggs on the playground.

What a basketful of eggs! We shared some of the ones he found with other children that did not find as many since there was a 12 egg limit per child.

He was very proud of all his eggs.

What a cutie!

Here goes Mackenzie! We were a little late to her egg hunt as we were finishing Josiah's hunt. They are divided per age group in different areas.

Mackenzie inspecting an egg.

My sweet girl.

I like this one of her on the hillside.

Josiah loves climbing this tree.

So I figured I'd snap a picture of him in the tree!

Precious girl. A bit disappointed as she found very few eggs (4 or 5, I think) and noticed LOTS of eggs in other children's baskets. She is a rule keeper and has trouble understanding why other people do not follow the rules...remember the 12 eggs per child. We tried to explain to her that it was okay. She would have a great Easter, and at least one of the other kids who did find a lot of eggs may not have as much for Easter due to his family circumstances. She was still disappointed. So, we pulled down eggs from the attic and let her count them out for an egg hunt at our house during H2H (Heart to Heart Bible Study Group). She enjoyed that and it seemed to make the day better for her!

I am so thankful for Easter. We love the celebrations, but the fact that our Lord Jesus died on the cross and has risen from the grave defeating death for us all is nothing short of AMAZING. For this I am eternally grateful. May you all have a blessed Easter!

Easter Eggs!

Yes, I know that it is just the first Saturday of April, and I know that Easter Sunday is still four weeks away, but we have all four been looking forward to dyeing Easter Eggs for a few weeks now. We could not pass up a gorgeous day and the opportunity to dye eggs together. Yep, it's early. That just means we might get to do it a second time even closer to Easter! ;) My two precious babies dying eggs together. Mackenzie still has not lost that first loose tooth, but I'm guessing it will be out within the week. I am treasuring the last of the pictures with her full set of baby teeth intact. Another milestone in the very near future. Sigh. Josiah passed his Kindergarten screening with flying colors. He received his acceptance letter this week in the mail. When I asked him what his "self portrait" looked like, he was quick to explain to me that he drew our whole family, all four of us, including the puppy, Tanner! My two "babies" are certainly growing up. I am proud of them, indeed. I pray that they serve the Lord each day of their lives. Here's Mackenzie, dreaming up what color to make this egg!

Josiah, with a white egg in hand, ready to place it in a color of his choice.

One of their two kits had glitter in it. Mackenzie enjoyed the glitter.

I love the expression on Josiah's face in the above picture! He's "too cool" as he checks on his yellow egg.

Another angle on the sweet expression on Josiah.

Two funny kids!

So sweet.

David enjoying the eggs, too!

Checking patiently on that yellow egg.

Ta-Da!

I LOVE the way Mackenzie designed an egg, by herself, that matched her colorful shirt! Very cool idea. Very talented girl.

Pretty Easter Eggs.

Above is Josiah's completed set.

Above is Mackenzie's completed set.

Mackenzie's set is at picture bottom and Josiah's is at picture top. You'll notice two eggs missing from the two dozen. Yeah, Mackenzie ate those even before we dyed them! LOL. She has really enjoyed the hard boiled eggs in our fridge. I wish Josiah liked to eat them, too. We sure do have a lot to eat! I am thankful for the fun times together. I love the colorful pictures that come so readily during the Spring time with flowers in bloom and Easter eggs! I hope you are enjoying the colors around you, too. We have an amazing Creator, that's for sure.

Mackenzie's Field Trip

Last Tuesday, Mackenzie's First Grade class took a field trip to Mayfield Dairy Farms! Above is our attempt at a group picture...ha, ha. She is 1 of 22 kids in her class. Before we toured the production areas, where the milk jugs are made and filled, we all had to don red hair nets. Mackenzie was embarrassed about me posting this picture, but I think it is gorgeous. I had one on, too. We all did! It was a requirement for the tour.

Mackenzie standing in line with her class after the tour ended and prior to boarding the bus.

If you look closely, you can see Mackenzie in the middle window next to Savannah. Mackenzie is holding the yellow toy ice cream cone, to the left. It was a big deal to get to ride the bus! I rode with 4 other moms. We chattered away and really enjoyed the trip, too! :) I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of such a fun day.

Random Updates

This is my random update post! Mackenzie is cutting her 6 year molars. She is almost 6 1/2 years old and now weighs 50 lbs and is 47 3/4 inches tall. Josiah is almost 4 3/4 years old and weighs 41 lbs and is 43 3/4 inches tall. They are growing like crazy! Josiah is learning to read real sentences and brings books home from school. He is doing great with his reading and will do well in Kindergarten, just like Mackenzie did. I am so thankful for their ability to read! They both still have some cute words or expressions that are priceless and I'm sure they will correct or outgrow soon, but one Mackenzie said recently was in reference to Josiah in Aunt Mallory's upcoming wedding, "ring barrier," instead of ring bearer. Too cute. She is looking forward to being a flower girl in Aunt Mallory's wedding in June. I have a list...somewhere...of a few other things the kids have said lately that are certainly worth recording; however, I can't seem to locate the list tonight, so I guess this completes my random post! :)

I will say that both kids were out of school today. We. had. a. blast. They have always wanted to tour a Dinosaur Museum that is not too far away. So, we loaded up for a spontaneous trip to the Dinosaur Museum today! On arrival, we discovered that it was closed and is relocating. No worries, they picked Wonder Works as another place they have always wanted to go inside. After touring Wonder Works, we headed to the Nascar Go Karts next! I think that was my favorite part of the day. Both kids are tall enough to ride the smallest cars on the smallest track. They loved it! This was their very first time to do that, too. Then we went into the Stride Rite outlet. Lo and behold, they had a half off their lowest price sale going on today! We bought 3 pairs of Stride Rite tennis shoes (regularly about $45 each) for a grand total of $32. One pair was $12, one pair $10, and one pair $7. Josiah has shoes for starting Kindergarten in the fall! Couldn't pass up a deal like that, and he will eventually grow into the ones we bought for him. ;) After a little shopping, we headed home for supper, baths, and bed. I loved our spontaneous day. The one thing that would have made the day just perfect would have been David. We missed him as he was at work. We do, however, appreciate the work he does for us! I am so thankful for my precious family. I pray that we may glorify the Lord each day.

