Resurrection Tree

I don't know if anyone else who reads this that has young children can relate to this, but in our family, we keep developing traditions and try to see what different ways we can teach our children and make special times, well, special!

I think Easter has been a harder one for us, in some ways. We have baskets for the kids, and we talk about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; but we have yet to think of a way to really celebrate the entirety of Passion Week.

Until now...

Since today is Palm Sunday, we are going to go find our own "palm"... really just a branch. On every day this week, including today, we are going to hang different ornaments on the branch that represent a different event or aspect of this week leading up the the death and resurrection of Christ. I drew pictures of a palm branch, money sack, cross, empty tomb, grapes and bread, a torch, and a wash bowl representing different stories. Norah and Haddon colored them, and I'll cut them out and get them ready to hang on our Resurrection Tree. It's kind of like advent for the Easter season.

I just wanted to share this idea with anyone that might read this, especially if you're struggling with making this time of year real to your little ones. I look forward to developing this tradition in our home, and how it will illustrate the greatness of Christ's sacrifice for us. A very sweet resource that I refer to a lot is Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions. I would encourage you to pick up a copy as you try to think of ways that your family can glorify God in your traditions.

Have a blessed week as we reflect and anticipate the celebration of Christ's taking the punishment for our sins, and conquering death, giving us life in Him.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Haddon Modeling

We were recently at Old Navy, and Haddon wanted me to take some pictures of him with my phone while his mom and sister were busy shopping. He had some interesting ideas for poses. Take a look:





Then sister came back and they tried on some shades:

Dinosaur Daycation Part 2

Sorry this took so long to post after part one, but I already showed these pictures to my mom and I doubt anyone else reads this. Either way, here goes...

After going to OMSI, we drove over to the Rose Garden to see the show Walking With Dinosaurs. It was a good, fun show, and I would recommend it even though it's a bit pricey. Also, if our kids were a little older, I probably would have had to debrief them a bit more after the show regarding all of the evolutionary/old earth dogma, but since they're 4 and 3, I don't think they processed too much of it. Overall, it was fun, though. Here are some pictures. We didn't get all that many since they didn't allow flash photography...

This is before the show started. We got there early and took our seats.

I don't know why Norah was making this face.

This is the stage when the lights were still on.

Haddon observing:

Norah waiting patiently:

H wanting to use the camera. "My turn, my turn--peeeeaase!"

The lights went down and the show started.

This is the only photo I took of any of the dinosaurs, but there are some videos following this if you're curious what the show looked like.

Haddon got very upset during intermission when his mom left him to go to the restroom.

The kids' grandma gave them some money to buy a souvenir at the show. They each picked one of these dinosaur hat/mask things. They were both destroyed by noon the next day.

Haddon liked his so much that he wore it into Red Robin for dinner after the show, which a lot of the workers and customers got a big kick out of.And here are some videos of the show...

Haddon enjoying his theater-style seat:


Stegosaurus fending off a predator:



Mother brontosaurus finding her child:



Two triceratops facing off:



More dinosaurs:

This is Haddon watching the show. He was pretty dialed in:

So that's it. It was a fun day and we were grateful to enjoy it. The kids still talk about, so we know they appreciate having been able to go as well.

Tomorrow...

**Update** The test will be on May 20th now because I am so sick and couldn't take Haddon up today. We'll let you know how it goes when we finally get up there.

Eventually we'll share with you all the second half of our daycation, but I wanted to share a quick word on what will be happening tomorrow.

It's not like I know all that will happen tomorrow, but I do know that at about 7 in the morning, I will need to load our son into the car and head towards Portland. We will be going to a clinic where he will be evaluated further, specifically looking at if he may be autistic. I will admit, that I would rather be going straight to Doernbecher or OHSU, but to Kaiser we will go first. And depending on what I think of how they did, we'll go on from there.

Today we're hoping that a relaxing day at home will help us to be ready for tomorrow. I have a wicked cold that has made me uber-congested, achy and all that junk. So I'm home sick from all the day's activities and hope that the kids will be kind today- to me and to each other!

Please pray for us as we seek the best for Haddon. No matter what he is labeled or not labeled with, he is the same dear, sweet boy. He's funny and smart and a pure delight to have in our family. We would not change him for anything, but we will do everything that we can to help him grow.

"Day-cation" Part 1

Yesterday we went on our family "day-cation" (as Kelly called it), a one day extravaganza of fantasticality. After church we headed to Del Taco for lunch. Tacos are one of the few things Norah will eat, and Haddon will pretty much only eat fries at restaurants, so it's a good fit. After that, we headed up to Portland to visit OMSI for a couple hours. Here's how it went:

The big new attraction at OMSI is "Samson," one of the most complete T-Rex skeletons in the world. Here's Norah posing in front of Samson's skull (this is the real dinosaur skull they found):

Here's Norah in front of the entire assembled skeleton (w/ replica skull):

Here's one of Kelly and the kids in front of the skeleton:

Here I am with Norah:

And here's Haddon's commentary on the dinosaur skeleton:



They had some other dinosaur paraphernalia as well:


Here we are taking in some sort of presentation on planets:

The kids touched a snake and were able to see some other small animals as well:

Haddon was impressed by the "pirate" skeleton:

The kids tried putting on a puppet show:

Here's a taste of Haddon's "jibber jabber," which is becoming less frequent as he keeps learning how to talk better and better:



After that we went downstairs to the space exhibit. Here's Norah in space:

Here's a thermal family portrait:

Here we are inside a multimedia presentation on galaxies. The kids look more fascinated than they probably actually were:


I was happy to see this silhouette of an X-Wing on the wall of the space exploration exhibit:

Lastly, we took in a show at the planetarium before leaving:

After we were done at OMSI, we packed into the van and headed over to the Rose Garden Arena for the second event of our day. It was much cooler than OMSI, and we'll fill you in on it in the next post...

Sweet Face, Funny Face

Samuel Scott Lute

We're pleased to introduce you to the newest Lute...

Sam was born on February 3, 2010 at a whopping 5 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches. Welcome sweet Sam! We're so happy to have our new nephew and cousin!