Extraordinary Easter

I love Easter weekend!

And so do my kiddos.  It makes my heart smile when we do our traditional activities and they love it so much!

Leonard's colleague, Vanessa made these yummy and pretty treats for us.

The Easter Bunny also brought lots of candy bars to the kiddos on Saturday morning.

They may not have gotten any chocolate bunnies or peeps, but they did get some Mars,

Bounty,

Snickers,

Milk Chocolate Kit Kat,

White Chocolate Kit Kat,

 

and 5 Star bars!

We went swimming for the second day in a row (I love swimming year-round!  And I love having my family home on Good Friday!).  I snuck back upstairs a little earlier and hid 150 eggs around our apartment.

Ali was so excited during the hunt.  She told me, "I love it.  I love it!"

I couldn't find jelly beans, but the kids loved the Skittles inside!

Next we colored eggs.  We didn't have any dyes, but I think we loved using markers so much more!  I challenged the kids to color all of the white on the shells.  Check out the hot pink one, that is some of Ali's work!  All of the kids did a great job!

We finished the day watching It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

All throughout the day Teague told me he made a list of all the activities and after we did each one he'd say, "Check!"  Leonard's response was, "He may look like me, but he is so your son."  Yes, he is!

Sunday morning we got dressed up in our fancy Indian clothes to go to church.  Unfortunately, Noé started feeling sick so we had to leave after Sacrament meeting.

Our dinner was a lot simpler than the Easter feasts we're used to, but it's probably the closest holiday meal we've been able to have here.

We finished the meal with some cupcakes from the bakery.  Little birds nests, carrots, and red bunny bums, ha ha!

We also had our traditional Family Home Evening on what Easter is all about.  I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  His death and resurrection means that EVERYONE will be resurrected someday.  He conquered death!  His atonement means that EVERYONE can be forgiven of their sins.  Repentance is a privilege, not a punishment.  He conquered sin!  Hallelujah!

Spirit Week

Kaleb and Noé had Spirit Week at school and dressed up each day.

Pajama Day-

(Noé's shirt says, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light." ~Albus Dumbledore)

Sports Team Day-

We're not really sports jersey wearing folks, or even sports watching folks for that matter ;).  The kids wore their school shirts, Go Eagles!

Twins Day-

These guys have twins day every day, but they're fraternal...

Noé and her friend Metha dressed alike with their hair down and wore silver hoop earrings, gray shirts, and black pants.

You can't tell from this picture, but Julius could be Kaleb's German doppelganger!!  They dressed alike, but didn't get a picture together.  I've asked Kaleb to take one before school's out though.  Their friends call them twins, and even the office staff gets them mixed up sometimes!

This day was Formal/

Casual Day-

They dressed up "formally" up top, but then kept it "casual" down below, ha!

After school one day they had a water fight and played Holi.  Noé participated in the water fight, and Kaleb came home quite colorful after playing in the water and Holi powders!

With his friends Rianka and Jason.

And another one with Ria.

I had so much fun in High School, I'm glad my kids are too!

Arts Festival

The kids' school had a celebration of the visual and performing arts.  It was a fabulous event!  I LOVED seeing all of the paintings on display, but I was completely drawn to these selfies inspired by the work of Sandra Silberzweig.

Here is Kaleb with the statue Bolt that he made with 4 of his friends.  It is inspired by Ju Ming's sculptures.

Here is a mini sculpture, Kaleb made to keep as well.

As an art student, Kaleb got to submit multiple pieces to the exhibit, including Tina (a sketch of his friend Tina).

An experiment in light.

For the Things They Carried exhibit (inspired by the refugee crisis) Kaleb drew his baby blanket and said, "I have traveled a lot, moving house to house; new place, furniture, the like.  However, I have always had this blanket with me.  A piece of home."

Noé worked with 6 friends to create Nana, based on Niki de Saint Phalle's sculptures.

She also made a mini one to keep.

Bolt and Nana became fast friends.

Noé is also an art student and got to display more of her work.  Here is her Lipstick painting inspired by Michael Craig Martin.

