amelia meets the bumbo seat!

bumbo. meet amelia. amelia. meet bumbo. the bumbo seat first entered our home back when ethan was a (very chunky legged) baby. his legs were so fat that he really didn't fit in it that well! when i'd go to pick ethan up out of the chair, the whole seat would come with him! haha! i know we used the bumbo with caroline too, but i never got around to blogging about it... things were kinda nuts back then! :) anyway, i got the bumbo out for amelia to try a couple of weeks ago. i think she liked the new view, though she was wondering where in the world her friend Mr. Ceiling Fan had gone... so she kept kicking her head over to try to look up. totally defeating the purpose of the bumbo, of course! :) i put a throw pillow behind her head, and that seemed to help her get used to holding her head up. ethan and caroline thought that amelia in this seat was the greatest thing ever! they really are so super sweet with her. even when they're in her face. they're at least very lovingly in her face. ha!


you gotta LOVE this look that amelia is giving caroline.
she knows that girl is up to somethin'!


"mom, i'm getting tired of this seat!"


"just kidding! i love it!"

more everyday fun around our house to come!

praying for stellan today!

we're wearing orange and praying for stellan today! this five month old miracle baby is undergoing heart surgery as i type this. join his precious family and millions around the world who are praying for stellan today...

update (around 1:15 CST): stellan made it through his surgery! praise the Lord! keep praying for his recovery...

excited!

my mom is ready to start working on amelia's quilt! we went fabric shopping a couple of weeks ago, and i cannot wait to see this quilt! my mom has patiently endured my endless chatter of "i'll know what i like when i see it", and i think she has a good idea of the quilt in my head. i saw this quilt on etsy a while back, and it looked pretty easy to make. (which is so easy for ME to say, since i'm not the one making it!) so my mom will be making a quilt similar to that one with different fabrics, and it will be much bigger than the etsy quilt. the fabric with the children playing will be the focus fabric, which i did steal from the etsy quilt. and then we're using a hodge-podge of fabrics from the high end quilt store down to walmart's $2 a yard stuff to make all the stripes (see image to the right). my mom will also be using fabrics with a history- i love these! there's gingham from my childhood desk chair, stripes from ethan's quilt, flowery fabric from caroline's quilt, and even some scraps from friends' quilts my mom has made (kristy, do you see the green plaid from your high school t-shirt quilt?!). she will bind it with the same navy fabric from caroline's quilt so that the girls' quilts will somewhat coordinate. all three of the kids' quilts are vintage-looking primary colored quilts. ethan's and caroline's go so well together, even though caroline's is totally girly and ethan's is all boyish stripes. so amelia's will hopefully go right with theirs while having a different look, too! what a special gift these quilts are to my children. i have quilts hanging in amelia's room that were made by my great-grandmother and grandma, and i treasure them. i have no doubt that one day, my grandchildren will admire the loving work done by their great-gram! i can't wait to admire this one myself...

i love this girl...

...but she is growing up way too fast!

resurrection rolls!

after easter lunch, the kids and kristie and i gathered around their little picnic table at nana's to make resurrection rolls. i didn't get pictures of every step, but you'll get the general idea.

each child gets a triangle of crescent roll dough. the dough represents the linen cloths that Jesus was wrapped in.

dip a marshmallow in butter. the marshmallow represents Jesus and his sinless life, and the butter represents the oils of embalming.


dip the marshmallow in cinnamon & sugar. this represents the spices used to anoint the body. (we just poured ours on!)


wrap the coated marshmallow TIGHTLY in the crescent roll. make sure you bring the sides up & seal the marshmallow inside. this represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death. (very important to make it tight!! we had marshmallow oozing out...)

place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 mins. the oven represents the tomb. pretend like it was three days!


when the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN! the marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.


the kids were excited to see "what was in their roll" when it came out of the oven. they were shocked to see that it was empty! just like the tomb! (ok... so this picture is totally staged... but they were shocked!)


here's karina checking ethan's roll one last time to see if anything's in there...


ethan thrilled on making the resurrection rolls, just as i'd hoped he would! caroline and karina were somewhat interested but were more along for the ride... i'm guessing that next year, the girls will be pretty excited when we try these again. next year, i think we will make these for breakfast on good friday. doing it after easter lunch was not ideal because the kids were tired, and they were also more interested in the cake & cookies for dessert than these rolls! ha! so i can see these rolls being a great way to start off easter weekend. i am sure next year i will be searching my blog for this post so that i can remember when i said i was going to do them. :) (that's the beauty of blogging... back-up memory when the real thing fails you!!)

another plus to this activity is that these rolls taste delicious! they are pretty much like cinnamon rolls, since the marshmallow serves as the icing (very important in my book!). file this recipe away for next year, and add this activity to your easter traditions. your kids will love it!