Easter

The other day as I was taking Jacob to baseball practice we started talking about Easter since it is coming up. First we talked about Good Friday, and both Annalisa and Jacob (the only kids in the car at the time) asked me why it is called "Good" Friday. We talked about the fact that Jesus died for us on that day even though he didn't do anything wrong. I told them that if Jesus hadn't died for our sins then we would be lost in our sins, but God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us so that we could live forever with Him! The next thing I asked them is, "If Jesus died on Good Friday what did He do on Easter Sunday?" I thought for sure they knew the answer to this question. Annalisa thought for a minute and said, "I infer that on Easter Sunday Jesus gave us lots of candy and fun." I said, "No, that's not what Jesus did on Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the dead. He's not dead anymore! He is alive!" And Annalisa said, "Jesus lives in my heart and helps it pump so I can be alive." Jacob then remembered that when Jesus came back to life He saw His disciples again before He went to heaven, so we talked about that for a minute, but Annalisa was still concerned about the whole "easter" thing, so she asked me if it was Jesus' first Easter. I told her that yes it was the first Easter, so she asked me, "Then did the Easter Bunny bring Jesus candy?" Trying not to laugh at her real concern for something that is not important I explained to her that candy and the Easter Bunny are not what Easter is about. This prompted me to ask the kids to really think about what Easter means to them and write it down for me. I really wanted to see if they understood that it is not about hunting eggs or getting candy. I was very impressed with what each one came up with all on their own. Annalisa was the first to write and finish:

I like Easter because Jesus dide for us and in 3 days he rose again to see His people. And
He rosed out of heven to see uther people not just us. And He did not want to diy but He
wanted to diy for us so He dide for us because He wanted us to go to heven. He did not
want us to go to the devill. So He dide so we can go to heven. And that is why I like easter.

Cole was the next to finish his paper:

Good Friday and Easter are important to me because on Good Friday Jesus gave up His
life for us that aren't perfect like Him. Easter is important because on Good Friday it was
told that He would rise again in 3 days and Easter was the third day of Jesus being dead and
that was when He rose again. I like Easter and Good Friday because those days show me
how much Jesus and God love and care for us-- for Jesus to give up His life and for God to
give up His only son.

Then Jacob gave me his:

Easter is important to me because Jesus died for our sins. He rose again in three days and
visited His disciples for 40 days. Then He went to heaven. The night before He died He
prayed to not go through with that and He sweated blood. Easter is special to me because
now we can go to heaven.

I am very proud that even though they enjoy the egg hunting and candy, deep down they really do understand what Easter is about. They may miss a few things that as adults we get, but for kids they have a pretty good grasp of what it is Jesus did for us. I LOVE MY KIDS!!!

Snow Days

Last Thursday morning there was snow on the ground, but nothing on the streets, so I had the kids up, dressed, and eating breakfast before I decided to just check and see if there would be a delayed start at school due to snow. I really didn't expect there to be since there never is on the days when the streets are covered. To my SURPRISE there wasn't a delayed start---school was CANCELLED! What? We have only been here a year and a half, but the schools have not been cancelled due to snow yet. Due to "expected blizzard like conditions" all schools were closed for the day! My kids were THRILLED!! I was just sad I hadn't known earlier and slept in!! It started snowing around 8:00 and didn't stop until about 4:30. Around 2:30 we decided to get all of our snow gear on and head up to a school pretty close to our house with a big hill---good for sledding! It was FREEZING outside with the wind blowing at about 20 mph, but we braved it since we haven't had a really good snow this winter yet. The boys were excited to snowboard and Annalisa loves to sled down the hill with Ben. After Ben and Annalisa would get to the bottom of the hill I would hear, "How are we going to go down this time, Daddy? On our backs? Stomachs? How about we go down backwards?" She was so excited and loves to try new things! Cole snowboarded pretty well and only fell a few times! Ben also snowboarded....pretty good for an old man! Jacob found a new way to snowboard....he SAT on the snowboard and sledded down the hill on it. It was pretty funny to watch because the snowboard was so skinny under him! He did stand on it a few times down and did a really good job with it, but he preferred sitting! After about an hour of sledding we got back in the Pilot, headed home, changed into warm clothes and drank hot chocolate!! What better way to end a day of playing in the snow?

EDGE

When I got home from work on Friday there was a letter waiting for me on the kitchen table. I opened it up and read it.....here is what it said:

To the parents of Cole Newton.
Congratulations! Cole has been accepted to Horizon Community Middle School's EDGE program for the 2009-2010 school year. EDGE is designed to provide a rigorous challenging curriculum for our most intellectually talented and highly motivated students. Students in EDGE receive advanced placement in language arts, math, social studies, and science and are placed on a team with students of like-ability.

Based on teacher recommendations as well as qualifying test scores of Proficient High to Advanced on the spring 2008 CSAP in reading and math and/or High or Very High test scores on the district's winter MAP tests for reading and math, your son/daughter qualifies for Horizon's EDGE program.

Then there was some more information about a summer class they will be offering the students for a week to get used to being in middle school without all the other students being there.
We are so proud of Cole and he is very excited also. They didn't even interview Cole (which was supposed to be part of the acceptance process) because the counselor told me his test scores were so high they were just going to accept him without the interview! WOW! Way to go Cole--and I guess Ben and I can take some credit too since we have helped him and raised him! I just can't believe my first born will be starting middle school in the fall!

Monsters!

I can clearly remember being 10 years old and scared that someone was hiding under my bed ready to grab my ankles when I put a foot to the floor. I would jump off of my bed as far out as I could...supposedly farther than their arms could reach should they try to grab me. I also would make my bed while sitting ON it instead of standing BESIDE it. Once again, I didn't want to give the person under my bed something to grab onto! I know that I never really thought through the whole thing logically.....I mean who would wait under my bed for HOURS at a time just to grab my ankles and pull me under? Wouldn't they get hungry or have to go use the bathroom? I never thought about those things--I just thought that someone was there. Now I have Jacob, my 9 year old son who refuses to sleep without this "night light" that was given to him by my mom a few years ago for Christmas. It looks more like a TV screen and it shows the planets in space going across the screen. It pretty much lights up the whole room, and last night I asked him why he even uses it since he wraps himself up like a mummy when he sleeps---head to toe wrapped up! He is in complete darkness inside his blankets, so why the "night light"? He said that he has to turn it on because the monsters are scared of the light. Really? So I asked him, "Jacob, when was the last time you saw a monster?" He matter of factly replied, "Never...because they are scared of the light." (Duh, MOM!) Ok then....point for Jacob. I said, "Well, Jacob you haven't seen any because they don't exist." He then said, "Well, you can believe that if you want to, but I don't believe it." Ok then....so when Ben went down to tell them good-night I told him to tell Jacob about all the monters that live in his room! I bet that helped! I just think it is so funny that kids get these things in their heads that they believe to be true and then scare themselves silly over it!

100th Day of School

I think that the 100th day of school is probably the MOST fun day of school for all kindergarten and 1st grade students out there. This past Wednesday was that day for Annalisa. She had to make a vest out of a grocery bag and decorate it with 100 things. She used my stamps, stickers, and markers to draw hearts and circles. It took her a while to get 100 things on it, but when she was done she was proud of the finished product. When she was at school she made glasses that are the number 100 and a decorated hat. Here are a few pics of her in her 100th day ensemble.