April foolishness

Very early on Tuesday morning, a couple of pranksters in our home decided to make some mischief in the spirit of April Fool's day.

The notes say:
"Talk about a bad hair day"
"Are you really going to wear that?"
"Yikes!"

Note to pranksters: If you're going to play tricks and take pictures, you should make sure you can't be seen in the picture! :)

This is what they did to their little brother's room....

He was not especially happy to wake up to the mess, but brightened at the news that he would not have to clean it up.

Methinks some girls have too much time on their hands...

Elijah's 7th Birthday

It's official. I've been begging and bribing for weeks now for him not to turn seven but he did it. He's seven years old.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy:

We celebrated with a gathering of friends and family on Sunday afternoon. His birthday theme choice this year was dinosaurs.


Here is my attempt at dinosaur cake. I am sure my sister in law, who makes incredible cakes, will be amused at my cheesy plastic dinosaurs and the fact that the cake is still in the pan, but Elijah loved it and it tasted good.

He got lots of nice gifts. More books for his "library" is always a great thing. A person really can't know enough about sharks.

This is a Webkinz. I didn't know much about them, and neither did Elijah, but they are "virtual" pets that you care for on the internet. Elijah named this frog "Spot" and he LOVES him!


Since our residence above the funeral home is pretty small, we usually have our parties downstairs in the chapel. Some people find this odd, but it's just what we're used to. His sisters decided to make use of the register stand where service information usually is.

Each birthday my children celebrate has a hint of bittersweetness to it. Time passes so quickly and their childhoods seem to be rushing by in a blur.

With my older daughters, each birthday has seemed to be an end and a beginning. As they mark off another year, they leave behind more and more of their "little girl" lives, but they do not depend on me any less. My training of them is still just beginning as I try to help them transition from girls to young women. Even when they are wives and mothers themselves, I will have opportunities to mentor and advise them.

However, I am not sure that will be the case with my little man-cub. He will obviously still need me for some things, like academics, meals and laundry. But I see my role in his life changing. If he is to grow up to be the kind of man I hope he will be, he will have to break away from my influence more and more and look to his daddy for guidance. I can teach him many things, but I cannot teach him how to be a man.

So as he blew out those seven candles, I felt a little lump in my throat. He's growing up. The day will come when he will not need me anymore. He may certainly love me, respect me, honor me even, but he won't need me. And he shouldn't. I want him to grow up be a strong, independent, godly man, who leads and disciples his own family. But it hurts just a little. These moments just go by so quickly.

Tarentella

This morning, Katie participated in a music competition at the University of Illinois. She played "Tarentella", a big piece that she has worked hard on for a very long time. We won't know the result for a week or so, but she played very well and should be proud of her performance no matter what.

The sound is not great, and the picture is a little shaky because I got a case of "mom nerves" when she came out. :)

Easter Sunday

Our family celebrated a wonderful Easter, complete with all the traditions we have come to cherish. Our day started around 4:45 a.m., as we rose early and attended a 6:00 Sunrise Service at the Brocton Christian Church, where we used to attend before we moved, and where Dan's parents still attend. It was a beautiful service, with breakfast served afterwards. It was nice to see our church family from Brocton again.

Then we came back to Chrisman and spent a little time at home before the 9:00 service at our church. The kids peeked in their Easter baskets and had ONE piece of candy. After church, we were off to Newman to see my grandma so she could take a quick picture of the kids all dressed up and so Dan could carry her noodles out to her car for her. Her noodles are the highlight of every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Yum.

Next we stop at my parents' house for more pictures and to change into play clothes.

All my kids in their Easter best. We were especially blessed to have Michael home one more time before he deploys to Iraq.

We are very deliberate in emphasizing with the kids the real reason we celebrate Easter--the resurrection of Jesus. Still, it's hard not to get excited about Reeses' Peanut Butter Eggs.

After we stop in Newman, we are off again to my aunt's house for a big family dinner complete with ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, noodles, and an array of salads and desserts. By now, I am completely worn out, but we still haven't had the egg hunt...

Eleanor had her "Mikey" as her assistant this year. The kids had a great time with their cousins, ate way too much candy, and were ready to crash by 7:00 that night (so was I). It really was a wonderful day.

I think as I get older, our traditional family celebrations mean more and more to me, not just because of the fun we have and the love we share, but especially because each year I am more humbled by what the holidays mean for us. Without the Resurrection, there would never be a reason to celebrate anything. We would be utterly without hope. But because He died and lives again, we have every reason to celebrate, in fact we must celebrate! "I tell you," he answered "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!" Luke 19:40

Easter fun

Early last week, the kids and I colored eggs. Since no one in our family is partial to hard-boiled eggs, we just color them uncooked and use them for breakfast, baking...whatever. Our family eats a lot of eggs, so we go through them fairly quickly.

Using uncooked eggs does add an additional element of potential mess, but they were very careful, and not a single egg was dropped or broken.

Some of their favorites.

Breakfast has been very festive around here this week!

Happy Easter everyone!

Our resident musicians

We have several aspiring pianists in our home. Here is a sampling of what our home sounds like on any given day...



Of course, after several times of trying to play it perfectly, the time he gets it is also when his little sister decided to ramp a matchbox car of the edge of the piano. Oh well.











And last, but not least:



What she lacks in technique, she more than makes up for in charm!

Happy Birthday, Mackenzie!!

Mackenzie turned ten in February. It was a pretty big deal, because other than being in double digits, in the Krabel household, girls may have their ears pierced for their 10th birthday. That is something she's been wanting for a long time.

Here we are at Starbucks after getting her ears done. She was a little nervous, but said it wasn't as bad as she was afraid it would be. We had a really nice day hanging out at the mall. It's not very often that we get to spend time together with just the two of us.

A couple of weeks later, we had her party with family and friends. She wanted a horse theme (no surprise). I found a horseshoe shaped cake pan, so we had one chocolate horseshoe and one lemon. She got lots of horse-themed gifts for her room, too. She was a happy girl.