Telling the Easter Story to Children

Today in children's church they discussed the last supper. There was an actual crown of thorns in a glass display at the welcome desk at church. Morgan calls it the crown with the pokies.  We talked about how the people made Jesus wear it because they were making fun of him and that they did not believe that he is our king. We have gone over the Easter story and the boys just watched a video called The Awesome Story of Jesus. Ok, and get ready to cry... the pic above is Gabriel and Morgan pretending to the be the cross and Jesus. I didn't realize how difficult this is to explain to children. In a nutshell they have been told that Jesus died and came back to life so that our sins can be forgiven and we get to be in Heaven with God. Jesus is alive today. Sin was explained as when we do bad things like be mean or lie. But, that God forgave/forgives us and that is what Easter is all about.


I'm hauling out all of the children's Bibles and we are looking at the different pictures and stories that relate to Easter. The kids really side tracked me when they started talking about our dog Bali that died on Christmas. They kept asking me when Bali was going to come back to life. I told them that Bali is in Heaven with God.

Gabriel told me that he thinks that "Jesus is cool". I was really worried about explaining this to them because I didn't want them to be scared. But, they really like the story and there was A LOT of emphasis on the fact that Jesus came back to life. I also know that they will be discussing the story at children's church during the service. So, I wanted to go over it with them before Sunday.


We have about 10 different children's Bibles.  Here are our three newest ones and they are our favorites for the four year age range. 

This one is both Morgan and Gabriel's favorite. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0781444039 It has pictures like icons inserted in the text and the adult points to the picture so the child is actually reading alongside the adult.  The kids think that it's a lot of fun and remember the stories.  Thanks Allison for turning me on to this book.

The Jesus Storybook Bible is good because it isn't just a random collection of stories.  It ties every story to Jesus.

My ABC Bible Verses is great because it focuses on character traits.  It also teaches the ABC's by starting with a verse, followed by a modern story about a child's dilemma.  Then, it has a follow up question section and a short prayer.  Each section is a two page spread.  So, it's a really easy add on to story time at night since it's so quick.

Good luck to everyone looking to explain the heavy issues to sweet young minds!  And, happy Easter to everyone!

Sounds from the Bathroom

So, my child is afraid of Pinocchio.  Or "Nokio" as Morgan puts it.  But, it's not this one.  Nope.
It's this creeptastic little number that my unknowing yet good intentioned husband let my sweet baby watch.  So, now Morgan is scared of all puppets with "Nokio" being the scariest of all.


Here's what I heard coming from the bathroom this afternoon.
Morgan (while sitting on the toilet... pooping): Andres, if you see a puppet in here you kill him and punch him in the belly and flush him down!
Andres: ohhhhhhhh!
Sound of potty flushing

Morgan: Bye puppet!
Andres: Bye puppet!
Morgan: I need some privacy!

Trying to Wear Out the Kids

We’ve been to a lot of fun stuff over the past month.  I need to remember to take more photos.  I got a new phone.  RIP old phone.  And, it has a ton of complicated photo settings.  Hillary, I need your photographic expertise!

Joshia turned four.  His birthday cake was nothing short of amazing.  Jeff made the whole thing from scratch.  He made EVERYTHING including the netting, fish and rocks.  It was a pirate themed party and the boys found buried treasure in the sandbox.

This happens twice a year.  I drag everything out of Morgan’s closet and it’s out with the old and in with the new.  I lucked out this year.  Almost all of his shorts from last year will work for this year.  I guess those diapers really take up a lot of space!

Andres is huge reader.  This is from one afternoon when he didn’t want to go down for a nap.  He didn’t complain about it.  He just wanted a zillion books in the bed with him.  Sweet baby.

We spent a morning at Allison Leonard’s house.  She is so on the ball with her educational games.  The children are all playing a listening game.  Andres can barely see above the table.  But, he wanted to be included.

We took Clifford Bustard Woo Woo Cox to the dog wash.

Clifford (Morgan’s name choice) Bustard (Gabriel’s name choice translated by Morgan.  It’s supposed to be Buster) Woo Woo (Andres name choice)

Did I mention this is a girl dog?  She already about 15 pounds heavier than in this picture.

I think that this is the morning that Melani Broomfield brought her kiddos over for a playdate.  The boys are cuddling.

The boys all love story time at the library.

Then we stopped by the pet store to spend YET MORE MONEY on Clifford Bustard Woo Woo Cox.

This is what happens when you are trying to housebreak a dog.  I guess it makes sense to Morgan!

Morgan had his four year old checkup at the doctor.   Look how chilled he looks… like a little man.  He is in the 75%-90% at 41.75” and in the 50%-75% at 31.1 lb.  He’s long and lean!  He did great the whole appointment.  It helped that his friends were there.  The nurse told him that the shots were super heroe shots to make him into a strong boy.  He cried.  It was sad and then the four of us got ice cream.  Ice cream seems to make a lot of things better.

The boys found a puddle in the park.  And of course I’m the “cool” mom.  I let them go at it and get totally covered in mud.

Notice how much bigger Clifford Bustard Woo Woo is.  You can’t see this.  But, I have her leash actually threaded through my belt loops and attached to me.  I don’t trust her to not knock down the kiddos.  She’s like Dino from the Flintstones!

