Easter Preparations

Sometimes I can get so caught up in life (and every other year, due date preparations) that when Easter is over, I'm frustrated with how I didn't personalize it and I don't feel like I fully took it to heart exactly what Christ did for me. But after hearing my son pray a week ago and in his prayer he pretty much preached a sermon (which, by the way, he has decided he wants to be a minister when he grows up so that he can read the Bible and tell everyone about Jesus) about Christ's arrest and crucifixion for our sins. It made me wonder if there was something I could do to help him to better appreciate the celebration of Easter and not include too much of the commercialization we see in the grocery stores.

Last year you may recall we did natural-dyed Easter eggs...

This year. since he is older and comprehends quite a bit more, I wanted to focus on the meaning of Easter (and not have quite the mess)... but still make it fun.

I've seen those resurrection eggs around, but I'm kind of cheap and thought it'd be fun to make my own, especially since I have plenty of plastic eggs in our house. I'm storing them in an egg carton, but leave them out in a fun little Easter basket.

Courtesy of Laura P, we did the jelly bean story (something he was looking forward to since potluck at the beginning of the month) and then made a little book (something I did when I was a kid) so that he could remember the colors and their meaning later...

Resurrection Rolls... he was super-stoked about this one after having a Mommy date to get the ingredients for it (pictures to follow after we make them Friday) :)

And although the above is good for young children, I wanted something that had a little bit more "meat" in it for me. And my current book review assignment fits that pretty well. One Perfect Life, by John MacArthur, blends Scripture to take you through the life of Christ, from Genesis and the reason for His sacrifice on the cross, to His physical birth, life and death here on earth in the Gospel accounts. Though a large work, I am thoroughly enjoying reading this "biography" of sorts, and appreciate the commentary (taken from his study Bible) on the bottom.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

So it's my man's 30th birthday today... I can't believe he. is. so. old. ;)

And of course, in the normal humorous fashion of the way things work in the doctor world, he is on call, and the boys are both sick and whiny. So much for celebrating!

He thought he lucked out by not having to worry about any surprise parties on his part.

Not that I'm good at surprises anyways.

Or Liam for that matter. If you use the word "secret" in the same sentence as anything else, well, he will go straight to the next person and tell them the rest of that that sentence. :P

So I had to keep my mouth shut. And trick my son too. And not use the word "secret" or "surprise".

And well. It worked. :)

I asked Liam what he wanted to get Daddy for his birthday. He said a "puzzle game". Hmmmm. Probably a bit self-gratifying since Liam loves to do puzzles with his Daddy. But hey, I asked.

And he wanted to make a picture for his Daddy. So that got me thinking...

So I bought two posterboards... remember, I had to trick father AND son... and I let him and his brother get to painting. Liam wanted me to draw a sealife scene. So this is what they did.

Aiden did the top part. Can you tell? He lasted about 15 minutes, before he decided the water bowls were a lot more fun.

We did it while his Daddy was in Montana. It took two days. And unfortunately his Daddy called right after one of our painting sessions. And Liam told him what he was doing.

Good thing I had two posterboards... I let him start painting the second. Left it on the table for his Daddy to see so he would be none the wiser. :)

And then while Liam was napping, I sadly chopped up his creation. I was going to cut it into 30 pieces, but after seeing how small they would be, well, I opted for 24 and cut some of the second posterboard.

Good thing I got two posterboards, huh?! Score one for Mommy intuitiveness (or the Spirit's leading)...

And I stamped them. Shoved them in envelopes with a little letter, and let Liam stamp the outside of those (he already knew I bought "lots of stamps to mail cards to people", so there was no point in keeping that part a secret).

And we mailed them.

And during the month of March, thirty letters from thirty men influential in my husband's life started coming back to him (with a couple sisters and mother included).

It was actually kind of cute. The first postcard to arrive was from his brother Timothy on the 5th. He was confused as to the backside (picture) of the postcard and remarked that Timothy must be taking an art class at Purdue. Nevermind the fact that his name and address are in my handwriting...

two days later, when he got a couple more he figured it out. But it was still fun to see him wonder who I had chosen.

Surprise!! :)

** And for those who are reading my blog that were not chosen... it's not because you have not played a role in my husband's life. It's the fault of his social Bahler personality that made it hard for me to limit who I chose. If he had known, I'm sure he may have chosen a different set of 30 individuals to hear from. But he didn't. And I did. And I had to try to make sure I got a good selection from all the places he's ever lived to keep him guessing once the surprise began.

Oh. And he also got a cake. Liam insisted almost 2 months in advance for a guitar cake. Yikes. How am I supposed to make that?! So here was my attempt... I had envisioned it being larger (but cutting it out of the 9x13 pan caused for quite a bit of trimming- I thought it would make a perfect Veggie Tales gourd cake too...), but it was still plenty to celebrate with Craig and Rachel when they came up to visit last weekend (Joel didn't tell me it was soon to be Rachel's birthday too-- though in his defense, I guess I do have the Bahler birthday list...). The sides of the cake had chocolate frosting, and the top was mint, my husband's favorite (though the coloring of it made me psyche out and crave caramel).

And can you believe I only snapped a couple of pictures from the weekend? Pretty pathetic, I know. But we were so delighted to have their family up and loved spending time with them-- including trips to IKEA (for them, and somehow Joel still ended up with a bookcase...) and Trader Joe's!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Two little boys

and their little family were sent a special little present from Papa to get a little picture to "send" to Nana for her birthday...

Happy Birthday!!!

You know your Son's Daddy is a(n ortho) Doctor when...

- he corrects you as you sing "where is thumbkin" by telling you your "pointer" is not actually a pointer finger, but an "index finger".

- he walks around the room with a flashlight shoved in a snow boot, informing you it's his tibia.

- he brings you his father's model pelvic and leg bones, and then points out the acetabulum, sacrum, pelvis and femur. (I didn't even know there was a part of your body called the acetabulum...)

- he uses his wooden blocks to build "x-ray machines" so he can look at people's bones

- you walk into your son's room after his quiet time is over to see a couple stuffed animals belted to a board; he informs you that they were hurt, and he had to strap them there while they go to the hospital so they don't get more "owies" from moving while injured

- although you try to avoid him seeing too many scary things during the Halloween season, you don't have to worry about skeletons, because he actually gets excited, remarking about how those places like bones just like his Daddy does


and of course, he automatically assumes that if his Daddy isn't with him... well, "he's at the hospital". Such as when we went to dinner with church friends while Joel was in Montana, and they asked about Joel, he replied "my daddy is in surgery right now"... :)

In the morning

... when Liam goes to "get his brother", you never know what you will find upon entering the room.