Musical and Relay for Life

It's been awhile since I've posted and that's because we've had our share of things going on! The musical Dan's been working on costumes for finished up last weekend and was a good success. He is glad to be done with all of the responsibilities associated with that and we are glad to have him home more in the evenings again. The Relay for Life golf scramble was great--we had perfect weather and a total of 16 teams participating. We were able to raise more than last year as a team for the American Cancer Society. The Relay Night was the following weekend and was also a good time, except for the cold weather (40 degrees here is cold!) which shut everything down at midnight (it is supposed to go all night). Dan brought the kids over and they enjoyed playing with their friends who also attended and eating outside under the tents. Last night, Micah had his Pre-K spring program which had an 80s theme. Micah dressed in "Miami Vice" style with a polo shirt with the collar turned up, khakis and loafers and a sweater wrapped around his shoulders. He also sported sunglasses for one number. It was pretty cute! I will post pictures of that later. For now, here is one from the show and one from the golf scramble:

Here is a shot from the musical, Hello, Dolly! You can see Dan's fine costuming skills!

All of the scramble participants!

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Dan is 35! We had a little celebration at home since he's pretty busy with the show right now. I made his favorite cake right now--the "ding-dong" cake from Honeycomb Restaurant. It didn't look pretty, but it tasted pretty good.

The weekend brought some great weather and good times with friends.On Saturday we attended a birthday party for one of Micah's friends. He's the son of Dan's coworker and the other guests were also mutual friends, so it was good to relax and enjoy the sun, which we hadn't seen all week. We enjoyed a quick, but nice, visit with friends from our old home, Corinth, MS, on Sunday. They came to delivered some rented costumes from the theatre there for Dan and had lunch with us before returning. Micah and I bought some breaded okra at the store because he thought he was chicken. He didn't care for it, but Jacob was quite fond of it. I guess we will be adding that to our menu at home. I think if I tell Micah it's chicken and put enough ketchup on it, it'll be a winner ;-)

An Easter Celebration

The Easter Bunny made his rounds!

Checking out all of the goodies

"Hmmm, aren't I a little too young for flash cards?"

"Which one should I eat first?"

"Tsk, tsk, rolled up sleeves? It's Easter, bro! Shoulda gone with the tie, like me."

Ready for church!

Happy boy!

Jacob enjoyed his flash cards...a little too much.

We had a lovely Easter. The boys hunted for eggs at the church party on Saturday and then for their baskets on Sunday morning. They enjoyed the goodies, we went to church and then we shared a meal with some friends at our house. The weather, which had stormed all morning, cleared up and the afternoon was so nice we spent some of it playing the backyard.It's important to us that the kids understand that there are other reasons, besides eggs and bunnies, to celebrate the holiday. But it is hard to explain crucifixion, death and resurrection in kid-friendly ways. It's an odd juxtaposition. We chose to focus on the new life aspect, that Easter is the celebration of spiritual life and awakening that we have through Jesus. It is easy to see that in the way all of the world seems to come alive in the spring--and we are in the middle of that here.

Micah got his staples removed yesterday and all went well. I took him out for doughnuts afterwards  and the doctor let him keep the staples so he could show all of his friends :-) Unfortunately, he won't be able to play in his last soccer game this weekend, but I think he is already looking forward to playing in the fall season. Jacob continues to cut all of his eye teeth. As you can see in the photo above, nothing is spared in his quest to bring the toothies to light!

April is going to be a very busy month for us. Dan is in the middle of costumes for the spring musical at OBU. There are over 200, so it's overwhelming. He is also turning 35 tomorrow! I am helping to plan a golf scramble for 100 people as a fundraiser for the Relay for Life and then the following weekend, our team is participating in the annual Relay for Life Relay Night, so we've got lots of preparations for that. We have to figure out summer plans for Micah when he is out of school. And Dan is getting ready for a three-week stage combat workshop in Illinois. Thankfully we will have grandparents visiting during that stretch, both before and during. This weekend we are having guests from Corinth, MS visit. So we are full up! We always say that April is that month that makes us especially glad for the slower summer months, and that is certainly true this year.