Easter Weekend

A few pictures from our weekend...

 We had a simple Passover Seder, attended by a Roman soldier and "servant girl" (Naomi asked us to call her that!  I told her I could definitely come up with some work for her to do!).

 Our best attempt at a pose with all three!

 Ezra was perfectly content to hunt for one egg and then chew on it.

 Release the hunters!

 Ezra "hanging out" with Mommy

Easter breakfast at church.  Ezra is realizing that there are much better tasting foods out there than baby oatmeal and mushy baby food.  Like blueberry muffins!  And oatmeal cookies!  He will bang his cup and loudly protest if we withhold the good stuff from him.

Piano Baby

Ezra gives new meaning to "eat the mic".  (Sorry it's sideways!  Forgot the camera doesn't rotate!)

Pie in the Face

 It was an exciting night at Awana - Pie Night, when the leaders with the most votes (earned by clubbers who completed their sections) got a pie in the face.  Kevin got multiple pies in his face, one of which was delivered by Naomi while a crowd of Cubbies and Sparks chanted "Pie in the face!  Pie in the face!"). 

Good thing Kevin loves Cool Whip!

For the Birds

I love watching the birds that come to our feeder, so when I looked out and noticed a nest in the rosebush right outside our living room window, I was so excited.  I tiptoed out and peeked in - three little featherless birds in it who poked up their head and let out tiny squeaks for food!  Soon a mama cardinal flew in and fed them, and I was instantly "twitterpated"!  But later that afternoon, the wind kicked up, and I noticed the nest was tilted at a bad angle.  Sure enough, a few gusts later and two baby birds were dumped on the ground.

Now I know that this is just part of life, but I could not bear the thought of them dying there on the ground right outside my window.  Especially when the mama bird hopped over and stood over them, helpless to do anything about it!  So with Naomi and Johnathan standing at the window, I carefully scooped them back into the nest with a wooden spoon.  At this point, I'm sure I had interefered enough, but I was already emotionally invested in seeing these birds make it!  So when the nest flipped them out 2 more times, I pushed up my sleeves, got out some gardening tools, and secured the nest with a branch and got those babies back in it.  

Poor things, they had been scratched by thorns, and I wondered if I had scared the parents off completely.  I'd probably already done too much, so I closed the blinds, drew the curtains, and got my own babies off to bed.  We snuggled on the living room floor and read about how God know each sparrow that falls, and how we are so much more valuable than the birds. 

 But I couldn't resist peeking out the window that evening.  To my relief, mama cardinal was back, sitting on her babies to keep them warm! 

 In the following days, I spent way too much time peeking out at the nest to see how they were doing.  I'm happy to report that a few days ago all three left the nest and followed their parents across the yard to some nearby bushes.  Here's one hanging out, enjoying his or her independence and stubby wings...

 So cute!  And our yard is aflutter with little birds.  Young sparrows are chasing their parents around, demanding seeds, and now we have a nest of baby mockingbirds in a different rosebush.

I'm just glad they are too far away to see from the living room window - some people spend too much time on Facebook, but my current vice is birdwatching!

DOC Update

 Since Naomi had the day off of school this Friday, we all went with Ezra to his DOC band appointment.  The therapist took measurements and said he has had really good growth in the first two months of wearing it.  Depending on how quickly he continues to grow, he may still fit this one for another 6 to 8 weeks, and we'll talk about the possibility of a second band the next time we go, when they'll do another round of measurements. 

 After the appointment, we had lunch and went to Mayfield Park to visit the peacocks and hike the nature trails.  Then we had to try a treat we had heard about - cake on a stick!  They were yummy and kind of like a cakey truffle dipped in chocolate.

Happy Easter!

A few pictures from Easter morning

 Ezra is quite proud of his ability to pull up and cruise around!

 Johnathan was not interested in getting his picture taken this morning, so this was the best we could do.  He sure was handsome, though!

Naomi, however, will always strike a pose for the camera!

Start Small, Think Big

We were excited to present Compassion Sunday to our church today.  We donned our matching t-shirts (none in Ezra's size - sorry, little guy!).  Naomi invited people to come to the table to see her letter from the child we sponsor, Kevin preached on a compassion theme which fit perfectly with the passage he was teaching from in Luke, and I gave a short presentation during the service about the ministry of Compassion.  We were thrilled that at least 14 kids were sponsored by families from our church!

My Hero

Some moments you just want to tuck away in your memory because they are so sweet.  Like this afternoon, when the boys and I were driving to pick up Naomi from school.  Johnathan, aka "World One pilot" was in the back seat, protecting us from the bad guys with his helmet, while doing his auditory therapy (which all good pilots must have, of course!). 

Johnathan LOVES heroes of all kinds, but it touches my heart when he uses his powers to protect his family!

Grand Prix Fun

Time for the Awana Grand Prix, and a fun time was had by all this year.  As per Boaz family tradition, we aspired to creativity over speed, and that strategy worked out very well for us! 

Johnathan came is second in the Cubbies division for creativity with his Penguin Power car.

 Naomi came in first in the Sparks division with her covered wagon, complete with the Ingalls family aboard!

 And Kevin earned first in the adults division for creativity with his Empty Tomb. 

We said this car represents the heights of our teamwork as a couple - Kevin casts the vision, and I have the fine motor skills to carry it out!

Which One is Naomi?

Naomi and her classmates have been working on Chinese dragon masks in art, and today they held a parade through the halls.

(Naomi is the one in the blue shirt!)