Yesterday we went to the JDRF Easter Egg hunt. I had hopes of meeting some other kids there, but honestly it was hard with moving from activity to activity. Its alright though as it was fun anyway! I'm hoping maybe a picnic or something will be coming up with more opportunity to just hang out. We'll see. I know God will provide all that we need and I'm trying to just be content with that.
The weather was threatening all day - but thankfully the rain held off and we were able to have a fun time! We arrived and checked in and there were lots of different activities to enjoy. There were bags to decorate (in case you didn't bring a basket). We had baskets and none of mine wanted to decorate bags (no surprise there!).
There were balloons and my boys each chose to have one made into a sword. LOL No surprise here either.
Eliana got a balloon flower. She probably would have been happy with a sword too.
There were bubbles, hula hoops, chalk and face painting areas. The hula hoops captured the attention of my crew. I think it's been a long time since we've had a functioning hula hoop and this was fun.
They picked it up pretty quickly - well, some of them did. Even Eliana wanted to try it out.
Soon it was time for the hunt and everyone lined up.
When it was time to go, it was chaos!!! Things move so quickly that it is hard to get good photos! The little children had playdoh set out in addition to the eggs. Eliana was thrilled to get some "day-doh".
After the hunt, the kids showed us their eggs.
Then they looked inside to see what they had gotten. It was a sugar-free hunt - so NO candy. This was a bummer to one of mine, but I thought it was great. They received stickers, little toys, chalk eggs, bubbles and play-doh. As we sat down to look inside the eggs, we noticed a father walking up with his children and their baskets. They had missed the hunt.
I quickly asked the boys if they could put some things back into the eggs (we had been asked to empty them and return the eggs) to give to these children. I was glad that they were happy to do this and then go give the full basket to those children. I stopped and talked with the Dad for awhile. His little girl was just diagnosed a few weeks ago. I was glad to have the opportunity to chat with him.
Next on the agenda was games. I had no idea that there was going to be so much going on! First up, were the sack races. Mine loved this!
Even Eliana, who just walked in her sack. (She had a great big sister helper with all of this too!)
They also did egg and spoon races. If your egg fell off you had to go back and start again. This was hard as it was really windy.
There was also an egg toss. It was a plastic egg filled with birdseed and the goal was to move further and further from your partner without your egg cracking open.
After the races, there were prizes that you could pick out. It was a fun afternoon. I'm thankful for this organization and the volunteers behind it that work to help these kids have some "normal" fun. So many holidays seems so focused on sugar and it can be hard to break these traditions. I guess though, it's a good time to learn some new traditions that are better for all of us.
In other diabetes news, we got a call today to schedule our pump training class. It will be in mid-April with the doctor that we saw last time. I was really hoping it would be with my favorite endo. Oh well. I'll let you know more when we get closer. He should walk out that day with his pump functioning. :-) I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Even as I write this, there are tears welling up. Why do so many things make me teary?! I didn't use to be this way. LOL
Hope you are all having a delightful spring day!
with love
Leslie
Posts
What a wonderful event for your son and other children. I understand your teary emotions. On one side there is so much to face and on another side you realize how abundantly blessed you are.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Dawn
What a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Pam in SE MI
Oh Leslie, I feel you on those sugary holidays. I'm constantly amazed by the amount of sugar that's laid out at the many holidays. We've become creative in our ways of avoiding it and have even learned to make chocolate with stevia. That's a real treat for my kids who don't normally get chocolate treats over the holidays and such. :) We've learned to become creative in our efforts of avoiding sugars and such, it does get easier over time!
ReplyDeleteThanks friends!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the encouragement about the sugar holidays too! It still kind of hard now and we havent' really figured out things to replace it. I'm glad to hear that it gets better and would love to hear any ideas!
Blessings
Leslie
For Easter this year we're giving the kids small things based on the story of Easter so for instance they get a stuffed Donkey to signfey the Passover part, a new water bottle (which they needed) for the last supper, Small puzzles with Bible Verses on them for the prayer in the garden of Gathesmone, bubble bath for Jesus dying on the cross (washing away our sins..), a small game for representing how the soldiers cast lots over Jesus clothing, For the tomb they are actually getting one small candy each. The idea had been to purchase chocolate rocks, but I forgot to pick them up before the Good Friday Closing (today) of everything. So I obtained a small packet of poprocks for them, which will be a treat indeed. For the empty tomb one of them got a new Bible (he's been asking for one) the other one is getting a Bible based book that's been on the wishlist for a while.
ReplyDeleteI'll also make them sugar-less chocolates with either stevia or honey and i'll pour it into a small egg mould. They'll be extremely surprised by that. It's actually really simple to make! You could do it with blocks of unsweetened chocolate (just add a sweetener your little one can have). In Australia I can't get the unsweetened chocolate so I use Cacoa Butter, sweetener, and cacoa powder.
Kendra Au