She drew a necklace charm for the Things They Carried exhibit and said, "This is my Young Women medallion.  I got this necklace when I turned twelve.  The motto that goes with this is 'Stand for Truth and Righteousness.'  We (my church) believe we are daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love him.  I would take this because it reminds me of the promises I have made."

Here is Gavin with his Sandra Silberzweig inspired selfie.

I want to have each of my children make one!

Here is Teague with his Vincent van Gogh inspired vase of flowers.

Hiram had fun making his snail and caterpillars.

Ali loves making artwork at home.  I can't wait for her to paint an elephant like this one day!

Kaleb performed with the band; Noé performed a black-light skit with glowing ping-pong balls and her drama class; Gavin sang with his grade; Teague sang with his grade; and all of my boys performed in the big fabulous ending- three songs from Les Miserables!  (Hiram performed in an assembly for the pre-kinders, kindergartners, and first graders earlier in the week.  They sang Castle on a Cloud complete with hand motions, so precious!)  With the tunes of Little People, One Day More, and Do You Hear the People Sing? in our heads, when we got home we watched Les Mis and bawled our eyes out.  It really was a fabulous day enjoying the arts!

Yellow Peas

I love when my honey gets to take field trips for work.  In his words:

Yellow peas... so many yellow peas. All the way from the prairies of Canada to the docks of Mumbai. Just like me.

Three scoops per bag.

This is one of the barges they use if they need to remove peas from the hull of the huge vessels before they dock.

Tonnes of peas.

(Yes he is a Canadian speller!)

The blurry thing in his hand is the sewing machine to seal the bags after they scoop them full.

Beauty and the Beast

For Noé's date we took her to lunch at Jamie Oliver's Pizzeria, and then to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie.

It was a beautiful movie, but I must admit I was a teensy bit disappointed.  The live-action Cinderella added so much to the story compared to the animated version.  I was hoping for the same thing with this story, but it pretty much just followed the animated one.  It's always memorable going to the movies in India.  I love that they play the national anthem before each movie starts, and the audience stands in respect.  I also love all the food you can get!  Every movie has an intermission half-way through, so Len got us caramel popcorn to enjoy (they also have salt and cheese flavors, yum!).  I do love a good love story!  And beautiful costumes, sets, and songs just make it more magical!!

The Threepenny Opera

I was sad that I didn't get to watch Noé dance this year, but as a student in the drama class she had a part in the high school musical.  As a member of the jazz band, Kaleb also was a part of it.

The band members wore these yellow t-shirts, black beanies, and round sunglasses.

My darling daughter played Coaxer (one of the 5 brothel workers).  I must admit that I was disappointed that this story was chosen for the musical.  When I was in high school we did Fiddler on the Roof and The Music Man.  There's so many better musicals out there (in my opinion), but it seems everyone in "showbiz" always chooses cynical over inspirational, blah blah blah.  Noé actually wore a black dress with a white feather boa, but she couldn't bring the costume home so I never got good pictures of her in it.

These two fight all the time, but I know they really love each other!

Would you believe that Noé was a quarter inch taller than Kaleb when they were born?  She was, but now he's a head taller than her!!

There were 16 actors, 20 band members, 7 crew members, and 6 staff.

Kaleb plays the tenor sax now, but played the alto sax for the musical.

My little girl all grown up.

Watch out Ryan and Sharpay, there's new twins in the musical world!

They performed for 3 nights.  Len watched the first night, and I watched the second night (when the big wall of the set fell down, doh!).  Len was supposed to watch them closing night, but had to work late and just got there at the end.  Of course, that was the best night!  Luckily, that was the night it was filmed so we can watch it at home.

I may not have liked the play that was chosen, but I'm still proud of Kaleb and Noé's hard work in being a part of it!

Max's 4th Visit

Max always seems to come for a visit when Teague needs a hair cut, ha!  This time they were asked to write an "opinion" piece in Max's journal.

Max Likes Pizza

by Teague Reil

Max thinks the pizza crust should be soft and crispy.

Max likes extra sauce on his pizza.

Max thinks the cheese should be melty and warm.

Max doesn't like any other toppings.

Max thinks hot, cheesy pizza is the best.