All Things Supercinski

Making our salt dough tomb:

Tonight, we will take Jesus off the cross (and remove his crown of thorns and blood) and put him in the tomb, covering with the rock. Early on Sunday morning, we will “roll” the stone away and remove Jesus from the tomb for the kids to discover at breakfast.

As we read through the story of Jesus’ death on the cross, we hung little visuals on the branches. This is really similar to using resurrection eggs, but we like the idea of removing the eggs completely from the story since it can be confusing. (I just googled “resurrection eggs” for ideas about what to make to hang on our tree and hot-glued some twine to them.)

Sweet Sugar got so upset during our reading of the story that she wanted me to stop, so we had to go ahead and finish with the empty tomb and celebrating that Jesus is alive.

Thomas’ company had their annual spring family picnic last weekend. We had a blast. Thomas helps organize it, so it was especially kid-friendly this year, complete with bounce houses and clowns. The clowns weren’t so scary and not in their full garb, so the kids were not afraid of them for long. Sugar especially enjoyed getting her face painted. You can see the stages of her hovering near the face painting table:

Of course, Thomas had to join in the action. Yes, he was the only adult with his face painted besides the clowns.

We had a fun month with many family activities such as a trip to the zoo, the Physics Festival and a farm field trip. We had dinner with friends several times this month, including some new friends we met through the International Student Services program.

Our garden is in full swing, and the kids and I have stayed busy planting seeds and seedlings and replanting since I used a lot of really old seeds this year. (In case you were wondering, yes, it really does make a difference. Get new seeds when you can!) We have watermelon sprouts, zucchini, green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, carrots, onions, cucumber and red potatoes in the ground. You can see the potatoes growing like crazy in the back right section.

Many people ask what the gallon jugs of water are for. Last year, we read an article in Texas Gardener that mentioned putting a gallon full of water on the north side of your tomato plants until the nights are consistently hot. The water is warmed during the day and keeps the plants warmer at night. We did a little experiment last year, and the tomatoes with a jug near them were huge compared to the ones without. So, we saved some jugs and they all got a jug this year. They are growing great, except the plant that was crushed and broken by someone’s small goulashes.

Our homeschool group will be winding down in April for the summer, and I have begun making preparations for next year, seeing as I will be pretty busy in the fall. I plan to keep doing most of Bud’s school over the summer, continuing at the leisurely pace we have held this year (three days a week). I have been busy making some Montessori activities for Sugar and reviewing curriculum and other resources to purchase for Bud.

It was a busy month, but a really fun month, enjoying the warmth of a Texas spring. The kids can both turn the hose on, so it makes for some interesting playtimes in the backyard.

Earlier in the month, we spent an enjoyable Saturday morning touring the Waco Zoo. This zoo is quite a treasure for a town the size of Waco, and we thought it was just the right size for our young ones. We were able to see everything in one morning, it wasn’t very crowded, and they had a ton of cool activities and exhibits that were perfect for Bud.

The kids enjoyed playing with this little monkey through the glass.

This tortoise made “bless yous!”

Pretending to be some kind of animal:

There were a lot of very sleepy animals lying around, but Bud was most excited about seeing the giraffes, and he was not disappointed.

These folks got equal amounts of stares by our children… in College Station, they don’t see wildlife such as this very often.

These are a week late, but better late than never!

There weren’t a ton of bluebonnets, but with all the dryness this year, I’m not surprised.

And the best picture of all…

Sugar just jumped right into that one showing off her baby belly.

We had a very full and fun Saturday. First, we stopped at the Physics Festival on campus. It was a lot of fun, and something I hope to continue attending with the children as they get older. Bud and Sugar especially enjoyed the Bubble Man. Our picture also made it in the local paper. Thomas will be signing autographs.

The kids enjoy the little things, like the parking garage, almost as much as the big things.

Later that afternoon, our homeschool community took a field trip to Yonder Way Farm, a natural, pastured animal farm in Brenham run by a family in our community. It was so much fun, and we all had a wonderful time. Thanks, Jason and Lindsey for hosting us!

Checking out the piglets:

Freshly hatched chicks:

Farmer Jason explaining the killing cones to curious kids:

Our hay ride tour guide:

Sugar took this picture. As she was taking it, she yelled, “Smile, Chicken!”

Playing together after the farm tour:

We stopped and took some bluebonnet pictures on the way home, but that is a post for another day.

We are excited to announce Baby Super #3 is coming this sometime this summer. I am 12 weeks pregnant and heard the heartbeat today for the first time. The baby is estimated to arrive the very end of August. The kids are very excited, and if you ask Sugar, she has a baby in her belly, too (though it is a doll, stuffed in her shirt.)

This pregnancy has been very different from the other two. With Bud and Sugar, I was throwing up many times a day until at least 14-16 weeks. So far, I’ve only thrown up twice!!! Unless you count the daily morning dry-heaving immediately upon waking, but I don’t really count it unless I lose food.

I think the less nausea is from three things: answered prayers, a liver cleanse I did before getting pregnant, followed by milk thistle extract supplements until I found out I was pregnant, and learning how to eat better. No crackers for this girl, give me some protein! When I feel nauseous (which is often), I eat something (if I can), sniff some peppermint essential oil and suck on an altoid (which contains peppermint essential oil). As a side note: Sugar hates peppermint and she can smell it yards away. It acts as an Sugar-repellent, ha!

The nausea is mostly in the evenings, and I have been so exhausted and crashing on the couch almost every night right after dinner, which keeps the nausea at bay since I am asleep. I have been making any excuse to drive near a Chipotle and grab a burrito bowl. I had four in eight days a week or so ago, but I’m trying to cut back. If they had a drive-through, my little habit would be much worse.

If you saw me in real life, you would be able to tell I am pregnant already, perhaps it is all the Chipotle. There is quite a little bump visible, and I’ve felt a few little flutters this week. I’m still Crossfitting, though I’m a bit slower than I was three months ago.

We are very thankful for this new life coming to our family.

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Remember our thankful tree from last year? No need to click on the link–it was a little rough. I slapped it together at the last minute with half a roll of packing tape, but it was a precious tradition that I intend to continue through the years with our family. Therefore, I needed something a bit more durable than paper bags and packing tape, so I enlisted Thomas’ help this year three days early. Imagine that!

I drew the tree that I wanted on the back of a large piece of drafting paper (we have a friend who is an architect, these make wonderful painting and coloring papers for the kids.) I traced it onto a thin piece of project board, a board thinner than plywood, that Thomas got at Lowe’s. It was 2 feet by 4 feet. Then Thomas got busy with the jigsaw. After he cut it out and sanded it (the hour before church services on Sunday), I spray painted it with some leftover glossy brown spray paint. Then I modge-podged the verse on. Ta da! A thankful tree that will last for years to come.

The kids were so excited to start last night. I loved hearing what Bud was thankful for: “the earth–all the plants, animals, monkeys, lions, elephants, tigers, bears and people.”

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