In.App.Ro.Pri.Ate

I really hesitated to share this post.  It is a bit irreverant.  But if this blog is a record of my children and their childhood memories through my eyes, then this story needs to be included. 

I've talked about our daily evening Bible time in other blog posts.  I've also talked about how I wonder whether Luke "gets it."  After all, he is only three years old.  We still keep plugging along with the hope and prayer that they are hiding God's word deep in their hearts.  Some evenings seem relatively successful.  Some?  Not so much. 

While we were gone on vacation in preparation for Easter, I brought along something called Resurrection Eggs for us to do during Bible time each night.

This is what they look like.  Twelve eggs and a small devotional booklet.  Each egg contains a small reminder of the Easter story - a donkey, a cup, praying hands, silver coins, a crown of thorns, etc.  It really helps kids learn the true meaning of Easter.  The 12th egg is empty to represent the empty tomb. 

Everything was going so well.  Each night Kevin would read the verses, the kids (Fletcher, Luke and Tucker) would take turns opening the egg and then they would take turns looking at what was inside the egg. Then they would answer questions about the object and what it represented. 

Then we came to egg # 10.  This egg contained a small white cloth to represent the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in when Joseph of Arimethea buried him.  (A "shroud" for all you Bible scholars.)

Fletcher looked at the cloth then passed it to Tucker.  Tucker looked at the cloth then passed it to Luke. 

Luke looked at the cloth.

Luke looked at Kevin.

Luke looked at Mrs. Teresa.  (Mr. Grant had already gone back home to work.)

Luke looked at me. 

Then Luke looked at the cloth again.  Picked it up.  Then reached around and pretended to wipe his bottom with it. 

Let that sink in for a minute.

The burial cloth of Jesus as a piece of toilet paper. 

The adults tried hard not to laugh.  Really hard.  But we just couldn't help it. 

Thankfully, the two other boys didn't see it; otherwise, we might have never recovered. 

I won't mention names, but I'm thinking someone may not have been listening completely during Bible time. 

We'll keep trying. 

Working Backwards

So many pictures that I'm having trouble deciding where to start.  So I'll start at the end then work my way to the beginning.  Or something like that.

Grandma and Papa Charlie with the grandkids.

The whole crew.  We were even 30 minutes early to church.  Go ahead, be impressed.  That's hard to do in  my little family of 4.  Imagine how hard it was in a house full of 10.  (Their church meets in a high school in case you were wondering about the background.  This high school had much better landscaping than my alma mater.)  By the way, in other random news, this is the first time in about three years that I've bought a new dress.  I happened to catch the new shipment at Marshalls and ended up buying three dresses.  A good dress, like a good man, is hard to find these days.  That's why you snatch them up when given an opportunity.  "Them" being dresses, not men because that would be weird. 

Aunt Stacie (Kevin's sister), Uncle Gavin, Graham  (13)  and Anna (11).  After 12 years of complaining, Graham has finally realized that picture-taking goes much faster if he just smiles and says nothing. 

 This was the Saturday before Easter at Grandma and Papa Charlie's neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  Snowcones.  Fletcher loved them.  Luke?  Not so much.  He thought the ice was too cold.  He did like the syrup. 

Brothers.  (I originally typed "bothers" and while they do bother each other sometimes, this was a rare moment in which they were showing some brotherly love.)

Pony rides.  At this point Fletcher and Anna went off to play so I don't have any more pictures of them. 

Luke said the ride was "weally bumpy."

I thought he might be freaked out by the Easter Bunny, but he ran right up and gave him a hug and waited to take his picture with him. 

Getting a "tiggy back ride."

Ready for the egg hunt.

 He did great.  Got lots of eggs.  I would post the video but there was this overly excited high pitched nasally sounding mother's voice drowning out all other audio.  I hate it when that happens.  She needs to learn to video in silence. 

Whirlwind

We just got back late Sunday night from a whirlwind beach trip and a quick trip down to St. Augustine for Easter with Kevin's side of the family.  I took lots of pictures and videos so hopefully I'll get those uploaded this week and do a little bit better job of blogging. 

Happy Easter! 

There's a great song called "In Christ Alone".  These verses are what Easter is all about. 

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

Classic

Luke loves watching this video.  He calls it "The Pretty Song".  We're not sure why.  He has a little airplane with a man that my sister gave him for Christmas that he flies all over the house pretending to act out the video.  He even makes the man walk to his plane just like the video does.   I would love to take him to see the Blue Angels.  Of course, when we lived in Florida they were only about 3 hours away.  But now that we are in the Carolinas, the closest they will be to us is Beaufort at the end of this month.  Maybe 2012.

Yet Another Reason

This is yet another reason why I love my husband. 

Our front landscape beds needed new mulch.  This was to be the Saturday morning project.  After a hearty breakfast at McDonalds, they went to the mulch place and got a truckload of mulch. 

Kevin could have gotten it all spread out in an hour or less.  But because he is such a good dad and because he is so patient, he let the boys "help".  I think most of their mulch ended up in the grass.  They were absolutely filthy.  But they were very proud that they helped Dad with such a difficult task. 

On a related note, doesn't our front yard look so nice and green.  Kevin does it all.  Impressive, yes?

I Don't Even Know How to Title This

This was my facebook status and the comments that followed on Sunday morning.

Rachel ______ G_______
My three year old (in the bathroom): The Poop Family lives in a poop house in my bottom.
Glad he doesn't have much of an imagination.

Yesterday at 8:22am · · Like · Lindy Rowe and Caroline Parker like this..

Karen Self Beakley My 3 year old grandson said as he flushed the toiilet "He's going to go look for his mommy now" Yes, they do have vivid imaginations!
Yesterday at 8:29am · Like.

Alan Pruitt Rachel my 4 year old said she was feeding the pooh pooh fairy... Lol
Yesterday at 8:46am · Like.

JoAnn Shearer hahahahaha!!!
Yesterday at 8:51am · Like.

Susan Jackson Kelly HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yesterday at 8:54am · Like.

Savannah Sams My 2 year old daughter said, "That was a big one... I love my poop! Do you love my poop??" I started laughing because I couldn't believe she said it! I think they are so funny at this age :)
Yesterday at 8:56am · Like.

Shelly Williams Foster Oh my do I miss this age!!!
Yesterday at 9:35am · Like.

Susan Jackson Kelly He and Nathan should get together...
Yesterday at 1:04pm · Like.

Stacy Soehlman Mason L.O.L.
Yesterday at 1:47pm · Like.

Jimmy Clyde i'm not sure if we ever want to let him and Lucas Jackson Clyde have play time together. Luke works poop into pretty much any conversation.
Yesterday at 2:10pm · Like.

Kara G. Marino Should I say this?.....so I guess when he has to go, he literally IS dropping the kids off at the pool. :0
22 hours ago · Like.

Rachel ______ G_____ Oh yeah. Someone told me that I could write a book on potty training called "The Poop Family Goes Swimming"
19 hours ago · Like.

Heather Logemann MacKrell Hilarious!

Top Chef

Sometimes it's the everyday stuff I don't want to forget.  Making pancakes with Dad is one of Luke's favorite things to do.   (Yes, I realize that is an enormous bag of chocolate chips.  But we like chocolate chips in our pancakes and they are much less expensive when I buy them in bulk at Sams.  That bag will probably last us through elementary school). 

Sunny Days

Of course, it wasn't until after I uploaded the pictures that I realized Luke had a giant booger in his nose.