Joyfully Weary

Recently, I've been seeing lots of pins about  cotton rounds and color absorption. It such a fun idea I can see way it's been so popular. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was something I had to try it with my kids. They love using eye droppers and mixing colors. We decided to use buttons and ribbons to turn our dyed cotton rounds into flowers. 

The last couple of weeks have been jammed pack full of baseball/t-ball activities. This is both our boys first year so it's been an interesting experience for me. I never played as a kid - even in gym class I usually found a way to opt out. Jeremy, however, comes from a long line of baseball/softball players. He's excited to share this experience with the kids. Both him and and his dad are volunteering as assistant coaches and I think they are just excited about the practices as the boys. While I never had much interested in playing baseball. The Sandlot   is one of my favorite movies and Mini Man always makes me think of Smalls. He's got the big eyes, a charming personality, and a flair for drama.

We are just finishing up taking a look at Ancient Asia in our history book, Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages . My boys, of course, were very fascinated by Samurai and Ninjas. They've spent a lot of time the past couple week coloring pages from  Samurai Arms and Armor . We currently are not doing an official geography curriculum so we piggyback off our history curriculum and use it talk about other countries and cultures. All the kids were a little envious that in Japan children get their own holiday, Children's Day. During this day a  koinobori  or carp streamer is flown above houses. The carp is chosen because it it thought of as the most spirited fish. Spirited is a good way to describe all my children, so we decided we had to make our version of a carp streamer.

Being a parent is so draining yet so fulfilling. It's full of stress yet also full of humor.  I feel like many days I'm on a teeter-totter. One moment I'm ready to send them all up to their rooms so I can have a bit of space and quite and then next I'm laughing at their silly shenanigans and pulling them close for a long hug.  It's not always easy but I do love being their mom. They make me smile and laugh...they melt my heart over and over again. 

My sweet friend  Sarah  recently started making and selling these darling dresses. A couple weeks ago, she asked me to come over and model them for her while she took a few pictures. I adored the fun  patterns she had picked, as well as the simple silhouette, so I asked her if she'd make Little Lady and I coordinating sets for Easter. Little Lady was insistent that she have butterflies on her dress so Sarah found a fun sparkly pattern for her and a coordinating gingham pattern for me. The dresses turned out really well. They are super comfy and both Little Lady and I enjoyed 'matching' for the day.  Our Easter was pretty chilly so we had to layer. If the weather had been warmer this is how we would of styled them...

This past week we've spent a lot of time focusing on Easter, the resurrection of Christ.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy,  he has caused us to be born again  to a living hope  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 We feel so blessed to have this hope that we know we do not deserve. To have grace and mercy because of a sacrifice that was not our own or one that we could of ever made. We count it a joy to be able to share these truths with our  children; t o be able to teach them of the gravity of Good Friday and the joy that R esurrection  Day brings. I hope this past weekend you and your family got a chance to reflect and to celebrate.