Christ is Risen!

The video is Christopher singing the chorus of the hymn, “Christ Arose.”  Text:  Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er His foes.  He arose a victor from the dark domain, and He lives forever with His saints to reign.  He arose!  He arose!  Hallelujah, Christ arose!

We had a very full and very fun Easter week. From Tuesday through Thursday, the kids and I went with Grandma and Grandpa to visit Great-Grandma in Wichita. The kids had fun playing with Great-Grandma, eating yummy food, and going to the zoo! Will especially liked the monkeys and elephants. Christopher had fun feeding the sheep and seeing the giraffes.

On Easter, we went to Nana and Granddad’s house after worship for lunch with them, Aunt Laura, Uncle Garland, Caroline, and Mam-ma. The boys had a great time playing with Caroline! After naps, they hunted Easter eggs with our friends Ruth, Iain, Mollie and Emily at our house and at Ruth and Iain’s house. Then we were off to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Needless to say, it was a joyful, sugar-filled day!

859 Jelly Beans

Yesterday, Christopher and I went to an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa’s church. (Yes, Grandpa sacrificed watching most of the SEC Championship basketball game to go with us. And Will spent over an hour refusing to nap and fell asleep 10 minutes before it was time to leave, so he slept through the event.) Christopher had a blast! They had a separate Easter egg hunt just for 3- to 4-year-olds, so he didn’t have to compete with the big kids. He had a great time searching the bushes of the courtyard for those candy-filled plastic eggs. They had cookies and lemonade and sack races, too. Christopher watched the big kids doing a sack race and immediately announced that he wanted to do it. So he tried it and did a great job!

The grand finale of the event was the announcement of which kid had come closest to guessing the number of jelly beans in a big jar. When they had told everyone about the contest before the Easter egg hunt, Grandpa (a math professor) had commented, “We’ve got this one!” Sure enough, the grand winner was CHRISTOPHER! Christopher had no idea why everyone was clapping, but someone had just said his name and was now handing him a giant jar of candy, so he gleefully jumped up and down, clutching his jar. As we were leaving, I said to my Dad how much fun it was, and he replied, “Well, the most important thing is that we won!” For those of you who don’t know Grandpa, he was kidding. Sort of. Christopher talked about it all the way home–”Why did I win the contest? This is my jar?!? I won!!”

In other news, my two friends and I took our 4-year-olds to see the Razorback gymnastics team (the Gym ‘Backs) in action on Saturday. The kids seemed to enjoy eating popcorn and seeing the mascot the best. We had a great time! (Even if Daddy didn’t think it was the most masculine event.)

Christopher, Mollie and Ruth calling the Hogs

Also on Saturday, Christopher wrote his name for the first time! We were making a birthday card for Granddad, and I encouraged him to write a C on it. We’d worked on C, H, and R a couple of weeks ago. He did such a great job on the C, so I suggested he write H and R, too. Then I realized he could probably write an I, and he did. At this point, we were on a roll! So he made what he called a “lightning S”–we obviously need a lot of work on the S–and then made a T, O, P (just an R without the line), another H, an E and another R! He did it! I was jumping up and down, and he was so proud!! Now if we can just get the letters in a line and facing the right way . . . but for now, I don’t care. I thought we’d spend all next year learning to write his 11-letter name before kindergarten, and we are well on our way. I’m so proud of him!

Will’s first crush and the fear of his Easter basket

Will is quite the emotional kid these days. For one thing, he has a huge crush on our 4-1/2-year-old friend, Ruth. He is seriously obsessed. She was the first kid whose name I’ve heard Will say, other than Christopher’s, and he has worked hard on pronouncing it: “WuTH! WuTH!” They live in our neighborhood, and anytime we start driving in the direction of their house, he starts yelling, “Wuth’s house! Wuth’s house!” Of course, Ruth eats it up, and proudly declares, “Will LOVES me,” as she dotes on him every chance she gets.

Will also has some irrational fears. One of these is his fear of stuffed animals, especially any that are puppets or resemble puppets in any way. It took him a week to get used to an adorable teddy bear he got from Uncle Jamie for his birthday. And today I showed him his Easter basket, one of those that looks like a stuffed animal. He is terrified of it. He said, “go night-night,” meaning he wanted me to put it away. I tried putting it in the middle of the floor so he could look at it, and he cowered away from it in the corner, then carefully walked around it, staying as far away as he could, and then demanded that I “hold you.” I guess we’re going to have to start some systematic desensitization before our Easter egg hunt.

Will’s basket–menacing, isn’t it?!?

Will is also getting in touch with his angry side. He has adopted a tradition of his brother’s, and he mimics it perfectly: cross your arms across your chest, stomp your foot, give a scowl, and exclaim, “I don’t want to!”–shortened to “want to!” by the less verbal among us.

It was especially embarrassing when Will displayed his new skill in the church nursery when I went to pick him up on Sunday. Then I got to Christopher’s room just in time to see the girl sitting in front of him on the floor crying, and Christopher running toward me with a relieved look on his face. It turns out that Christopher had pushed her out of her chair because he couldn’t see the pictures of the Bible story they were reading. I think we’re missing something on the application end of things.

On a brighter note, Christopher achieved an artistic milestone this week: he drew something on purpose that actually resembled what he meant to draw. He drew this sun on a birthday card for Dre. Daddy drew the car and helped coloring it–we’re still mastering coloring inside the lines. But I’m so proud of that sun!

Last week, I took the kids to the public library for the celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. They listened to stories, met the Cat in the Hat, had their faces painted, and ate birthday cake. It was complete chaos, but the kids had a great time! They made adorable cats!

Finally, I have to share this activity that has become a favorite in our house. One of the kids rides around on Will’s scooter, and the other is the “trailer,” running around holding on to the back. Will is usually the trailer, but Christopher takes a turn sometimes. I think it probably started as a creative way for Christopher not to have to give up the scooter, but Will seems okay with it. They could do this for hours:

Christopher’s Athletic Debut

Watch out, world! The Henley athletic genes have been unleashed on the unsuspecting citizens of Northwest Arkansas. Today Christopher started soccer! He was almost as excited about starting soccer as he was about his birthday. I’ve never seen a kid go so wild over shinguards! This spring, he will be learning basic skills and doing some scrimmaging. Today, they did some stretching (he did great at following the directions!) and played games that involved running up and down the field while kicking the ball. Not wanting to show off, Christopher most stayed at the back of the pack and wasn’t all that concerned about kicking the ball in the direction of the goal. I tried to make sure that I yelled, “Good job, Christopher!” almost as much as I yelled, “Christopher, go that way! Where all the other kids are going!” He did a great job!  Poor Will really wanted to play, too, but we distracted him with a sack lunch.

All ready to play!

Little brother wants to play, too!

Christopher is the 6th from the left, with his hands on his knees