Painting Project

I have done a few painting projects with all three kids before but they have involved my painting their feet or hands - one at a time, and my placing their respective little hand or foot in a very specific, contained location and creating a little craft.

Well, yesterday was the first time I actually handed all three children paint brushes and watched what happened.

We did a family painting project, and I'm actually impressed with how little paint ended up all over our kitchen.  The twins ate plenty, and Tracey later panicked when she saw "red spots" on her face in the reflection in the mirror, but all in all, I'd say the painting project was a success.

I can't show pictures of the final result yet, because its a surprise... but the painting project was a success.

 

Verse For Today

This is on my heart today and it is my prayer for anyone reading this as well...

 

One Focus

Our household is completely consumed with one focus right now... Hubby finishing his graduate program to earn his Masters in Educational Administration.

He has been working toward this masters degree since I was pregnant with the twins... but to paint a broader picture, he has been working on earning masters degrees in other specialties since before we were married... so this will be a tremendous accomplishment.

His semester ends April 30th, which means all of his final Capstone and Practicum tasks and requirements have to be completed, graded, and passed before April 30th.  We can have none of that turning in the final paper at 11:59pm on April 30th, because everything has to be graded and passed before then.

We have had a course assignment check list on our kitchen white board for nearly a year, and we started a final task and daily count down at the end of March to keep us motivated and keep the end in sight -- I say "us", but the fact that its in the kitchen where I see it all the time... its really for me.  I need to see that progress is being made every day and be reassured that we are nearing this end goal.

Hubby is down to his final four tasks, and his final nine days... although its really less than nine days, because again, nothing can be turned in at the last minute.

So, one reason I have done about five blog posts in a row about Easter and Easter pictures is because the only thing I can think about right now is how close we are to the end of Hubby's graduate school... and how stressed I am about him finishing while still working full time, checking in with us from time to time, and sleeping ever few days.

This is like the last 5 miles of a marathon, where we are so close, but we still have to run those last 5 miles.

I always thought it was sweet when people who accomplish something thank their families... but now I actually understand their situations.  Our entire family is in this together... every member of our family is making sacrifices in order for Hubby to complete this degree.  Our children do not see Hubby right now for more than a few minutes a day because he is working all the time.  Tracey has learned that when she sees Daddy in the morning, she should say, "I'll see you tomorrow, Daddy," because he's not going to come home until she is in bed that night... or later.  I definitely have times when being the only parent for several days on end really takes its toll on me and the degree of patience I show with the kids.

One of the hardest parts about this process for me has been the fact that I'm not the one earning the degree.  I'm the one crossing off tasks that someone else does... I'm watching the kids, I'm trying to encourage, motivate, nag when needed, but I am not the one completing the work -- all of this rests on Hubby's shoulders.  It is hard to sit on the sidelines when someone I love is working so hard.

So... all that to say, we have one focus in our home right now, and its all I can think about -- Hubby is almost done with graduate school... Hubby has nine or less days to finish all the assignments... Hubby hasn't slept in three days, I hope he's still making sense when he writes grad school assignments...

Please keep him and our family in your prayers as he completes the requirements for this degree and finishes strong.

 

Past Easters

I saw someone post a cluster of family Easter pictures from the past ten years and it was so cool to see how their family changed from past Easters.  Sometimes Easter pictures are harder for me to find than other past Holidays because sometimes Easter is in March, sometimes in April...

But, I was able to track down Easter pictures from the past five Easters, and I thought it was pretty fun:

Easter 2017

Easter 2016

Easter 2015

Easter 2014 

Back when I was still learning how to hold a newborn in ruffles

Easter 2013

At a sunrise service on the mountain, before I was even pregnant with Tracey

What a wonderful and blessed progression of Easter celebrations.

 

Outtakes

In order to get this Easter picture of our family:

We got a lot of these pictures of our family:

 

Pasodoble

I enjoy the show Dancing With the Stars each season.  I used to just tune in from time to time, but when Sadie Robertson from Duck Dynasty competed a few years ago, I tuned in religiously (she finished as first runner up in the finals) and got pretty hooked on the show.  I don't always tune in on Monday Nights, and often end up with two or three DVR recordings waiting for me to catch up, but I do enjoy the dancing, the music, and watching the stars grow over the course of a season.

Last night was Disney night on Dancing With the Stars, which is always an audience favorite.

A star I had never heard of before this show, and I still can't remember her name -- she is a POP star, danced a Pasodoble to Mulan's "I'll Make a Man Out of You," with Donnie Osmond performing.  In my opinion, it was the showstopper of the night.

In the little dance I've learned from Dancing With the Stars, a Pasodoble is a very powerful Spanish dance originally designed to simulate a matador and a bull in the ring, in a challenging and acrimonious dance where the matador ends up defeating the bull.  What a perfect dance for "I'll Make A Man Out of You," which is a song about soldiers learning combat.

Then, to add to the appeal of the dance, it was a wonderful example to little girls of all that a Disney princess can be.  Sure, she can sing and dance, and she can also fight, climb, and be strong.

I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I did:

Our Easter Celebration

We had a wonderful Easter celebration over the weekend and here are some pictures:

Tracey was really into decorating eggs this year, for the first time, so that was fun to do together.

Community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday

Sunday breakfast at church

Our family picture where we all look dressed up, clean and happy -- which is how we want to remember these years with our children... it doesn't show all the chaos before and after the picture, but that's okay.

In this picture, Tracey is actually giving Caroline an egg... which is a really nice alternative from Tracey taking things from Caroline, which happens in other pictures.

Fun Easter baskets with spring and summer goodies -- jump rope, a soccer ball, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, Easter books, and water shoes.

Also,  a bicycle and helmet for Tracey...

And tricycle/scooters for the twins... the tricycle we had already, but now all three kiddos are ready for fun outside all summer.

We have some shelves in the yard that blew over, and I haven't moved them or picked them up because the kids have so much fun playing with them.  In this picture, Tracey was pretending that Caroline was a bear at the zoo, and the bear was in a cage and she wanted her picture taken with the bear.

In this picture, both she and Howard were bears in their zoo cages.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.