Easter Weekend

Chris was working all of Easter weekend but he did have a little break Saturday evening so we decided to take a bike ride through the fields and then into town for some gelato.

 

When we got home Emily discovered that the Easter bunny had come into the downstairs family room through an open window and left baskets and colored eggs all throughout the room.  Ryan got Harry Potter.  Katie got a stuffed dog and the new Sharpay movie.  Emily got a stuffed dog and the ‘Ramona and Beezus’ movie.  Megan got a stuffed rabbit and a collection of Mercy Watson books.  Luke got a Backyardigans DVD and new crayons.  Matthew got 2 new board books.   My flash and I were not getting along too well tonight… too bad the Easter bunny didn’t hide the baskets in better lighting.

 

 

Jumping

On Friday the kids asked to jump on the trampoline with their bathing suits on and I said, “OK” without a moment’s hesitation.  They stood there shocked for a minute before looking at each other and starting to squeal.  The weather has been just beautiful this month. I wasn’t sure it was warm enough for freezing cold water on the trampoline but I thought I’d let them figure that out for themselves.  We don’t have a sprinkler so they just pulled the hose up on the trampoline and either held it or just let it bounce around and spray them.  The water was freezing cold but it didn’t stop them from having a great time.  They bounced and bounced and bounced…

… and then, when the laughter finally died down, I found this.  It must be great weather if you can suntan in April.

School Conferences and Tulip Picking

Thursday morning I took Ryan, Katie and Megan to their student-parent-teacher conferences while Chris spent the morning at home with Emily and the little boys.   Emily’s teacher just conferenced with a few students… so she didn’t need one.

Megan’s was first at 9:00.  Her fabulous Kindergarten teacher had planned a Teddy Bear Tea Party for all the girls in the class and their Moms.  She showed me some recent work, read to me (and her bear) and then we decorated cupcakes.  We’ve been so lucky to have Ms. Erickson for Kindergarten.  She’s seriously amazing.  Megan loves school and is one of the best little readers in her class. 

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At 9:45 we dashed upstairs to Katie’s 5th grade open house.  Katie’s teacher, Ms. Ryan is an amazing teacher as well (and is retiring this year).  She takes tons of pictures of the kids and then puts them in files on the class computers and has taught them all how to import photos into different programs.  She works hard to help the students produce finished projects and books they can be proud of.  They are constantly cooking, or building, or creating.  She’s just great!  { In our first parent-teacher conference of the year, Ms. Ryan introduced herself to me, sat down and said, “I want to tell you something about Katie.  She’s remarkable.  In all my 41 years of teaching I have not met a student like her.   Not only is she academically smart, hard working, confident and kind, but I get the sense that she really KNOWS who she is.”  She congratulated me for raising such a wonderful daughter while I tried hard to keep back the tears.  When I went home I told Katie and Chris what Ms. Ryan had said about her and I did cry. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives to give us purpose and direction.  I’m amazed and grateful that a teacher could tell that from just a few short months of knowing her. }   …Anyway, this time Ms. Ryan mentioned that Katie is an excellent writer and should continue writing as much as possible.  I read her most recent published book about a girl who plays Soccer and I was thoroughly impressed.  We ate muffins… (that Katie’s class had baked for us the previous day) and then drove across base to Ryan’s Middle School.  { I can’t believe Katie only has a few more weeks of Elementary School.  Next year she’ll be in Middle School with Ryan!! She’s too young for that!}

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Ryan’s conference was completely student-led.  His teachers had done a great job helping the students prepare for this event.  As soon as we entered the room Ryan introduced me to his teacher and his teacher to me.  He then showed me to our computer station and asked if I’d like any refreshments.  He then went through a list of things to show me.  We discussed things, wrote some family and individual goals for his education and then he showed me his recent work which was all carefully attached to his personal Web page through the School’s program.  It was extremely impressive.  I love the interaction between his ‘team’ of teachers and the way they integrate the computer into every subject.  Word has it that he’s gotten the best ‘team’ of teachers, and I’d have to agree.  His language arts teacher is especially incredible.  Ryan’s on the Principals Honor List for straight A’s and A+’s.  His favorite subject is Language Arts because of the teacher, but he really excels in Math.

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After a morning full of conferences we drove home but stopped at a near-by field to pick some tulips.  I’d seen people picking here before but didn’t quite know who to pay so decided to stop and figure it out when I didn’t have the little boys.  We parked and walked over to the little fields where we found a German sign saying 60 cents for 1 blume.  Attached below was a locked metal box with a slot for coins and a few flower cutters.  Perfect.  We headed into the fields to pick our own bouquet.  The tulip season is just about over so we they were pretty picked over.  Next year I’ll stop earlier.

    

Then we headed out across the street to take a picture of the view that I’ve been admiring for a month.  Every time I drive anywhere I see these huge fields of bright yellow flowers.  It’s simply gorgeous.  I especially love this field with the village behind. I love Germany.

Easter Eggs

After soccer practice, dinner and baths we hurried to color some eggs before bed.  These four loved it.  No fancy decorations… just the basics.   Fun stuff.   We used our colored eggs to make deviled eggs for Easter Dinner.

Cars

Luke and Matthew both love playing with their cars.  They have a car mat downstairs that they love but sometimes they just like to bring all their cars into my room and play on the floor beside me when I’m on the computer.  They definitely like putting the cars in rows and creating major traffic jams.  On this day I asked, “Luke, where are all those cars going?”  Without even looking up he responded… “BYU.”

Delft

Wow… lots to catch up on, but I figured I should at least finish Holland before we take off for Venice.

Our last stop in Holland was visiting the quaint old town of Delft.  Like all cities in the Netherlands, Delft was full of canals and bridges. We passed over a large bridge and walked into the main market square of Delft.

 

Delft has two main churches.   “The giant, Gothic New Church boldly dominates the town from it’s prominent position overlooking Market Square.”   It was giant… and too tall to get the whole picture…

While in the market square we ate gelato, let Matthew and Luke chase pigeons, window shopped, looked for postcards and examined the gables of the buildings using Rick Steves handy guide.  We also had fun examining all kinds of cobblestone.

 

  

Chris got a hot waffle drizzled with chocolate sauce and ice cream.  So good.

 

Delft is famous world wide for it’s ‘Delftware’… blue and white Dutch pottery.

After awhile we walked the few blocks to the ‘Old Church.  “Inside are the tombs of two local boys: Johannes Vermeer, Golden age painter and Anton van Leuwenhoek (who invented the microscope, then used it to discover bacteria)”.

   Coming from behind, and standing underneath we couldn’t tell that the Church’s tower was LEANING, but we could definitely tell as we walked away and looked back.

 

        

     

  

Inside another Cathedral in town…

 

We found another pair of huge wooden shoes… (my favorite yet) and everybody wanted their picture taken.

         

         

      

 

Luke always pulls out a ‘scary face’ when I get my camera out.