Holy Week and Easter

Well, it was a busy week and beginning of this week, but we have made it through.  All four of us are coming down with some kind of cold.  I think Robert and I are feeling the worst today.  Hopefully this won't be too bad.  It is always bound to happen after a busy week.

Last week was vacation week for Harry, Kevin's Mom came for a visit and it was Holy Week for all of us.  I can't really say who was busiest, but Kevin was the one with the most pressure.  He had the regular Holy Week services and the addition of a funeral for a 21 year old young man on Thursday.  I think it is always particularly sad to bury a young person.

I am thankful that this week, I got to participate in many of the services.  I was the narrator for the Passion at church on Sunday, I lead the Seder Service on Maundy Thursday and read at the Ecumenical Service on Friday.  I even got to go the Easter Vigil.  I haven't been to an Easter Vigil since right before Harry was born. The whole "the cobbler's children have no shoes thing" can be true for clergy families/wives sometimes.  I would like to participate, but often I cannot because since Kevin has to be at services I am the one who stays home with the kids.  Having Kevin's Mom around meant that I could go to a few of these things and also now that the boys are getting older some things are easier.  

So here are a few pictures from Easter weekend and I will post some birthday pictures very soon too.

Dying eggs - we had some of the new fangled plastic cups, but found that old fashioned mugs worked much better

Robert had more fun playing with the little plastic device for dipping eggs

I had to instantly hide the little guy's candy - he would have eaten it all in one sitting - he did get some though

Both boys get a basket from the Easter bunny filled with a few candies and little toys/books.  Then E.B. leaves a big basket of filled plastic eggs that Mom and Dad can hide later after church.  E.B. knows where our priorities lie on Easter morning.

Happy Birthday to my First Born!

Eight years ago today, at this time, I was lying on an operating table after a long day (about 24 hours) of labor.  I was about to meet Harry and start the journey of motherhood.  Today Harry is an active, intelligent, little boy, who keeps me busy and is a joy to me.  I can no longer imagine life without this little fellow and I feel so privileged to have him around to learn from and to teach to about the world.

Here are some photos - from 8 years ago and from today!

My first view (and my glasses were so fogged up I could hardly see)

I remember begging to hold him, but they made we wait until I stopped shaking, which seemed to take forever, but then finally he was in my arms.

These days I don't get as many cuddles, but when I do it is over a book and this was his first gift of today - a book on monsters!

We had the privilege of going to school today and making atomic slime with Harry's classmates!  Here he is writing down his assignments for the day

Some random pictures

Robert definitely loves this sandbox more than Harry did - he spends much of his outdoor time with his trucks

The computer isn't a big toy for our kids, but a great resource for Harry's questions - here he is looking up movie monsters with Dad and Robert's along for the ride

As a top popcorn seller Harry got the honor of pitching a "pie" at the scout leader

A mini vacation

Watching a golf ball go around and around

Brave boy climbing a 3 story maze!

The "babe" and I went into Fanueil Hall to warm up and Kevin got grabbed by a street performer to help out :-)

It is spring break and vacation week for Harry.  We took a 24 hour trip to Boston and stayed in a hotel and were tourists.  The first night we went over to the Barking Crab and had seafood (funny when you consider where we live).  Then we went to the Boston Children's Museum.  The pictures of the boys are from there.  We then walked along the waterfront to meet the hotel shuttle back.  It was considerably colder in Boston than we expected.  We were fine, but there was a point towards the end of our wait (an hour and a half after Robert's normal bedtime), when Robert whimpered a bit about the cold.  The poor dear had little blocks of ice for hands.

We bought breakfast food while we were out and then had a easy morning and after eating and watching some PBS we went swimming in the hotel pool.  It is one of the highlights of such a trip and must be done!  It was fun.  Harry has gotten very brave and was jumping in and out of the pool.  Robert has always like the water and enjoyed dunking with his Dad!   I spent more of my time in the hot tub, where everybody joined me at one point or another.

For our last few hours in Boston we went to Fanueil Hall and watched some street performers and ate lunch and then headed over to the New England Aquarium.  There was something for everyone.  Robert was just amazed to watch the fish and the sharks and especially enjoyed getting very close to a huge seal.  Harry found a comic book that had stations throughout the Aquarium and was very pleased that he filled out all the answers.

Saturday evening we got home, tired and happy and now it is Holy Week.  Hopefully it will allow the grown ups some time for contemplation.  However, this Mom is guessing it may be something I have to very carefully carve out, in a week that will be busy with both boys at home and the arrival of Kevin's mother today.

Robert's extended birthday is finally over

Saturday we had Robert's delayed birthday party.  We had 2 of his friends over and one of my friends with her 2 girls and husband came from Massachusetts to spend the afternoon too.  It was a fun and busy time.  There were 7 children altogether and that is about what our little house and backyard can handle.    We played Blue's Clues and did a few party games - pin the flag on the mailbox and we made a mentos geyser.

The party was almost 2 weeks after the birthday because we went to the funeral of my aunt on the originally scheduled day for the party.  Both boys' birthdays are on awkward party days this year.  So parties will have to occur after the birthday.  We were fortunate that for this one, it just meant the weather was a bit warmer and a bit sunnier a week later.  Spring is just starting to get a hold.  In typical New England fashion you just never know what each day will bring.

At any rate, I hope Robert had a good extended birthday celebration.  On his birthday we had a donut cake and my Dad came by.  His grandmother called to wish him a happy day and he got a bunch of gifts.  On Saturday we told him he was having a party and he said, "It's my birthday again?!" We just sort of slid by that comment. How do you explain that to a 3 year old?

Here are some pictures from the party too.

The rock is a center point in the garden - every child has to spend some time on it when over here :-)

pin the flag on mailbox - it was a new game for the even the older kids - that was a shocker for me 

Mentos geyser - a must for an outdoor party at the Lloyds'

Robert checking out the bottle after the geyser - how did that happen?  Will it do it again?

We just figured out Blue's Clues....

Cake time - too bad the candles wouldn't stay lit in the wind

Big boys eating their cake

a tractor and a puzzle - perfect fit for our little guy :-)

I've gotten better at cakes - this is a double layer chocolate cake with buttercream frosting.

Reading

Harry on the playground

It is reading week at school.  Harry is a big reader, he has always loved to be read to and now he reads on his own too.  Fortunately (for me at least) he still likes to be read to, so reading is a mixture.  The above picture is Harry on the playground.  Robert is in the sandbox playing with trucks in front of Harry and Harry instead of running around (which he seemed to need) instead settled into reading a new book from the library.

Everybody in our family seems to like books.  I have always had the ability to get lost in a story.  I feel a bit adrift if I don't have a book to read at any given time and sometimes I have 2 or 3 different books going.  Harry is similar.  He always has a few books he is reading and picks up the one that best suits his mood.  He is a very active and busy child and doesn't sit still very often, but he will do so with a book.  It seems to be a good way to kick back and relax and I am glad that if I was going to pass on the fidget and restless gene that at least the reading gene came along with it.

As I said too, it is reading week at school.  We always read at bedtime and then give Harry time to read on his own.  Last night he got some extra time because we forgot to tell him that it was lights out time.  He was engulfed in the adventures of Robin Hood and we were engulfed in a movie and when we remembered he had gotten a good extra 30 minutes to read.  This morning I filled out his reading journal and it looks like he spent all afternoon reading!  I would consider that a rare pleasure these days.  I still read a fair amount but not in large chunks.  I too was working on finishing a book yesterday - I snuck in bits and pieces all day and finally finished at bedtime.  It is hard to keep track sometimes, but I guess that is where multi-tasking can be beneficial.