Sunday Fun

Today was a big day. We began by going to Sunday School, where the usual music teacher was sick with laryngitis, so I led the singing for the day. David and Sarah's teacher was getting the church basement ready for a big confirmation party, so I also taught their class so she could finish the food. The kids were nice to me and told me what they needed to do.... :)
Since it was Palm Sunday, the kids got to wave palm branches on their way up to the front of the church to sing "The King of Glory." They've been working hard on this one and knew it really well, so we could actually hear them! David was particularly easy to hear. His voice is getting better! Sarah even stood up with the big girls and waved a palm branch while looking very worried. Of course, she spent the whole afternoon running around the backyard singing "The King of Glory" with her own words. :)

Today was not just Palm Sunday; it was also Dan's first Confirmation! He said they were the best class he has ever confirmed. That got a chuckle from the congregation. They actually were a very good class, though. The church was packed with the many friends and relatives of the three confirmands, and I assume some more because of Palm Sunday. The church was so full, the kids and I even shared our back pews with three other people!

Thursday night was the confirmands' questioning after church at First English, where they spent about 15 minutes answering questions from the Small Catechism in front of everybody. They did a good job, and Dan was very proud of them. There was also cake after the questioning and after the service today. Cake makes for a happy time!

In the afternoon, after the confirmation parties, we relaxed for a while inside and watched "The Deadliest Season" about king crab fishing in Alaska. David really liked it. Tonight in the bathtub he said that the yellow duckies were worried about the oil leaking from their boat's engine, and then "The engine was done for good! Their boat wouldn't go anymore and then it sank. I'm glad they had their orange suits on that keep them warm and help them float." That didn't actually happen in the episode; they just talked about it in the boat crew's safety training session. He certainly remembers what he hears, especially when it has to do with safety!

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside, rescuing earthworms from mud puddles and watching their heartbeats speed up when they got out into the air. That was fun. I finished the major raking of dead leaves and sticks from the backyard and filled up three more garbage bags. David wrote "I LOVE YOU" on the swingset as a secret message for Sarah. Sarah set up croquet wickets and pulled Michael around on the little toy lawn mower. Michael tried to eat leaves and walked around the yard while holding onto the ladder that Dan was carrying. Dan took down the last of the Christmas lights that were up on the roof! Thank you, Dan!

We all played croquet together for a few minutes (the mallets got dangerous in the hands of the children) then switched to soccer for some wild running around. Did you know that if the ball goes into Bluebell Valley (between the tree and swingset) it is out of bounds? It is in bounds if it goes through Dandelion Downs, though. Anyone who gets tangled up with another person is Out of Bounds for one kick, too. They both have to lie down while the remaining players kick the ball. I think some of these rules may have been David's invention....

We had a lovely outdoor supper of grilled hamburgers with leftover Fudge Stripe cookie and mandarin orange salad from one of the parties. We had to rinse the bathtub between children. Now we are all sleepy!
Hope you all had as nice a Sunday as we did.