Mackenzie's Valentine Party

Today was Mackenzie's Valentine party at school. I have fond memories of my own childhood Valentine parties, and I was excited to get to be a part of hers today. I pray that my own children develop a wonderful set of memories from their growing up years as well. Here's Mackenzie enjoying her Krispy Kreme doughnut among other yummy things!
Here she is going through the line to get her food at the beginning of the party.

This picture is mostly just an overview of the classroom, but if you look closely to the left of the picture, you'll see Josiah sitting in a little chair playing his DS game. He was a perfect little angel at Mackenzie's class party. I was so proud of him! Usually, younger siblings are asked not to come. This time, however, for an hour long party, I opted not to ask and just to take him along. I was so incredibly proud as his behavior was far superior to several of the first graders there! LOL. He's only 4 1/2 years old. Yep, I'm bragging. No, they are not always little angels...so I'll take this opportunity to brag!

Now to brag on Mackenzie...she noticed Josiah sitting by himself playing his game. She walked quietly over to him and invited him to bring his plate and chair over to her desk. She said he could sit next to her. She had noticed that his plate of food was propped on a chair nearby, and she thought it might be easier for him to use her desk top than the chair. My momma heart melted. Totally melted. He told her, yes, he would like to sit by her. He stood up. She carried his chair. He carried his plate. They sat down together to enjoy their Valentine snacks. I almost cried. Again, I am bragging. These moments help to balance out the knock-down-drag-out fights, ya know! ;) Sigh, they are great kids and I love them dearly. I am proud to call them my two little Valentines. :)

Here's a picture of Raley, (I have to ask Mackenzie the name of the little girl and update this), and Mackenzie. Raley is the little boy she "likes." However, she informed us that when Raley proposed to her, she said no. I love it! Cracked me up. Kinda early to be proposing, don't ya think?! Such a fun story, though. Guess it boosts a little girl's confidence level anyhow.

Mackenzie and Reagan. You'll notice Mackenzie's cheeks are covered with a red rash. She has Fifth Disease, also called Parvovirus B19. (Not related to the parvo virus that is extremely harmful to animals.) Common childhood illness. No treatment needed. Highly contagious for anywhere from 7 to 20 days. That's almost 3 weeks. Get this: you are contagious BEFORE you break out with the rash. LOL. That means you are spreading it before you even know you have it! Once the rash appears, diagnosis is easily made, and you are no longer contagious. Ha. So, while you'd do a double take if she walks by, you're really at no risk of catching anything now. ;)

She did have the classic mild runny nose, complains of headache, general complaint of not feeling well, etc, leading up to the appearance of the rash, but how in the world would anyone recognize those vague symptoms as Fifths Disease until that classic lacy patterned rash appears! The rash spreads from the face to the neck, chest, back, and arms following that lacy pattern. Things like stress or heat can flare the rash up brighter, and the rash may continue to come and go for a few weeks, even though she is no longer contagious.

Now, we're just watching Josiah to see if he gets it. Something like 50% of kids get it. Once you've had it, your body will have antibodies and will never get it again in the entire lifetime unless you're immunocompromised. That's nice.

Mackenzie was embarrassed about it, but I think she'll be just fine! I told her to tell her friends that she'll be just fine and she is not contagious. She was pleased that only one friend asked about it today, and two teachers asked about it.

Okay, enough about Fifth's Disease. We had a GREAT day! We are thankful for our health.

I am thankful that I got to attend Mackenzie's Valentine party, and I am looking forward to Josiah's tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

(Now, I'm signing off to spend the rest of my Valentine's Day with my Valentine...David!)

Cherokee Caverns

Today David, Mackenzie, Josiah, and me all enjoyed a guided tour of Cherokee Caverns. This was the kids very first time to ever enter a cave. Needless to say, they were awed! They had lots of questions about caves recently, so what better way to answer those questions than to take them on a tour of a cave. We were delighted to discover one in our area that is only open to the public a few times per year. It was open today from 10 to 4 and we headed that way.
The kids complained that the flash on the camera was too bright, so this picture is the best one I got of them. :) I thought it was kinda cute anyways, since you can see them standing near David during the tour.

Here is the "Capitol Dome" in one of the great rooms of the cave. Pretty amazing.

The black fuzzy thing in the middle of the above picture is a bat in hibernation. This particular kind of bat sleeps alone rather than in groups like some other kinds of bats. There are 14 kinds of bats in our area. Only 7 of these kinds live in caves. One bat can eat up to 2,000 mosquitoes in one night! That's insane. That's about 1/2 of the bat's body weight. I'm impressed. We have bats that fly around our neighborhood in the summertime. I like them as I know they help control our mosquito population!

When asked what their favorite thing or most surprising thing about the cave, both kids said their favorite part was seeing the bat! Mackenzie mentioned that she was surprised at how big the cave was inside. Both kids really seemed to enjoy it. We did, too!

We also got to meet the man who owns the cave and the property it is situation on. He talked to the four of us at length and seemed happy to have a captive audience to hear all about the cave's history and the bats. He was a neat man, full of information. One other random tidbit: The Christy Series has a scene in a cave. That was filmed in this cave! We really enjoyed that part as I love the Christy series.