"Little Women" Family: Easter 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

Easter 2012

We started our Easter celebrations, on Saturday, with an egg hunt over at our friends' house. (They happen to live in our neighborhood and in our ward. We have a lot of fun together.) It was Calyssa's first real egg hunt and she seemed really interested in the whole thing, even before she realized what was inside. Once she realized what was inside, she actually lost interest... well, at least until she ran out of candy, then she ran to find more. LOL! The girls had a lot of fun, as always. After all, what isn't fun about running around finding colored eggs full of candy and other surprises.

Later that evening, we went back to our house to decorate eggs and watch, "Hop." And we even invited a few extra friends along since their parents had to work.

That night, we even had a visit from the Easter Bunny!!! :)

On Sunday, the girls spent the morning finding their special color of eggs and baskets. The Easter Bunny even left a few special surprises for me! :)

After church, we had a quick, typical ham Easter dinner and then were off to Grant's performance, "Lamb of God," by Rob Gardner. My Dad came over for Easter dinner and went to the concert with us. (I had seen it the week before by myself, which helped me enjoy it with the kids and not get frustrated with the younger ones.) The oratorio was all about the Easter story of Christ, which was so perfect for the spirit of the day. Rob Gardner was truly inspired in the words and music of this production. Led by the amazing Erin Guinup (who happens to be my voice teacher), the full orchestra, choir of 100, and each and every soloist did an absolutely incredible job!!! I especially enjoyed Grant's role as Peter. He sang right before and after he denied Christ. Immediately following the denial, he sang, "What have I done, denied him? What have I done?" It was a very powerful and moving song and quite possibly my favorite performance I have ever heard Grant sing. I had never really thought about Peter so much before. Talk about regretting a decision/mistake! Wow! I was so thankful that I had the opportunity to attend both nights and wished they would've had more performances. Grant did, however, purchase the songs on I-tunes, which I listened to over and over and over for weeks because of the incredible spirit which it brought into my life and into my home. For a long time, I couldn't get through it without crying because it is so powerful. If you ever have a chance to listen to, attend, purchase... "Lamb of God," by Rob Gardner, you will not regret it. I just can not say enough good things about him as a composer.

In our Easter clothes (except Grant, who took off his suit to change into his concert attire. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of him in it because he looked hot!!! I will have to do that sometime!! Also Aurora's dress got bubbles spilt on it, so she wore another new dress of hers.)

My Favorite Part of The Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 17:21-24

"21 And when (Jesus) had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them."

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/17

To learn more about The Book of Mormon or to get a free copy: http://www.mormon.org/book-of-mormon/

Our homeschool program!!

My style of homeschooling is "public school at home." We began homeschooling on our own, the 1st year. Then we were enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) for 3 years. Now we are enrolled in ORLA. Our girls are taking several classes at an Elementary School that is no longer used for a typical Elementary School. Instead 450 homeschooling students (K-12) take classes there with certified teachers (you choose which ones and how many) but you do have to be at the school with them until they are 12 (in another room with toys for the younger kids) or sign them out to a friend. Then you fill in the rest at home. For example, my girls take Music, Art, P.E., and Science at the school 2 days a week and then I teach them Math, Language, and History at home, on the other 3 days. The school also pays for an additional $300 a year of curriculum (like the Math, Lang, Hist.) We do have to keep up with a certain number of hours per week. We also have a "home room teacher" that helps us with everything, like deciding what extra things to do at home and making sure we don't miss anything. We are really enjoying this program-- it truly is the best of both worlds! If you have any questions, email me. :)