HOME{WORK}

Our two year old has homework.  Seriously. HOMEWORK.

I thought take-home assignments started at the 4 or 5-year old age range.  Nope, I was wrong. 

Bright Magic Markers make homework fun. 
I've started employing this tactic in my office work too.
Makes me happy.  Not really sure what my coworkers think.
Oh well.

 
Obviously, her homework isn't exactly applied mathematics or 3-D physics projects or anything incredibly perplexing. But she is now responsible for bringing home legitimate-for-REALZ-honest-to-goodness-hard-copy-paper-assignments that must be turned in to her teacher.

She gets a folder every Monday with assignments in it.  She/we are supposed to work on them and return the completed assignments the next Monday.

So far the hardest part has been us (the parents) having to remember to actually put her completed work back in her book bag.  There are some very important things I can count on our two year old to remember... but remembering to put her homework in her book bag on Sunday night is not one of them.

 

I can do this, dad. I know I'm supposed to circle ten of them.
But I'm going to do this my own way and make it pretty and very colorful in the process.

Her dad and I have been helpful , but mostly hands-off in the process:  We give her the sheets, read the directions to her, let her do the work, and then sit back and watch while supplying a little bit of guidance along the way.

And by "hands-off," I mean that we are doing a good job at resisting the urge to grab a crayon/marker/pencil and doing it ourselves after repeating for the 200th time, "Draw a straight line to the green dragon holding the square shape, not the pink dragon holding the rectangle shape."

She's TWO!! She's not going to draw a line towards the green dragon; she's going to draw a line towards the pink dragon because she happens to like PINK a lot better and the pink dragon has a cool set of wings and the lime green dragon is kinda sad looking.

And I know that she knows the difference between a square and a rectangle.  

Just last week she informed me that her waffle was an octagon.  In my early morning pre-coffee stupor,  I stared blearily down at our plates and realized that yes, the waffles were in fact octagon-shaped instead of the typical round or square variety we usually purchase or make in the waffle iron. 

Every time she takes off in her own direction, I have a flashback to one of my favorite car ads from the 90's:

A little bit here, a little bit there. And... PERFECT!
Jackson Pollock ain't got nothing on this.

Looks good to me!

Abbott has homework too.
His assignment is to learn to eat solid food.

No problem with solid foods here.

Homework? What's that?

Is it like aerobics?
Because I like aerobics!
LEAN to the LEFT!

Now stretch... and lunge.
And swing your arms!

And now, for your final move...
lock your legs nice and tight
and then drool a little bit!

There ya go!
Workout complete!

EQUINE ENTERTAINMENT

Next time you play hide-n-seek, be glad you're not a horse.

Hi!! Are you ready to play?
Huh huh huh?

Okay, here are the rules: You count to thirty.
With your eyes closed. Then try to find me.
Come on, do it.  I'm waiting!

Seriously? I see you peeking! Not fair!

I'm coming for you now!
You can't get to home base without going around me. 
Nah nah nah nah!

Shoot. This cover doesn't work.
I'm not as thin as I used to be.

You don't see me. You don't see me.
I'm blending with the tree.
La, la, la, la, la. Nothing to see here.

Uh..... you do see me? Dang it!
Quick, horse jokes to distract you:
Where do horses stay in a hotel?
In the bridle suite, of course!
What is the best type of story to tell a runaway horse?
A tale of WHOA!

Hey! You with the camera!
Now I'm coming for YOU, ya punk. This is MY pasture.
No hiding from me!

EASTER PICS

In your easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady in the easter parade.
I'll be all in clover and when they look you over,
I'll be the proudest fellow in the easter parade.
On the avenue, fifth avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your easter bonnet,
And of the girl I'm taking to the easter parade.

- Mr. Irving Berlin

Evie didn't have an Easter bonnet, but she certainly had an Easter basket. Two Easter baskets to be exact... and she filled them both to capacity quite a few times this weekend!

 

Coach Neal giving her pointers on hunting
strategy, the importance of maintaining a serious game face,
and how to outwit/outlast the other toddlers.

Good form, little lady!

  

The hopping bunny was captivating.

But not captivating enough for this guy.
This bunny was a tired little bunny.

Is it sad when the toddler outlasts
the adult in managing to keep her dress clothes on?!

Look, no hands!!

I have no idea where she gets it from.

Hmmm.... let's think about this.

All cleaned up and looking sharp.
This happens about once a year, so you better believe
we grabbed a picture of it while we could!

IT'S A CHOCOLATEY WEEKEND

We have quite a collection of chocolate bunnies in our house right now.  Some have already met their demise and have been gobbled up, some have a few parts missing, and others are still safe in their packaging.

And no, we haven't waited till Easter to open them.  Oops! 

There is a cute Peter Rabbit bunny on our kitchen table that I'm hesitant to open, simply because I love the Beatrice Potter story and I'm slow to decapitate such a friendly little bunny face.

Right now, Evie mainly associates Easter with the idea of egg hunts and chocolate goodies. The concept of Christ dying and being resurrected is an almost impossible topic to convey to a 2 year old. (I'm not sure I'm doing the best job of it.)  

We had a quick discussion about the meaning of Easter a few days ago.  Like most toddlers, she loves a good story and enjoyed listening, but I'm pretty sure it will be a while before she truly grasps the idea. I'm open to suggestions if you have any!

I did a bit of research online the other night and stumbled upon a French Easter tradition that I thought was not only fun and appropriate, but might open up a door to other biblical stories that she would enjoy. (This tradition may not be only limited to France, as I have seen some other European countries have similar confections.)

Unlike the typical chocolate shapes sold in other countries, the French have quite a diverse selection of goodies -  including church bells, hens, and little Easter Fish called “Fritures de Pâques” that all have roots to a biblical story in some fashion. 
 

The “Fritures de Pâques” are called “fritures” (fried whitebait) because of their fishy shape and are often filled with friture - a mixture of little chocolates shaped like seafood like mussels, oysters and shrimp/prawns.



Of course, the fish symbol is one that we associate with Christianity. You would think it would be easy to find chocolates in a fish shape here in America. Nope, not so easy, as I have found out recently!

Bells are also immortalized in chocolate of various kinds, especially for Easter. Tradition dictates that no bells are rung on Good Friday or Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil. 

Legend says that the reason for this is because the church bells went to Rome to be blessed by the Pope and returned, loaded with eggs, on Easter Sunday. The eggs were then scattered in gardens, which explains why Easter egg hunt tend to take place outside on a lawn or garden area. 

I wish the chocolate fish and bells would catch on here in America. Or maybe they already have and I haven't found the right place to purchase the chocolates? I'd try making them myself, but that could be quite the unholy mess!

Either way, I'm inclined to make chocolate fish and bells a new Easter tradition in our house.... if I could just find some!

   Up from the grave He arose; 
 with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
 He arose a victor from the dark domain, 
 and he lives forever, with His saints to reign. 
 He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

I have a feeling we'll be singing this during the Sunday service... since it's already an Easter tradition!