what's up weekly. (Juni is Seven!)

Last weekend, Todd and I checked out a nearby antique mall in our hunt for a leaded glass window (my request for a birthday present).  While we didn't find what I was hoping to, we did come home with a couple of treasures - a salt crock and a pink depression glass butter dish.  I just love it when functional things can be pretty.

On Sunday, our neighbors came over asking if we knew anything about taking care of baby bunnies.  The rain had washed out a nest, and all the baby bunnies had ended up in their yard.  Their dog discovered them, and by the time they got down to them, only one was still alive.  They were worried if they tried to take care of it, the dog would kill it, so they sent it home with me.  I didn't have high hopes, and I told the kids not to get their hopes up - wild bunnies don't usually survive long in captivity, but we could at least try to do what we could.  The kids named it Hazel-rah, from Watership Down.

This is a photo of me, not getting my hopes up.  Ignore the very unflattering shot of my neck skin and focus on the teeny bebe.

Long story short, it did well for about twenty-four hours.  I fed it milk from a pipette from our science lab equipment, I snuggled it in a shoebox next to a hot water bottle.  It survived the first night and even woke up more alert and moving around more than it had been the previous day.  I started to feel cautiously optimistic.  Then, after dinner, I checked on it and it seemed much more still and subdued, and its body temperature had dropped pretty significantly.  I tried snuggling it under a blanket on my chest to warm it up, but it kept getting colder and it gradually died there.  Sad, but it was a good experience for the kids, and we knew we did everything we could for it.

They buried it in the woods behind our house. 

In happier news, Lalie seems to like Victoria magazine.

On Tuesday night, we hosted the Elder session.  I got the deck looking a bit springy.

On Wednesday, Juni turned seven! What a sweet, loud, funny, scrappy girl she is.  She is always dirty, always covered in scrapes, always getting into mischief.  She loves taking care of babies, she is doing so well in school, she has a lot of friends at church, and she is just a joy. 

Juni made an offhand comment that she wanted Todd to dress up like a clown for her birthday, so we ordered a clown wig and he surprised her.

Knox, looking fat and happy and a little disheveled.  This boy is such a chunk.  Remember all that time I spent worrying and praying over how small he was, how he wouldn't grow?  Well, all those prayers went straight to his hips and he is now far and away the chunkiest toddler to ever waddle around these parts.

Juni got roller skates and a support network for her birthday.  When I told Todd I ordered her a pair of skates, he said, "Just what Juni needs: another way to fall down." Ha!  This girl is many things, but "kinetically aware" is not one of them.

The traditional birthday group hug from the siblings - even the babies got in on it this time!

For her birthday treat, she requested to go to the Sonic playground for dessert.  We invited a few church friends to join us, too!

Before we left, everyone sang Happy Birthday to her, which she loved.

That was our main news of the week!  We are trying to cram as much school in as we can this week, before we take next week off.  I usually need a week in April to take care of some yard stuff, swap out seasonal clothing, etc.  But we only have a few weeks of school left to do after that, so I'm hoping to get done with as much as possible before going on break so we can finish the school year a little earlier than planned.  And then we're freeeeeee for summer!  (Well, until summer school starts, but that's different.)

what's up weekly. (every photo ever taken is in this blog post

I've made a huge tiny mistake.

I didn't post last week because sorting through photos took too long and I just wanted to get to bed.  But now I still have just as many photos, and a whole additional week besides.  Plus, I still just want to go to bed.  What was I thinking?

Anyway.  Let's fly through the news.

Two weekends ago, we celebrated Belated Chinese New Year with my side of the family.  A couple years ago when I was pregnant with the twins, I was craving my mom's wontons SO BAD.  No one makes wontons like my mom's - it's not like I could just order them for delivery or something, and they're pretty labor-intensive so they're best to make with help.  So we decided to have a Chinese food party, where we all got together to roll egg rolls and wrap wontons and gorge ourselves on fried food and stir fry.  And the tradition has stuck for the last few years!

Super Cousin Fun Time!

Chats with Aunt Lauren

Chats with Ya Ya.

Chats with Austin.

I promise we all did stop yapping and get around to eating eventually.

This is the good stuff right here.

Lolo took the opportunity to write a book.  NBD.

After we ate, Finneas opened birthday presents.

The following week was Holy Week.  On Maundy Thursday, Todd followed through with his annual tradition and washed everyone's feet and prayed over us.

Lolo is so ticklish!

Eulalie was hovering next to every single kid while they got their feet washed.  She was fascinated.  You could tell she thought it was so cool.

Then Eulalie crawled right up for her turn.  She was so excited.

Knox, in observation mode.

"I guess I'll try it."

"This isn't so bad, I guess."

"I'm just going to lean back and completely enjoy my foot massage."

Then Lalie got up for a second turn.  That's how much she loved it.

On Good Friday, Todd took the day off work and he took a few of the kids up to help with the annual pig butcher day.  A family at church raises hogs, and if you go and help butcher them, you get your meat at-cost.  It's a pretty nice arrangement!  We know how our meat is raised and killed, the kids gain practical skills, they spend the day working alongside our church family, and we get a great deal on meat.  Win-win-win-win.

Atticus and Finneas each got a clean kill-shot the first try, which I had prayed about and was glad for.  

On the first day, there wasn't a whole lot for the younger kids to do.

Though it looks like Lolo found something messy to put her hand to.

Then, totally switching gears, we had a cheeseboard for Good Friday dinner.  After the younger kids and I were in bed, Todd and the teenagers watched The Passion of the Christ.

The next morning Todd and the kids were back at the farm, cutting and packing the meat.

We got a whole pig, and a part of a second pig.  We got over a hundred pounds of ground pork, a side of ribs, some bacon, and plenty of lard and bones.  Glad it's all in the freezer! 

The next morning was Easter morning!  Some families from church met down by the river to sing Psalms at sunrise.  The babies and I stayed home, but Todd got the rest of the kids up and out the door in time to be there at 6:30.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

We had bagels and lox for breakfast and then got dolled up in our best for church.

Lalie got her first ponytail!

What's fancier than wearing a bowtie?  Having your personal twinsistant straighten it for you.

He looks like an old timey Southern lawyer who's just gotten a call to come get the mayor's boy out of a legal pickle.  Not again.  He puts down his glass of sweet tea, folds up the paper, and hoists himself out of his porch chair...

After church, we had a cheeseboard for lunch. 

Penelope organized a surprise Easter egg hunt while I put the cheeseboard together.

Oey found the golden egg!  All that means around here is she found the only egg stuffed to the brim with jelly beans.

Setting the table for dinner.

Once the babies were up, Penelope took them out to do their own private egg hunt.

Then it was dinner time!

After dinner, we all watched Risen.

And that was it for our very busy weekend!  This past week was just full of school work and a big grocery trip.  We are one week away from a school break, and then we only have three or four weeks after that - we are getting so close to the end of the school year!

When I got back from grocery shopping, I discovered the kids out in the garden with our neighbor, Chuck.  He and his sister Paula have lived here since they were born seventy-odd years ago!  Our lot used to be part of their farmland, which has all been developed now, so our neighborhood has grown up around their house.  They own the grassy lot behind our house and they always let the kids play back there whenever they want, which has been a huge blessing, and this year they asked if the kids would want to help them grow a big garden!  So that should be a really fun summer activity.

They planted radishes and beets on Wednesday, and it rained last night, so I'm guessing they'll start to see some little seedlings here in a couple of days, since radishes germinate so quickly.  We'll see how straight their planting lines ended up.

And that was allllllll the news!