Easter Sunday

We didn't do anything special to celebrate Easter. Ryan worked all night last night and I partied pretty late at my parents house so this morning we let the boys watch TV while we tried to get a couple more hours of sleep. They watched a few episodes of Word World until Thomas switched it to Thomas and Friends. We don't have cable or satellite, just Netflix, so at least I have control over what they can watch. I went through and blocked all the cartoons except the educational shows that we used to watch on PBS. My favorite feature is absolutely no commercials. That's worth the $8 a month right there. I don't think my kids have ever seen a commercial for food with a cartoon character on the front or ridiculous toys that we don't need or been told to ask their doctor about a pill that can solve all of their problems. We have even used Netflix a few times to practice spelling. When Thomas wants to watch something in particular I write it down on a piece of paper and then he has to use the Wii controller to point and click the letters in the search box. He can search for "Thomas" (for Thomas the Train) without any help. There are also a ton of documentaries and shows like National Geographic and Nova that I think will come in handy for homeschooling later on. Even though it's "educational" I still try to limit our TV time to only a few hours a week.

The boys ate a couple of the eggs that we decorated yesterday. They were excited that I let them peel the eggs all by themselves. It went better than I expected for their first time. I gave them a dish with a little bit of water in it so the shell pieces were contained and they could rinse off the eggs without making a mess.

After lunch the boys and I played on starfall.com for a little while. Thomas got out his Word Builder toy again to match the words he saw on the computer.

We couldn't stay inside for long. It was a beautiful day. Ryan and the boys played on their playground while I worked in the garden. Then the boys came over to "help".  Thomas grazed on spinach while Jacob munched more onion tops. They got to eat the first of their "Pirates That Don't Do Anything" peas that they planted earlier this spring. (What was that I was just saying about foods with cartoon characters on the front... at least this is a vegetable and not some sugary cereal)

We were excited to see our strawberries growing in. Just another week or so and they will start turning red.

While were outside I took pictures of some of the other plants we have around the yard so we can look them up and find out what they are. I know this one - a four leaf clover!

We didn't read any books before bed tonight. Instead, Thomas and Jacob sat with me at my computer while I went through the photos from the last few days. We spent some time looking at pictures of poison ivy and comparing them with other plants we have in our yard. Thomas knows how to count the leaves and look at the shape of the leaves. He says, "One, two, three pointy leaves on one stem."