Out of town cousins

 We enjoyed spending time with family who was visiting from out of town.

 Although we have had a lot of rain, we've had lots of sunshine, too.  Everything is growing. 

 That's our plum tree covered in white blossoms!

We spent a lot of time outside.  Squirt guns and bubbles!

Face masks...my 2 year old niece and 13 year old daughter.  It was the second time...the first time she only had a little bit on, this time she got the full treatment.

I'm now 24 weeks along and feeling pretty good.  I was reading that the baby grows a lot this week, from being 1 pound to a pound and a half!  It shows...my belly is getting big!

Growth...

Bright Monday after Liturgy...everyone in our family...there are 20, soon to be 21 in 4 more months!

One of the boys in my art class gave me a pomegranate seedling.  It's been growing, from 4 leaves to 8 leaves right now.

I'm knitting a sweater for the baby...

 Olivia mowed the lawn with help from Dad.

 All ready to hunt for eggs hidden in the backyard...

 The mothers of little ones, testing their arm strength.  They tied...and it was intense.

Here is a picture of me...21 weeks along!

Eggs from yarn!

 

We made eggs to decorate the light above our dining room table, just in time for Pascha - or Easter.  Basically, we used this tutorial:

http://www.makeandtakes.com/glue-yarn-ball-tutorial, but instead of using round balloons, we bought water balloons.  I poured half a cup of Elmer's school glue into an old plastic container and half a cup of water and then measured about 6-7 yards of yarn (I used 100% cotton yarn Sugar n Cream) for each one, and set the yarn in the container to soak up the gluey stuff.  Then, tied the end to the end of the balloon to anchor it (if it wasn't so slippery I'd omit this step, because getting the balloon out is hard, I ended up cutting the yarn and balloon off a few).  Let it dry outside, in the sunshine, or inside hanging, with newspaper under, because it will drip.  Then the next day, you can pop the balloon!  And voila! 
When I was young, we made these in elementary school and our class hung them on the school Christmas tree.  I've also seen a BIG balloon wrapped in yarn, and then made as a "lamp shade." There are so many neat ideas out there!

Also, we planted wheat grass 5 days ago...and look how fast it's growing! 

I really love teaching art class.  For one of the classes, I brought fresh flowers and put them in several different vases on the tables and the students used pencil to draw it and then watercolor paints.

 Below, this boy, wanted to create a modern looking flower:

It's definitely spring here in Ohio, still cool weather, but our grass is finally starting to turn green!

Big bowl of pho

Yesterday was St. Oliva's day.  Olivia's name's day!  We went to a Vietnamese restaurant and got spring rolls (had mushrooms, lettuce, cilantro, mint and rice noodles in it) with a peanut sauce, and also pho...

Actually this is only the medium size bowl of mushroom pho...our first time having pho, which is a Vietnamese rice noodle soup, with green onions and cilantro and mung beans on the side, which I piled onto mine.  Yum.

Hannah got bamboo shoots in hers, too, she said it tasted like wood, if it weren't for that, she would've loved it.

Rob finished his whole bowl (he got medium)!  I got a small bowl, which I finished, too, but it was plenty for me. 
We'll be back for more, it was a nice way to celebrate.

My art classes

In January I started teaching art classes.  For this class on still life painting, I brought real fruit in...after, the kids gladly ate it up.

I love teaching these children, between the 3 classes, I have only 13 students right now, so the class size is small, which is wonderful.  They are so creative, just need me to provide inspiration and art materials, and they go...

Blessed Lent

Still very cold here and everything is covered in snow.  It makes me realize how God is in charge of all nature, the beauty of it, and in this time and age when we think we can control everything, it's a reminder - we can't.

"He is my Helper and Protector, and has become
my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him. My
father's God and I will exalt Him. For gloriously has
He been glorified." (Exodus 15:2,1; Psalm 117:14)

This week, each evening, we read the canon written by St. Andrew of Crete.  It's very repentant and beautiful, many references to the Old Testament:  orthodox.net/greatlent/great-canon-monday.pdf

We've stocked up on nuts, grapes, clementines, plums, beets, onions, potatoes, avocados, lettuce...and are trying to eat simply during Lent.  Do you have any favorite vegan recipes to share?

Sunday school

Yesterday in Sunday school, we played 2 games, first one I asked the kids one by one to pick a letter and I filled in the blanks:          _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _  _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _*

Then,we filled in the prayer with the correct words:

"Now lettest thou thy servant depart in_____, O Master, according to thy word:
For mine _____ have seen thy _________,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all ______;
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."  (from Luke 2:29-32)

For next week, we are going to focus on the prayer of St. Ephraim, as we are ready for Great Lent:

O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition and vain talking, grant me not.
But a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love, bestow upon me, thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brother. For blessed art Thou unto the ages. Amen.

*Answers:  Prayer of Saint Symeon,  peace, eyes, salvation, people