Our church park finally has picnic tables and benches.  Yea!  I foresee many picnics there.  The kids all love this house.  They like to put each other in jail.

Today we went to Paradise Pond and then on to the Grapevine Botanical Gardens for a picnic.  Notice how Andres lined up all these cars.  He was loving it because he didn’t have to share for a long time.  The older boys were off in other parts of the play place.

Morgan said that this is what a policeman looks like.

Gabriel is a Texas knight.

The boys were pretty good at the rock wall.

This contraption is so cool.  It’s like a giant spider web.

Andres is pointing out the giant (like 2 feet) koi in the pond.

I just love pics of cute little backsides!

This is what happens when you tell a child to smile.

Awwweee…. brothers.

… and Morgan.

 

They ran off into the woods to pretend to hunt.

I couldn’t resist this pic.  The older boys told Andres that he wasn’t a Power Ranger.  I guess that is devastating to a 2 year old boy.

Here they are pretending to be Power Rangers.

This is a pic of a sweet dry baby before meeting up with the fountain.

Gabriel kept screaming, “I’m wet!”  But, he wanted to go in the fountain.  Ha!

Everyone road home in their underwear.  It’s been a great day.  The boys have already asked to go back to the spider web park before we even got home.

How One Toy Becomes 70

Last week I went to Going Bonkers with 4 little boys that really are going bonkers. I love this place. I find it interesting that we as parents keep buying toy after toy for our kids when they are really at their happiest running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I made all the boys clean up all the toys before we left... I'm mean like that. Gabriel is my best picker-uper by far. I find that it works well if I give everyone a recyclable grocery sack and send them around the room to clean up. This brings me to my point. We seems to have fighting over toys all the time. But, when they are allowed to run and play with no toys everyone is blissfully happy. And, it astounds me how one simple toy can become 70. For example, I bought a fishing game for Morgan. It has a base, about 25 fish and 4 fishing poles. The heads have come off of most of them and most of the poles are in pieces. The boys like to throw all the fish in the pots and pans in the play kitchen and cook with them. Therefore, my one toy is now 70. So, let's think about this. This is just one toy of many like this. If Morgan receives a stuffed animal dressed in a shirt, pants and shoes this is not one toy. Nope, I'm immediately looking at five toys. Also known as five different opportunities to fight over something and five different opportunities to not clean something up. I can see where I'm heading with this. I'm going to give more toys away to charity and head out to Going Bonkers and Paradise Pond more often!

Morgan’s 4th Birthday

Morgan is 4 years old today!  I can’t believe that he is already 4.  That seems like such an older age since I have memories of when I was 4.  I guess that makes parenting even scarier now that I know that he will have lasting memories of the good times along with all the times that I mess up.

My birthday is in the summer and I always loved having swimming parties.  We meet up with his cousins last night for a swimming party.  It was originally intended to just be a party in the hot tub.  It ended up being a fairly cold day.  Mary and I sat on the side of the pool and watched the bright idea unfold from the kids to jump in the pool.  We just let them do it.  You know how you get so hot in the tub and then can jump back and forth from cold to hot.  The pool was in the 60s.  I’m sure that it was freezing.  I’ve attached videos to permanently memoralize my great parenting skills… hardy har har.  Still, what kid in Dallas gets an outdoor swimming party the first week of March?

Afterwards we told everyone to take showers & baths.  My new technique for still shooting the boys in the tub is to tell them to put as many toys as they can in their laps.  Privacy issue solved!

Morgan had a Batman cake last year.  Thank you Dan for picking this up.  I didn’t feel like putting together a cake this year.

This is the beginning of the tent

I made for the boys.  They have been playing in it for the past hour and calling it their bathroom.  Who knew that a bathroom has so much play appeal to preschoolers.  Here’s Andres crawling through the “door”.

I'm Not Your Friend!

I'm sooooo tired of hearing "I'm Not Your Friend!" from the two older boys. It's a constant banter around here.  I just did a little desparation research online and evidentally this is the most common taunt thrown around by 4 year olds. There's an article that teaches responses. "I'm not your toe!" So, now we are practicing how to respond when someone tells you that they are not your friend. We've gone through all the body parts now and the boys think that it is funny. The article goes on to talk about breaking the mean cycle and diffusing it with humor. I've also already been doing something like this with the name calling which is constant. I'll hear one of them call the other one something and it goes like this:


Morgan: You are a stinky face!
Gabriel: No I'm not!
Me: No, I AM a stinky face!
Morgan & Gabriel: NO! We are the stinky faces (break into fits of laughter!)

Gabriel just told me that he learned the word idiot from transformers.  Great... uggg. I'm tying to ignore the boys now calling each other idiots right now. They are also telling each other words that are bad words.  You know, the usual 4 year old cuss words: butt, shut-up and poop.  I swear, I never use these words around the house.  If anything, they should all be saying crap.  I accidentally say that all the time. 

Both boys are now pretending to have birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese.  They are hanging bead necklaces that Morgan made on Andres and pretending that they are candy.  Then, they drape a dishtowl on his head for the crown.  Legos are the birthday cake.

This picture is a month or so old. But, I'm too lazy to upload a new pic from my phone right now.

Ok Moms!  I'm open for advice.  Tricks of the trade anyone?