Easter 2014

Our church celebrates the preparation for Resurrection Sunday with an old fashion Brethren Love Feast (note, we are not actually Brethren) and a foot-washing. Here's one diligent little foot-washer.










I was able to take the girls to my grandmother's house for Easter again this year, so we dyed eggs and harassed some barn cats. Visiting with family was a pleasure too. Happy Easter to the rest of you we haven't seen yet!







 

A whole lot of learning has also been going on here. Last week the two big girls spent two hours pouring over the Little Passports package that came in the mail. This month's packet on Egypt brought with it an artifact hidden in plaster, so the girls chipped away at it patiently to unearth a sarcophagus. Pearl also spent time playing the related geography games online. Thanks Aunt R!

We had our final CHAMP co-op. I had rented a chest of colonial 'arti-fakes' from the museum in York, then I led Pearl's class and then Sapphire's class through exploring the objects. Both classes were pretty much terrified of the blood-letting bowl, but they loved dressing up like colonials.

In the evening we had our Show and Tell, a little closing ceremony that allows the children a chance to take the stage and show their new knowledge.









And so far we've fit two field trips into this week. Pearl toured a local courthouse and jail on Tuesday, and today I took her and a friend to the Landis Valley Museum for a wool to weave workshop. We carded wool and learned to weave tape.

April Flowers

I think we can put our hats and heavy coats in the attic now, but here's a last look at a cute gift from Grammy.

We had the chance to celebrate Easter all over again with some friends and their grandchildren. The girls enjoyed taking part in a huge egg hunt. 

We've tried to maximize the warm weather that hit this week. Pearl created a reading nook on the front porch to catch the morning sun, and Sapphire presented herself in her swim suit and demanded pool time. I explained that the baby pool would be staying in the barn for another month at least.

Here we are at the top of the hill above our house. We like to go there and eat ice cream, but I need to stock up on that.  We just took some jellybeans and enjoyed the beautiful light.

Pearl has also developed her own code recently, which Grammy cracked right away.

We are studying Asia now, which is just about the easiest continent to cover. My husband and I have plenty of stories of our travels there, and Pearl's favorite animal is the tiger.  As part of a culinary exploration, Pearl tried bravely tried sushi when she and I had a day out together last week.  The chewy nori was not a hit with her, sadly.  She didn't seem to notice the raw salmon.