Easter Sunday

We took lots of Easter pictures today. Bracken was busy, so Taylor and Morgan took their turns on the camera which was fun for them (and maybe funny for the rest of us viewing the pictures). I was assured by their Sunday school teacher that they knew the whole Easter story before the lesson even began, so I guess they have the real meaning figured out at least for today!

Taylor had to wait for Morgan to wake up this morning before they could hunt for eggs in the living room. I'd put some on the ground for Jordan, but she just laughed and clapped for the other two girls.

Easter Egg Hunt!

On Wednesday night at church, the children's minister asked who knew the reason for Easter. Both of my kids raised their hands and I got a little nervous. :) Morgan, the 3 1/2 year old, was called on first and she said it was about Jesus. She left it at that, so Taylor got called on next. She said, "Don't forget about hunting for eggs!" Well, not exactly what the leader was looking for. So, we went over the meaning of Easter again today before hunting for eggs.

Last year, Morgan was scared of the Easter bunny, but she went right up and asked for her picture to be taken this year. Since it had snowed yesterday, the turn out was a little lower than last year. The girls filled their baskets full and then stuck a couple of eggs in their pockets too. It is fun that they are starting to recognize some of the "friends" from preschool. Taylor and Brennen decided to team up and work together to get eggs (they didn't actually, but it was nice that they talked about it).

Bracken held Jordan the whole time, so she didn't get in on the pictures, but she did enjoy watching all of the kids. I'm including one of her 9 month old pictures. She has 2 teeth now.

Why?
There was a little girl who rode the bus to kindergarten every day. Being a school bus, there were older kids, 3 boys in particular, who liked to pick on other kids. They regularly surrounded one other little girl's seat and hit her on the head (when the bus driver wasn't looking of course) until she cried. Finally, one afternoon on the ride home, the first little girl sat in the seat that the picked on girl usually sat in. As those giant 4th graders surrounded her, she had the courage to speak up. She told them that she'd noticed how mean they were and that they could hit her as much as they liked, but she wasn't going to cry. They did hit her. Her lip quivered a little, but she held her little head up and didn't cry. She smiled at the other girl as she got off the bus at her stop. At least for that year, those boys left both girls alone.

How does a 6 year old come up with the courage to do that? Why did she even think to swap places with the other girl?

Sometimes I get down about the state of the youth in our society. But, there is always hope!

Circus time! We enjoyed a Saturday morning at the circus this past weekend. Taylor and Morgan enjoyed it so much and I was amazed at how long their attention spans lasted. With intermission, the circus was almost 3 hours long and we got there almost an hour early too. Taylor rode on an elephant (Morgan got scared at the last minute) and Morgan went down the big slide. The girls were sad that I didn't buy them any of the toys the vendors were selling. I tried to explain to them what a rip off they were, but I'm not sure the kids could understand that.

After we'd been home and cleaning, Morgan began collecting all of the change she found laying around the house. We put it in a baggie to save for Sunday school the next morning. On the way to church, Taylor suggested we put some in Sunday school and save some for the "circus next time to buy some of the toys". Much to my chagrain, the girls told their teacher that they weren't putting the money in the offering but were saving it for the circus! So much for explaining a "rip-off". (Really, they had light saber plastic swords for $13!!!) Well, they put the money in the Sunday school offering after church after yet another lecture from me. I doubt they have learned anything from this yet, but it was kind of a funny incident.

On a semi-related note, I've just been given the book Water for Elephants to read--supposed to be really good and takes place within a circus setting. I just finished reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult--wow. As a mother there are so many things you hope for your child. The books lets you in on how the mother of the girl who "has it all" feels but also how the mother of the boy who takes a gun to school feels. I think it is a pretty realistic portrayal of high school. It makes me want to be sure to reach every student in my classroom with some little bit of kindness. I wonder if some of my students are being picked on so much that they dread going to school. . . How will my happy little girls deal with the school experience? I pray that they will be able to stand up for those that are weaker than they are.