Week in Review, 3/31/2013

Alleluia!  He is risen!

I hope you had a blessed, wonderful Easter Sunday.  Ours was great, and even a little relaxing.  But more about that in a bit.  Looking back, here are the highlights from our week:

I mentioned it in a post a couple of weeks ago, but my camera course started Monday!  I will likely be posting many more pictures here in the next ten weeks as I try to practice, practice, practice.  So far we have just been getting our feet wet, becoming accustomed to sharing our work and being on a study schedule. 

The real work starts tomorrow.  I already appreciate the push to get out there with my camera, though.  I am carrying it everywhere, and even though I haven't worked up the nerve to take it out all the time I am taking a few more pictures than before.

The boys had a successful trip to Orlando for the band and chorus festival.  The middle school chorus took second overall at the festival, which they were quite excited about.  I was excited to have them back home.

Last week, winter held us in her grip for one last lousy week.  By Tuesday it was only in the low 40s for high, with tons of wind, and that was the day that Darcy and her class went on a field trip to the Explorations in Antiquities center.  If you are within a couple of hours of this little museum I would say it is worth coming to see.  They have recreated several living situations from Bible times, both Old and New Testament, and their guides have tons of information they love to share.  The kids love it but it was just so darn cold!

Darcy and her friend wearing head scarves, just like shepherds in the desert.

Cooking bread over a fire.

Don't let the sunshine fool you--it was cold!

I got to make a little detour on my way home from the field trip to check on my new kitchen cabinets.  Here's one:

I was so excited to see it!  Right now, though, I've been packing up the kitchen like crazy and I'm just worn out.  My main thought right now is, "This better be worth it!"

We didn't have school on Friday, so Paige had her sweet friend Anna come over and spend the night on Thursday.  We attended the Maundy Thursday service at our church and then went out for ice cream afterwards. 

The next day the girls slept in--actually, everyone slept in--so I snuck off to Pilates from a quiet house.  They were almost as quiet when I got back! I wouldn't have believed it, but somehow we really need this break.  We are tired.

The girls helped me do some counter shopping (literally--we looked at counters for the new kitchen) and then we did a little shoe shopping.  Both girls have graduated to wearing the very smallest women's sizes.  That has made shoe shopping so much fun!  We took a detour by Bill's office and then headed home. 

Friday night was the Good Friday service.  The service ends with these words in a bare, dark, quiet sanctuary:  "Behold the life giving cross, upon which was hung the salvation of the whole world."

Saturday Jack had a track meet.  In spite of being there AT THE SINGING OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM we missed his first event.  GRRRR.  I have no idea how that happened.  Later we got to attend an Easter Egg Hunt at a friend's house--tons of kids!  Tons of eggs!

And then we all went out to dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday at a local Japanese restaurant:

Happy Birthday, Dad!

What a great day.

Finally, we got up this morning and headed off to church bright and early to get our Alleluias out of the box.  My absolute favorite part of celebrating Easter as a Lutheran is saying Alleluia over and over again on Easter, after taking the word out of our vocabulary during Lent. 

We had a long, relaxing, yummy lunch at my mom and dad's, but since I've just uploaded those pictures from the camera I'll just leave one for now:

Now I just have to finish packing.  Changes are coming.  Everything in the kitchen should be removed tomorrow.  Oh, here's a couple of updated pictures of the laundry room:

Have a great week!