Easter Sunday 2011

Opening Easter baskets

We started our day out with going to church in the morning. The girls wore their dresses that Mama Shar (John's stepmom) made them - hand knitted. They really did look quite cute. We spent some time talking with the girls about what they learned in Sunday school about Easter.

Sophie searching for eggs

When we got home we spent some time in the backyard opening Easter baskets and doing an Easter egg hunt with the girls. They has such a good time hunting for the eggs and were so excited to see what was inside.

Uncle Shane and Zoe being goofy 

After naps we headed over to Shane and Alisha's house for a mid-day Easter dinner with Nana, Papa, Great Grandma Brusch, uncle Mike, Great Aunt Kay, and the Crowley family. We had a great meal together. The girls played outside with the boys on the trampoline for a while. Then the boys hid some more eggs for the girls and helped them hunt for the them. It was pretty fun to watch my brothers boys (ages 14, 12, and 10) take Sophie around and help her find eggs. Zoe had a blast jumping on the trampoline with her basket full of eggs. Sophie's favorite was finding the eggs with the chocolate candy.

All in all it was a great day celebrating with family!

To see all our Easter pictures visit our Flickr website here.

Easter to a child

Tonight when we were putting the girls to bed we read a chapter from their Bible, read a few prayers from their prayer book (Sophie's all time favorite book), and then John told the girls the story of Easter. Sophie really wasn't all that interested but Zoe did a good job listening and asking questions. As I listened to John tell the very basic version to Zoe I kept thinking to myself - this must seem like such a strange story at least to a 3 year old. It is simple yet complex all at the same time. It is only by faith that it makes any sense and a 3 year old has that childlike faith that we are supposed to have and just responded "Jesus was resurrected".

I love how God can use our own children to teach us.

Zoe's 3rd Birthday

This was the first year she really understood what her birthday meant and helped figure out who to invite to her party and what kind of cake she wanted. Her birthday was actually on Monday but her birthday party was on Saturday.

On Monday she wanted pizza and wings for dinner so we went to Barro's pizza. She really does like chicken wings (BBQ flavor) on the bone. After dinner we spent some time at the neighborhood park and then back to the house for some birthday cake and ice cream. She also opened a few presents and talked to Mimi, Papa Broom and Nana and Papa Crowley. It was a good day!

On Thursday her preschool class celebrated Zoe's and another girl's birthday.  She took some cookies to share with all her friends. When I picked her up she had a birthday crown and a birthday girl sticker on her shirt. She was so proud.

All week she kept talking about her party and I had to keep telling her not for a few more days. Saturday came and she was so excited all day. Especially when the bounce house arrived at 11am and the party didn't start til 4pm. We had some good family bouncing before lunch.

She had tons of family and friends show up for her party. Thankfully we have a fairly big backyard so it didn't seem crowded. The kids loved the bubbles we gave them all and of course jumping in the bounce house. We ate sub sandwiches and had chocolate birthday cake. Then she opened her presents and ended the party with a pinata. A cupcake shaped pinata. The kids had a great time hitting it and trying to break it open.

All in all I would call it a success! Zoe was exhausted by the time she went to bed and said, "I want to have my party again tomorrow!"

To view all the birthday pictures check out our Flickr website.

What a Week!

I can really relate to the expression TGIF this week. It has been a pretty busy week for our family.

We started out on Sunday learning that both our girls had head lice. What it takes to get rid of the lice is not necessarily difficult, just very time consuming. Washing all the sheets in the house, all the girls' blankets, their bears and bunny and placing all other stuffed toys in a garbage bag to be put away for a few weeks. Changing the sheets the first few days every time they slept in their beds and then again laundry. Thorough cleanings of their hair, plus olive oil treatment with a seriously fine tooth comb and then strand by strand inspections. On Monday we discovered John and I had it also - thankfully not bad cases.

The inspections and combing continued all week while Sophie started running a high fever on Monday. To the doctor on Wednesday to find out she has strep. To add to all the fun Sophie pulled her elbow out while we where trying to leave for the doctors office Wednesday morning. The doctor tried twice to put it back in place and she still would not use it and complained a lot so we spent the rest of the morning getting x-rays. Praise the Lord they showed nothing was wrong! She was still not using the arm on Thursday and Zoe was starting to run a fever, so back to the doctor. The doctor tried the procedure again to put her elbow back and said if she didn't start using it by Monday to see a pediatric orthopedic. Zoe also has strep.

I have to say God sure gives us the strength needed to get through weeks like this. Praise God that Sophie started using her arm again today and she seems to be feeling much better. Zoe is still on her road to recovery but I know all will be well soon.

In spite of all the challenges this week I know and feel God's strength.

Weekend Gardening

Weekend Goal: Spend as much time outside with the girls as possible.

The weather is so nice here this time of year John and I try to spend as much of it outdoors as we can before the heat really starts. Of course, the girls also love to be outside. So we started our weekend with a trip to a couple of nurseries to buy some shrubs, which then turned into buying some herbs and vegetables. I have wanted to have a garden for a couple of years but we never seemed to find the time.

Last year for our anniversary John bought me a miter saw (which I love). Our first and only project so far was to build an herb box. We started it in March of last year and never got back to it. So when I decided to buy some plants this weekend, we decided we better get it finished. To my and I think John's amazement we finished it. We finished assembling most of it on Saturday and then John stained it on Sunday. Sunday afternoon Zoe helped me put the dirt in it and figure out where to put the plants. She has done some small planting projects in preschool so she knew what to do and was extremely careful putting the dirt around the plants. We had so much fun.

The cucumber plant seems to be her favorite. She checked on it several times yesterday to see if it was ready and then would come tell me "it isn't." She has already asked twice this morning to go check on it.

It is great to see her enthusiasm for planting and watching things grow. Sophie also had a good time. She really liked putting her hands in the dirt and playing with the containers the plants came in.

Another chip

This afternoon Zoe and Sophie were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me to get their afternap snack when all of a sudden Zoe started crying. Zoe (I have no idea) somehow managed to hit her front tooth on the edge of the kitchen chair and take another small chip out of it. Same tooth as when she was 18 months old so the chip is now larger. I have really come to love the chipped tooth but really didn't need her to enlarge the missing area. Oh well. Thankfully the was only a small amount of blood and both front teeth seem fine.

Extended Family Fun and Pictures

My Aunt Trish and her husband Scott who live in Wisconsin were in town visiting my grandma and rest of the family this February. My Aunt Barb from Denver also came to visit during part of that time.

Brusch/Graves/Broom/Crowley/Canavan/Robar Family

 While they were all here we had a get together with them and rest of my family that lives here. My cousins cooked an amazing Mexican fare lunch for all of us at my grandma's. We spent some time catching up with each other while all the kids ran around the yard and played catch. We also managed to get some photos of the family.

What a great day and visit with family!

The first generation cousins (only those in AZ)
Lupe, Shane, Chris, Kelly, Jennifer

The second generation cousins (only those in AZ)
Too many to list

The siblings...
Barb Robar
Mike Brusch
Trish Gaves
Carolyn Crowley

Grandma with her children

Grandpa Crowley with the Crowley boys