Easter Weekend.

Easter Party at the CMR. 

Oman Branch Primary Easter Party!

Sweet Sis. Annie exchanging eggs for treats. 

Elise headed out to her BFF's birthday party. Cayetana had a candy themed party and was so so excited. 

After we got everyone where they needed to go and Alena and her friend Maya were happily decorating Eggs, our friends picked us up(car still in the shop) and we headed to Wadi Hoqayn for an Iftar. Iftar is the Ramadan dinner meal. It was pot luck so we all brought our food, put it on our beach mat and ended the fast(only one of us was actually fasting).

It was clear and bright when we arrived but not so blazing hot as it was in Muscat. We were however, happy to get wet. We all swam through the wadi to the end. Last time we were at Hoquayn(English spelling is fluid) the water was higher by several feet. We got to see the more natural state of things here which was fascinating and which I have no pictures of. The Wadi is clearly fed by underground, hot water. As you're swimming through you feel these springs. But it's also fed above ground by cooler waterfalls. The rocks are white from the sulphur and ?? I actually have no idea what else. Parts were crusty like salt or ice. The smell is very minimal though.

It got really dark and we didn't bring a lanturn. Then, the moon rose and the natural light was enchanting. SO MUCH FUN! Our dear friends brought Elise home from the party and Alena had the girls all tucked in when we arrived home. 
Today is now Easter Sunday. We went to church Friday and the girls sang Gethsemane at church. I took no pictures that day. It was rather busy. We had our challah bread made into French Toast Friday before church which

 was amazing.

Elise insisted that we make sugar cookies and decorate them. This is was the last thing I wanted but I know more than ever that I need to give her freedom to decide things like this. Going to school is very restricting and kids don't have enough time to make decisions for themselves. Their school counselor suggests giving them 15 minutes when they arrive home to give them an opportunity to have whatever activity they want with you. This seems to acknowledge they need some autonomy while a token 15 minutes seems a bit mocking. Still, I have experimented and indeed, just giving them 15 minutes to play, read, cook, whatever they want to do seems to take the intensity out of post-school recovery. SO, make sugar cookies we did. In whatever shape and color took her fancy and with sprinkles. 

Today, Easter Sunday, the kids had school off. We read Lynne's new Easter book. We sang all the Easter songs out of the Children's songbook. Then Sennia, Brigham and Elise created the last week of Christ's life in lego format. I'm wishing we had a more diverse selection of legos. Star Wars and Friends legos seem a bit sacrilegious but it was a great project.