Fun Saturday

Saturday April 25 2009 was the 3rd Annual Sesame Place day for children with Autism which was sponsored by Variety - the Children's Charity (Philadelphia, PA) and what an awesome day we had. The boys were a little hesitate about going because they were big boys and not preschool kids. When I told them we were going they thought about Big Bird, Elmo, and all the other characters and they would be the only 11 year olds there among all the preschool kids. My daughter jumped on the idea of going (after a lil' white lie had to be told). There was such a wide variety of ages one didn't even realize we were at an amusement park geared toward the younger generation. The temps made it into the high 80's and the water rides were open which made this trip much more enjoyable (although the water was colder than ice if that is possible). We only made it on one dry attraction and the rest of the time was spent in the water park. The clip above was actually suppose to be still photos. I took the pics thinking they would be still photos not realizing my daughter had her camera set for video. After a few editing techniques in Windows Movie Maker, I was able to pull all the 'pictures' together.

What is even better is we get a return trip free of charge through June 21. I am excited to return as are the kids as the water hopefully will be much warmer.

Happy Easter

The boys were excited to see that their baskets had surprises in them when they woke up this morning at 7. It is getting tougher to take pictures of them -- one saying this morning -- don't take a picture - my hair is sloppy, I need to go get dressed. So at the moment only a pic of both boys while digging thru their baskets. I did happen to come across pictures from when they were 4 years old and just wanted to share what 7 years can transform into.


Easter - 2002


D - Easter 2002


D - Easter 2009

M- Easter 2002


M - Easter 2009

Easter Bunny is coming!

The Easter Bunny, in case you’ve been living in a cave, on Mars, with your fingers in your ears, is an anthropomorphic, egg-laying rabbit who sneaks into homes the night before Easter to deliver baskets full of colored eggs, toys and chocolate.

And just how did the Easter bunny come about.

If you go way back, though, the Easter Bunny starts to make a little sense. Spring is the season of rebirth and renewal. Plants return to life after winter dormancy and many animals mate and procreate. Many pagan cultures held spring festivals to celebrate this renewal of life and promote fertility. One of these festivals was in honor of Eostre or Eastre, the goddess of dawn, spring and fertility near and dear to the hearts of the pagans in Southwestern Germany. Eostre was closely linked to the hare and the egg, both symbols of fertility.

As Christianity spread, it was common for missionaries to practice some good salesmanship by placing pagan ideas and rituals within the context of the Christian faith and turning pagan festivals into Christian holidays (e.g. Christmas). Trying to get more pagans to turn their faith around to Christianity.

The Eostre festival occurred around the same time as the Christians’ celebration of Christ’s resurrection, so the two celebrations became one, and with the kind of blending that was going on among the cultures, it would seem only natural that the pagans would bring the hare and egg images with them into their new faith (the hare later became the more common rabbit).

The pagans hung on to the rabbit and eventually it became a part of Christian celebration. We don’t know exactly when, but it’s first mentioned in German writings from the 1600s. The Germans converted the pagan rabbit image into Oschter Haws, a rabbit that was believed to lay a nest of colored eggs as gifts for good children.

Oschter Haws came to America with Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in the 1700s, and evolved into the Easter Bunny as it became entrenched in American culture. Over time the bunny started bringing chocolate and toys in addition to eggs (the chocolate rabbit began with the Germans, too, when they started making Oschter Haws pastries in the 1800s).

END OF LESSON: TEST NEXT WEEK

Boys are snoring away – and they better continue for a long time since it is only 3:30 am. And I believe I better get myself to bed so I don’t scare the Easter Bunny away. And yes, we left carrots and water for him to refresh up before he goes hopping into another home. Be back soon with pictures.

Sorry for the history lesson. Just couldn't sleep and needed something to do.

Happy Easter to all!

April Fool's Day

Ok, so we are four days into April and the 1st has come and gone. But the memories I have of this April Fool's day in previous years are so vivid. I escaped this year with no pranks - a few jokes from the boys - but now relieved as on the 1st I walked around literally on egg shells waiting for a prank. By the way, M continues to joke each day trying to fool us - his understanding is it that APRIL Fool's Day is all month long - each day has to be it because all days are in April.

The first memory that comes to life - and I mean come to life - as I can see, feel and smell this prank. You will understand the smell part in a minute. We were living in NC at the time and my two older kids thought it would be so cool to prank mom out. They set up this prank the night before to catch me off guard first thing in the morning. But the morning was much earlier than all expected. I woke up around 2 am with the worse stomach cramps. Rushing to the bathroom doubled over, I sit down on the jon and expel what was causing the cramping. OMG - but unknowst to me the toilet was saran wrapped and all that SHOULD have dropped and mixed with the water in the bowl was now mixed all over me. I am sure C and J would of loved to see my reaction - well maybe they wouldn't have cause my demeanor wasn't something they would of liked. The smell was notorious - showering at 2 in the morning wasn't what I expected especially when not feeling well. I am sure this prank will never be topped - but then again, I won't put it pass C and J to try something else.

I have this serious sensory issue (if you want to call it that) with cotton balls. I CAN'T stand them, the feel - the sound of rubbing it together etc. I will go to all lengths not to touch it if I can. But that didn't matter to my dear neighbors in NC. They went to all lengths to cover my top sheet of my bed with cotton balls and remake the bed so I wouldn't notice. That night as I readied myself for bed I threw back the covers and I am not kidding - there had to be hundreds of cotton balls that needed to be plucked from my bed. I can still see myself freaking out to this day. I visioned myself having to remove each cotton ball one by one just to get to sleep. I started removing them with a pair of tongues (what you use to grab hotdogs with) but then realized it would take probably all night long to toss each one into the trash. I decided to just shake the sheets out and vacume them up. If I remember right it was over a month later that I continued to see a cotton ball here and there - kind of like those Christmas tree needles we find 6 months later still scattered throughout the house after the tree came down. That is how it was with the cotton balls. I vowed never to buy cotton balls again!

Paybacks are hell -- someday .........