Spring Sing

Twice a year, the choirs from each grade at Franklin Elementary perform at the local high school. We always love the song selections and really enjoy ourselves despite the overcrowded, hot and noisy auditorium. There are always auditions for the solo parts and narrators and this spring, Noah was awarded the boy narrator part! He has such a great speaking voice and did a superb job with the numerous parts he was assigned. Hooray for you, Noah! Jacob followed in his big brother Spencer's shoes and was a big goof-off (the picture above is the only one without him playing around with the girls on either side of him). Oh, well, Spencer is turning out pretty well and we have hope for Jacob, too! (grin)

Fun Van

For the last several years we have participated in the Family Fun Van through the Mesa United Way. What a great program! Every Monday morning we get to play with lots of fun toys, then we clean up and have treats, story time and singing time. Then we have "rec" time (we call it exercise) and then arts & crafts (see the crown Isaac made). On the way out, we get a sticker and a free book. We have loved this free "preschool" with Noah, Jacob and Isaac, but this is probably our last year. Goodbye Fun Van!

ABODA Band Competition

I accompanied Noah and the Franklin Elementary Firebird Band to a statewide band competition on April 16th. They were up against junior high and some other elementary school bands. They did so good! They received a Superior with Distinction rating and the judges were full of praise for them. Way to go!

Easter Week

This year for Easter our family had a marvelous experience remembering the final week of Christ's life and His resurrection. Last year my friend Wendi did this with her family using the book A Christ-Centered Easter by Janet and Joe Hales. I was so impressed by the activites she had planned that I bought the book (on after-Easter clearance..bonus!). This was our week but there are so many other ideas in the book! Every day we read the assigned scriptures and posted a GAK picture on the wall, plus these extra activities. What I sense in retrospect was that the focus of our Easter was directly on Christ and His sacrifice for us. The boys were so interested in what we read and talked about and the spirit was so strong in our home. The Easter Bunny became just a sidenote instead of being the exciting thing to look forward to.

Day 1 (Palm Sunday): We cut palm branches from our tree and taught them why the people shouted hosanna and waved the palm leaves.

Day 2 (Cleansing the Temple): For FHE we did the Easter story in the eggs and talked about cleansing our home and our lives.

Day 3 (Parables and Teachings): For scripture reading we read some of Jesus' parables and then at bedtime we read The Parable of the Bicycle by Stephen E. Robinson.

Day 4 (Rest in Bethany): We ate a Jerusalem-style dinner (broiled fish, honeycomb, raisins, olives, melon, cucumber, goat cheese and almonds).

Day 5 (The Last Supper/Gethsemane): We ate Passover dinner and talked about the symbolism of each item (lamb, unleavened bread, grape juice and bitter herbs).

Day 6 (Jesus' Trial and Crucifixion): We went shopping and bought the boys all new white shirts (thanks Nana and Papa!) to symbolize the purity of the sacrifice and the newness of life. We were going to have three hours of darkness with the lights off in our house but I forgot.

Day 7 (The Jewish Sabbath): We went to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant. Isaac thinks Jesus can fly and told his Nursery teacher all about it!

Day 8 (Jesus' Resurrection and Appearances): I was pretty forgetful these few days and was going to wake the children in the morning with the Hallelujah Chorus but it didn't happen. Anyway, we did the traditional jelly bean hunt and the Easter Bunny brought simple baskets for the boys. Then we watched The Prince of Egypt and had friends over for Easter dinner ("normal" food like ham and yummy potatoes).

There are lots of things I would do the same next year and several new things as well. Awesome!

Festival Orchestra

Spencer was invited to join the school district Festival Orchestra, which performed in the Mesa Arts Center Ikeda Theater on April 7th. Hooray for you, Spencer! Great Job!