Our Purim Play

Purim celebrates the salvation of God's people from the wicked Haman, through the brave leadership of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. Purim takes place on the 14th day of Adar, the 12th month of the Jewish calendar. We decided that we would put on a re-enactment, in order to become even more familiar with the story AND to have a good time. Granted, 1/4 of the cast had laryngitis and we are all pretty bad actors...but hey, it was a time to remember! For some reason, the camera uploaded our video in 10 separate scenes, so viewing can be a bit tedious.

Happy Anniversary

Anniversary wishes a la William Tell Overture.

Tea with My Aunt, The Queen

My Aunt Swede recently had my girls and their favorite friends over for a tea party. Moo, Belle, Lydia and Audrey all enjoyed drinking their tea from fancy tea cups and eating lovely finger sandwiches, yummy fruit and dainty desserts.

Here the girls are posing with Aunt Swede. Audrey is a couple years behind Belle, and Lydia is just a few months younger than Moo. Moo is on the short side and Lydia is on the tall side and has recently gone through a growth spurt, so it is funny to see them side-by-side.

Moo was so excited about the tea party that she couldn't stop smiling.
But then again, she generally has a hard time not smiling.

Belle felt all fancy in her handmade hat and shawl.

This little one is growing up so fast--ack! I can't stand it!

Lovely Lydia...what a nice conversationalist this young lady has become.
She kept my aunt, my mom and I thoroughly entertained!

Group shot, just the girls.

Silly pose before their friends arrive.

Fancy hat, huh? Yup, it's mine from several years ago...never wore it, now its been taken over by the little tea partiers in my home.

Thank you Aunt Swede, for a lovely day! We love you! ;)

2010 Cabela's Fieldtrip

For those who love the great outdoors--whether as a hunter, climber, camper, fisherman, hiker, or whatever your stripe--Cabela's is a paradise. My dad has talked about bringing the girls there over the past year, but it finally happened just into the new year. All four of us were able to go with my folks and my nephew, Drew. We had a really nice time. There are tons of exotic stuffed animals (taxidermy victims, not the "Build-a-Bear" variety), a laser shooting range and a sit down restaurant where you can order an elk burger, ostrich sandwich or other wild game on a bun.

Sleep Under

Moo recently had a sleep-under at a friend's house (we don't do "sleep-overs", but have found that 97% of the fun can be had between the hours of drop off and a 9 or 10:00pm pick up--and NONE of the next day crabbiness on the part of overtired kids and parents. Woo hoo for sleep-UNDERS!).

Anyway, these two goofy girls documented every minute with Diana's camera. Just thought I would post the fruit of their silly labor:

Regarding the Law given at Sinai

"We should not think of them (God's commands given at Mt. Sinai) as rules imposed by an impersonal government. They are more like the wedding vows joyously taken by a blushing bride on her wedding day. If we understand the Torah as a ketubah (wedding contract), we see that it is far more than an ethical system or a moral list of dos and don'ts. Instead it functions as the sacred marriage covenant between God and His people."

~A sweet "Thought for the Week" from FFOZ.org