1. The boys are just completing a two week Spring Break (the kids at church keep telling me it is called Easter Break around here). We all eagerly anticipated this time away from the school routines and it has been really nice. I especially like how late in the school year it was this time -- we just finished the break and it's essentially May, with less than 7 weeks of school left. Hooray!
2. During the first week off, the kids and I made a list of activities to complete during the break. The kids came up with some fun and unexpected ways to enjoy themselves. ("Buy macaroni and cheese" was contributed by Helen, who calls it "wackawoni and cheese". Joseph suggested "dig ditches" and learn to bake, and both boys were really excited to get out their bikes. (Especially since the remaining 5 feet of snow suddenly melted three days into the break.)
3. I introduced a Book Challenge for the boys over Spring Break, and the idea was very well received. Ian was to reread the Magic Tree House series, books 1-45 (the ones we own) and he was to do it in order. At first I thought he was skimming or skipping pages, because he was completing the shorter books in less than 15 minutes. But after quizzing him after each page, I realized he is a real speed reader. It took Ian about 10 days to finish. Joseph was assigned to read the next level of Reading for All Learners books: set 4, books 1-22. Joseph was really enthusiastic about this challenge and instead of reading 3 each day, he read all the books in 3 days! I expected these books to be a bit of a challenge for him, but his reading and sounding-out has really taken off and he read this level with no problem. He even was able to read them without me -- I just did the test sentences with him at the end to make sure he learned the new words and concepts. Joseph finishing so quickly was very motivating to Ian. Once they were both done we went to Menchie's, a frozen yogurt place in town. They were so excited to celebrate their accomplishments! I was happy to see that Menchie's had a dairy-free variety, but I shouldn't have bothered -- Scott and I agreed that it had the most terrible after taste!
4. During the first week of the break we made it a priority to spend time with friends. We met up with The Honore family (Myles and Jordan are in Joseph's preschool class) and the Coopers at the church building on Wednesday, and the kids ran wild, danced to Ian's Tarzan CD, and then ran around some more at the McDonald's playplace after lunch. It was a really fun day with friends!
5. Saturday was the Branch Easter Brunch and Egg hunt, and the primary was in charge of it. We were off to a slow start because the multiple griddles kept tripping the breaker (Scott did warn me...) but eventually we had a nice breakfast of pancakes, bacon and fruit salad. It was well attended, and the weather even cooperated for an egg hunt outside on the property adjacent to the church building. (It snowed that afternoon though!) Joseph was thrilled to see his buddy Benjamin from school at the party.
6. On Saturday we made a bunny cake. It was a tradition we began a few years back, after Doris taught the recipe to Carrie and me. Joseph helped me bake it (in order to cross an item off the Spring Break bucket list) and the whole family helped decorate it with coconut "fur". I hard boiled a dozen eggs, but we never did get around to dying them!
7. We woke up to freezing rain on Easter Sunday, but fortunately the two minute drive to church was tame. The ice covering the trees was so gorgeous and I attempted to capture the sparkling beauty with Scott's phone camera. It was fun to run into Taralee in the church parking lot, doing the very same thing. By the time we got home we could hear the ice cracking and falling from the trees as it was sunny and becoming warm enough for it to melt.
8. Per tradition, the kids came home from church to find Easter baskets waiting on the stairs! The baskets contained a larger Kinder Egg, a small soccer ball, a binkie-like lollipop, and some chocolate. The boys also received matching ties (Calder included!) This year I didn't stress about finding Helen a new Easter dress. Since her dress arrived the day after Easter last year, and it still fit, it seemed the ideal solution. We even managed to get a family picture!
9. The Weir family was visiting our branch from Marystown and we got to have Easter dinner together. The ham turned out well, but the kids were so stuffed with candy that they hardly touched dinner or the bunny cake. The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing together (Helen loved wandering the house with Chloe, hand-in-hand, and the boys found Zia to be a very worthy wrestling opponent!)
10. We felt so lucky to have Scott home for the ENTIRE second week of Spring Break! It was hard for him to be away from the office during such a busy time, but it was wonderful to have him around. Scott got the bikes ready for the summer and took the boys for a ride to the church building. There they found a bunch of eggs that had remained hidden after the egg hunt on Saturday. They played Legos for hours, ate at Costco (always a highlight for the kids because of the soda that comes with a hot dog!) went to Menchie's, explored a new exhibit at the Geo Center with the Coopers, attended birthday parties, deep-cleaned the kids bedrooms, a few closets and the playroom, finally arranged for a replacement for my phone (if only we'd remembered that we had Apple Care a month ago...) and watched a couple movies. The week was over too quickly, but now we get to look forward to a family trip to Halifax in less than three weeks!
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