Easter Egg Hunt

Our church hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at our house today. Eden and Josiah were able to have a great time and enjoyed hunting with Grandma and Big Daddy. The day started off a little chilly, but wound up being beautiful! We had a great turn out and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially the sugar filled kids.

This was one of my favorite pictures.

I know neither of them are looking at me, but something about the wind blowing their hair and the big wide open mouths with their suckers just makes me smile :)

About to hit the slide!

I thought this turned out neat. Eden looks like she has a halo behind her head.

As her momma I can swear to you, there is no halo :)

I edited these in Picasa, so this isn't one of those awesome actions in CS4.

I read a great blog about trying new things with aperture settings. So I decided to give it a try. This was the result, Eden looking angelic :)

Smiling at daddy :)

3 Generations of Gilbreath Men :)

Larry's Mom and Dad were able to come visit for a few days. They are such a blessing! Eden and Josiah love the attention, and Larry and I got to sneak off for a few minutes by ourselves. Yesterday, we got to go to the library and spend time just looking around. Browsing with two toddlers is near impossible!

Plus they were great help with the kids today. With hosting the Egg hunt at our house, there is always things that need attention. Plus Larry and I always try to meet visiting families and spend time with our church members. It was so nice to have Grandma and Big Daddy helping. Today was such a great success. Thank you so much David and Jeanne, I love you!

A rare thing.... A picture with all four of us :)

Thanks Anthony for taking these.

Bath Needed

With children that look like this, is it any wonder why we immediatly head to the tub after dinner?!!

Rainy Day Play Ideas

It seems we've had our fair share of rainy and cold days lately. Keeping the kids indoors and busy seems to be a losing battle some days. So I decided to share two ideas that I had in hopes that other moms would share their indoor activities. That way we can all have angels instead of demons to play with :)

My go to activity is beans. My kids love them! Eden can sit and play for an hour. And Josiah can put them in his mouth without me flipping out that it's dirt :) He did sit and play for a good 15 minutes, which for a one year old is a long time. All you need is a flat sheet, and a big bowl of dried beans. I use red beans and black eye peas, it was what I had on hand. Any dry beans will do. Then I give them mixing spoons and measuring cups. And I let them MAKE A MESS. That's half the fun and the purpose for the sheet :) They help me put them back in the bowl when we're finished.

I try to make it a learning activity as well. We have measuring stacking cups that use the correct portions. So you can pour two #1 into #2 and it fits, so I tell them to add 1+1=2. It's basic math, but its fun and they are learning. It's always good to teach math in fun ways.

The other thing I do is save tops to our drinks. I have an old coffee canister with a lid that I keep on the cabinet and every time we finish a gallon of milk or juice I save the lids before we recycle them. If you go through drinks like we do, you'll fill you coffee can in no time. I use it for a table top activity for Josiah to play with if I need him to sit in his high chair while I'm cooking. Or Eden and I sit down and use it to practice counting and we separate colors. She's learning categories and we talk about how they are alike and different using matching and which one is different. I am often amazed at how quickly she learns and masters skills.

Any of you Moms have fun rainy day play ideas?

Resurrection Cookies and an Update

Sorry for the delay in blogging. My blogging time has been spent getting use to my new computer and all of the different settings. A few months ago, I was blessed with some awesome Photography software, CS4! But I had to wait to buy a computer to put it on. Now I have both up and running and am enjoying the learning process. I'm excited about what these new tools can do for my photography hobby. My prayer is to spend the next year or so studying and learning so that in the future I might start my own business with the skills and tools the Lord has blessed me with.



So for today, I am passing along a great idea that some friends shared with me on Facebook. Thanks Sarah and Jennifer:)



Larry and I are trying to establish holiday traditions with our children. We have decided not to have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny as part of how we celebrate the holidays. We have opted instead to focus on the meaning behind the holidays. We enjoy studying the meaning behind the holiday.

I wanted to see what creative things my friends do with their families to teach the TRUTH of Easter.So I asked my friends on Facebook to share some of their Easter traditions and I LOVED this idea. I know Josiah is to young, but I think Eden might catch glimpse of the TRUTH in this activity. As they get older I hope traditions like these will impact my children's hearts. Leading them to have relationship with Christ.


These are Resurrection Cookies. You can find the website here: http://realfoodliving.com/recipes/resurrection-cookies










Resurrection Cookies
1 cup whole pecans (we use almonds)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup organic sugar
Plastic baggie
Wooden spoon, rolling pin
Tape
Bible
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (Do this before doing anything else.)

Place nuts in baggie and beat them with a wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested and He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3

Open the vinegar and let everyone smell it. Put 1 teaspoon into the mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, all He was given to drink was vinegar. Read John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11

Sprinkle a little salt into each person’s hand. Let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Sprinkle a little sugar into each person’s hand. Let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with mixer on high speed for 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents our purity in God’s eyes because our sins are cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18

Fold in nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and TURN THE OVEN OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door shut. Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66

You’re done! Explain that you cannot eat the cookies tonight, but that you have to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. That might not make anyone too happy. Explain that Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22

The next morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the third day, Jesus followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9

Enjoy the cookies and have a Happy Easter!

More Belly Shots of Abbey

Abbey and I got to visit with each other after church last Sunday. So I took a few more belly shots of her before we left for home. In some of the pictures she didn't look close to 8 months pregnant. I had to tell her to poke out her belly so it would look more round. I never had that problem. :)

Love ya Sister!

I wanna win!

There is a website called Epiphanie that is giving away a Canon Mark 5 camera if you do random things to enter their drawing. One of those things is to blog about this give away. So in my effort to win, here is my entry. :)

http://www.haveanepiphanie.com/home/2010/2/28/epiphanie-give-away.html

Eating sand

You know, I probably would not have been able to be so laid back about this with my first child. Maybe it's because Josiah is a boy, or my second child. Or maybe because it's the expressions on his face, but I found this hilarious!




This is the first time we put Josiah on the sand. You can see he's a almost indifferent. Then he gets that first little handful of sand slipping through those fingers..... it was like a little boy's mess sensor went off and he thought... I should give this a try.

Then we see the..... Hey Mom this is neat!

OK I think I'll play a little while.

Then you have the Oh Boy! This sand is tasty!

Yeah Uncle Scott. I know I'm not supposed to be eating this, but hey.....

that just what boys do... Right?

Thanks for wiping my mouth off Uncle Scott.

Yeah that did taste nasty....

I wonder if I should do it again?

What's all that wet stuff over there?

Beach days

It's always neat to go to the beach, even in the middle of the winter. Especially if it's the first time your son has ever seen the sand and water.

This is better than the sand.

It's sand and water!

Let's see how far I can go.....

Oh man.....Uncle Scott, you're no fun!!!

Dangit, He caught me again!

Keeping up

Josiah is beginning to be able to keep up with his big sister at the park. He went down the slide for the first time and loved it! Eden is practicing waiting her turn and encouraging her brother. They had a great time..... then we headed down to the water :)