The Napping Friends

 The Friendship Children did their Tea Party Program this week.  As always they sit for stories, then do a play...

The Napping House!  Ms Lindsay was the snoring grandma and all the other children were the sleeping child and various animals.  Gloria was the cat (though she says she was the mouse).  They all did wonderfully well and only a tiny bit of running or tears (none by Gloria).  Grammy has this book and Gloria has always enjoyed it.  Also when Lydia found out what day it was at Friendship, she begged me to let her skip school and go!

Backyard fun

 Monday was our first 90 degree day and we celebrated by pulling out the sprinkler and inviting the neighbors over after school (I didn't really get a good pic but wanted to remember the fun anyway)!

 The next day Lydia invited Amber, a classmate, over the play and the pink girls ventured into the ditch behind our yard which is covered in buttercups!

High Fashion

 We watched Barbie and a Fashion Fairytale, where Barbie saves her aunt's fashion house in Paris with the help of a young designer!  The next day Lydia turned into a designer, if you look closely these dresses have accessories.  Then she drew some out and hung them on our wall including prices.  The expensive ones are covered in rhymstones (as she pronounces them) so that is why they cost more.

I was getting a little worried and even looked to see if they had Barbie studies Engineering :).  Answer: no, but then the girls got back to their regular fashion selves:

 And we wore Indian clothes to represent Friendship at a conference.

This Sunday I wasn't there to help them get ready so this is how they turned out.  Lydia did wear the same Indian outfit above to church and this was her play clothes.

Wildflowers!

 We made our annual trek to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  Caleb is working every Sat in April so my mom came with us.  We practiced real smiling for the camera at dinner the night before and our key word was Snickerdoodle, but often it still ended up with open month for Gloria!  There was a beautiful paper sculpture art display.

 The day started cool, cloudy and windy, at least at the top of the tower, but warmed up.

 In the Children's Little House, Gloria put on a puppet show (the table is above her), while Lydia colored with new friends.  We had a nice lunch and walked the bluebonnet trail.

the joys of writing

 why yes this is a Justin Bieber fan letter, Lydia (and Gloria with her influence) has jumped on the bandwagon and love to sing Oh baby baby baby!  We are hoping that by not being too encouraging but also by not forbidding it, that it will be a phase.

Caleb and I subbed in Lydia's Sparks group at church.  I asked her to tell what happened so I would know.  She wrote it all out for me!  Then the other night, she asked what I was making for dinner, I said Kielbasa so she wrote me a not to let me know of her opinion of the dinner plans.

Happy Easter!

We spent Easter weekend in Beaumont at Caleb's moms.  He and Linda hid Friday morning away working on her taxes (there is a theme here), while Gloria and cousins caught lizards.

We missed the sisters and their families but we are glad Matt and family are there and we spent a lot of time outside playing!  They actually went the whole weekend without having to turn the tv on to veg.

Dying Easter eggs, and I made deviled eggs out of them after.

Saturday morning we went to the Harris house and enjoyed their trampoline and country living.

We spent a lot of time eating and preparing to eat.

Back at Linda's we prepared for the egg hunt and cracked confetti eggs on each other.

Off they go.

Train time, Lydia & Sophia always play well together but this year Gloria and Xavier really turned into two peas in a pod-and we've got to watch those two as conspired to bring a lizard inside in a plastic Easter Egg!

Sunday morning, the bunny visited.

Matt works on Sundays but Heidi was on time for church, we got cute pictures.  The younger ones went to the nursery and we sat on the front row.  Arise, my love and other great songs before the preaching.

Family pictures before lunch and heading home.

the dogs wanted to be a part!

Passover

 The Tuesday before Easter was Passover and we celebrated in our home.  Caleb does a Friday morning guys group so we invited their families (one wasn't able to come).  We went through the service and enjoyed a meal together.  On Monday the girls watched The Prince of Egypt.

 Its great to have a photographer in Lydia.

 The hands on reminders of the past and fulfillment in Christ.

Next year in Jerusalem!