Ugh! I have been so lazy at this blogging thing! We’ve been so busy with homeschooling and sports and church, this has just been put on the back-burner.  Thought I would just take a minute to tell you all about some fun things that have been happening lately.

As you all know, yesterday was Easter.  We take a family picture every year, and every year it is a bit of a fiasco.  It’s hard to keep everyone clean in their Easter outfits, and then to get everyone to look at the camera and smile at the same time is  absolutely impossible! Some years we have someone to take our picture and others we don’t (those are the years that we prop the camera on the hood of the car and end up with a lopsided, blurry picture).

This year, the problem was all me.  I just couldn’t get it together!

Nope….

Pretty sure Jason was telling me to do something about my hair in this one…

I’m trying!

….and got it! This is as good as it’s getting.  😉

I love looking back at out pictures every year and seeing how the kids have grown and how our family is changing.  I remember the years that I had just had a baby and couldn’t find any clothes to fit.  In some pictures the kids have already taken off their shoes or we’re struggling to hold one of them still, or there’s a random animal passing by.  One thing, though, remains the same: Jason Watkins.  How does that man manage to look perfect in every picture? I just don’t understand!

In all seriousness, I love seeing the evidence of Jesus’ love in our life.  This year, Easter took on a new meaning as I witnessed Charlie begin to grasp what Easter really means: that Jesus is real and he died and rose from the grave for him personally.  I am praying fervently for his salvation, and would appreciate if you would join me in this.

Another fun thing is our squirrel, Earl.  We weren’t able to save his two siblings, but we did raise him successfully after a fall from a tree in our yard.  We released him about a week ago and we enjoy visits from him almost every day. 

I hope you’re enjoying this spring as much as we are!

Am I the only one who just CANNOT get a good picture of the entire family at the same time?  It just seems to be impossible for us!  Either someone is looking away or crying or has their eyes closed or has hair blowing all over the place.

Here’s what we came up with today:

Maddie is looking up in this one. I think she was staring at me wondering why I had run from the camera (which we had set up on the hood of the truck-explaining the lopsidedness of the pics) to them, yelling, “Smile, smile!  It’s going to take a picture! Get ready!”  And why do I have a bubble wand in my hand?  That is so random.

Charlie is beginning to show his massive lack of patience. (This was the second picture we took, after all!)  Plus, I was struggling to peek around Maddie.

And by this time (the third picture) the kids had just had it.  Plus, not sure what’s going on with my eyes.

One thing I will point out, in case you didn’t notice: Jason looks PERFECT in all of these pictures! What’s up with that?  How does he do it?

Aside from our lack of a family photo when we all looked so great, we had a great Easter, and I hope you did, too.

O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15: 55-57

If you remember, last year the kids and I dyed Easter eggs the old-fashioned way, and I promised myself that this year we would try something new.  Today, we made these gorgeous Easter eggs using Mod Podge and scraps of magazine paper.

All you need are some old magazines, scissors, sponges or paint brushes, Mod Podge, and some eggs. I had these white plastic eggs, but you could use any plastic eggs or even real eggs.

Cut colorful paper out of your magazine into small squares and triangles, then “paint” the paper scraps onto the eggs with the Mod Podge.

Some of our finished eggs.

I love how they turned out. The Mod Podge makes them shiny. I would advise that you use plastic eggs so you can save them to use for decorations next year.

Even though we had a great time making these and I think they are just beautiful, I do think we will also spend a morning dying eggs.  The kids love it, and it’s just a tradition that I want to keep alive!

We have had a lot of fun this week beginning our Easter traditions.  This is the first year that Charlie really understands what is going on, and of course if Charlie likes it Maddie is totally into it!  We have been learning a lot with our resurrection eggs and some library books about the whole point of Easter-that Jesus died and was resurrected.  We have also been doing the other Easter stuff, like Easter egg hunts and dying eggs.  We dyed our eggs on Monday, and I am just now getting around to posting about it!

I had aspirations to do lots of great, creative things with our Easter eggs, but ended up just buying the good ol’ Paas Easter egg kit and going for it.  We didn’t even write on them with crayons before we dyed them!  Maybe next year…

Both Maddie and Charlie got a big kick out of watching the color tablets dissolve in the vinegar.

Working…

They immediately wanted to take the eggs out of the dye! I had to make them leave them a little longer so the colors would be a little brighter.

Green hands!

Our eggs had a slightly more “natural” color since our eggs were blue and brown instead of white! I like how they turned out.

…and displayed on the table.

Now the kids can’t wait to destroy the eggs on Easter day!  They want to crack them open so badly.

I have seen some other really cool things with Easter eggs.  One of my favorite blogs is Glitter ‘N Glue, and she had a great post today featuring DIY Glittered Easter eggs.  I wish I had seen this before we dyed our eggs!  Click on the link to see her idea: http://glitternglue.com/2013/03/28/diy-decorative-glittered-easter-eggs/.

This site also has some really cool ideas: http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2013/03/24/creative-ways-to-decorate-easter-eggs.html.

Next year, I am definitely getting more creative with our eggs!  Or I may just stay up late one night and do it myself…

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