Frogs, Lice, and Flies, Oh My!

This year we are teaching the girls about Passover, and what that meant for the Israelites in Bible times. If you are ever interested in teaching your children, or even your self for that matter, about the biblical feasts and holy days there is a great book by Robin Sampson and Linda Pierce "A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays". It contains a wealth of information and many, many fun activities that help children learn. One such activity is "The Ten Plagues Adventure". Ten days before Passover you begin to creatively act out each of the ten plagues. They give a lot of fun suggestions to try. Here is what we have done so far...

Day 1: River turned to Blood

Here is Moses on the left negotiating with Pharaoh on the right. The Egyptian little people look on as the Nile River is turned to blood.

Day 2: Frogs

The girls had a lot of fun with the frog plague. We cut out green paper frogs and stuck them all over the house. Throughout the day, whenever anyone unexpectedly came across a frog, it was their job to shriek, "Eeek! A frog!", and then run away. There were a lot of little girl shrieks on day 2. :)

Day 3: Lice

We used white rice to represent lice. We taped a few grains of rice "lice" to each girl's arm. Whenever it itched the girls were reminded of the lice plague.

Day 4: Flies

For the flies we used removable dot stickers. We drew fly shapes on each sticker and then put them up all over the house, even in the fridge and cupboards.
The girls are having a lot of fun acting out the plagues so far. I don't think they will have a hard time remembering what the 10 plagues were when we're through.

A Walk To The Ice Cream Store

Yes, Spring is finally here and what better way to welcome it in than with a family stroll to what we affectionately call "the ice cream store". We have been taking this walk since Emma was two. Sometimes the girls ride their bikes. Sometimes they walk to the ice cream store with Daddy on a special father/daughter date. Going to the ice cream store is one of the girls' favorite things to do.
Now that Emma is on a dairy-free diet we have to improvise. We order a banana with strawberry syrup and sprinkles. She brings some dairy-free cookie crumbles and chocolate chips from home and adds them to her yummy creation. I have ordered this myself and it is quite good. This time around I went for a double scoop of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Triple Chocolate Truffle. Mmmm.
Elsie was just too cute with her Cherries Jubliee junior scoop. After we finish our ice cream the girls love to look at all the decorated cakes in the display case. They each pick out their favorite and count down the days 'til their birthday. :)

Happy Spring!!!

Megan's Adventurous Park Day

It started out as a lovely day at the park. It was sooo warm. We met some of our Keepers at Home friends there and the kids were having a great time playing. Then someone suggested a walk and going down to the pond to look for tadpoles...Do you notice how dark the water is in the picture above. It is dark because that pond is not filled with water but with fish, and tadpoles, and gunk and green slime. I am serious. You can not see even an inch below the surface. You might also notice where the water covers the path just before the small dock. The kids were brave and waded through the water covered path. Then Megan took one step too many in the direction of the pond and fell in. Over her head! The poor girl. She is my princess who does not like to get dirt under her nails. The fashion queen who is so picky about what she wears. One of the older brothers who was along quickly pulled her out and there she stood dripping, and crying, and filling the air with the most horrible stench. Mrs. Honeywell was kind enough to loan Megan her sweater and since Katie had pants and a shirt under her dress we were able to put that on Megan as well and pull off her wet slimy clothes.

We managed to finish our walk before we headed home for a hot bubble bath with extra bubbles.
Here are some pictures before Megan took her dip in the pond...

This is the group finishing our walk.
Everyone wanted a turn sitting on the warm rooster before we said goodbye.





Next time I'll be prepared with an extra set of clothes and a plastic bag. :)

Elsie's Birthday

Sweet Elsie turned two on the 14th. She very excitedly says, "twooo, twooo" when you ask her how old she is. She really enjoys the pool so that is where we had her birthday party. It was a very fun time with family and friends.





Happy Birthday Elsie!!!