Ascension Thursday

Thursday marked the day that we celebrate Jesus's return to heaven, which means we are nearing the end of the Easter season. We will officially celebrate it on Sunday, although it is known in the Church as "Ascension Thursday" and the feast is typically moved to the following Sunday. In my parochial school when I was growing up, we used to release helium balloons with notes tied to the strings on this day, to symbolize Jesus going up to heaven. We stopped doing it after several years (darn those environmentalists ;)... Tim, did you even get to experience the fun of a 500-balloon release Ascensions Thursday?? It was great fun, except for the few kids whose balloons would inevitably end up caught in a tree or power line only seconds after being released...

So, we refrained from a balloon release, although maybe that is an idea to keep in mind for future years. Instead, Caroline did some cloud painting with white paint, a cotton ball, and her fingers. Then she stuck an image of a painting of the ascension (which she cut out herself) to the clouds.

I also found this cute little craft online... if I can remember where, I will post the link. Caroline colored Jesus, the apostles, a cloud, and the background and then we cut them out and I attached them together... the result is that Jesus slides up and down so Caroline can make him rise up into the skiy, and the apostles slide back and forth (for some reason - maybe so they can pace back and forth?). We have used both these things as visuals in our dining room.

We also did this rhyme and finger play (which I was randomly inspired with late Wednesday evening):

Jesus ascended into the sky. (point finger upward)
All his apostles waved goodbye. (waving motion with hand)
Jesus said, "Across the world you must go," (spread out arms wide)
"Spreading the Good News so all may know." (cup hands around mouth, then point to head)

And we made this dessert Thursday morning - I called in Ascension Cloud Cake. It is completely no-bake - it is frozen. Nice for warmer weather, and very easy.

Here it is cut open... yummy!

So, we had a fun day celebrating the ascension! Everything sort of fell together for us in celebrating this feast... we don't always manage to do this much. Each thing was little and didn't take much time, so it ended up being very do-able. I have heard it mentioned that some people read blogs and get discouraged because of seeing what other people do in their homes to celebrate feast days... because it looks like they have perfect families with these great plans that go so smoothly all the time. And I have also seen it discussed that this is because people typically put the best things that happen on their blogs rather than blogging the messes and whining and other things that may happen day-to-day with small children. This is quite true. What you do not see behind these photos and words are the frequent temper tantrums Cecilia had all day, and that she did not take a nap. It was almost cute for awhile when she threw her little fits... until this day, when they came one after another, ha ha! She decides she wants to play with the toy lawnmower that Caroline is playing with and expresses this by shrieking and running towards it... so Caroline very politely steps aside and takes the other toy lawnmower for herself... and of course, Cecilia immediately decides she wants that lawnmower instead! This went back and forth a couple times until ! scooped Cecilia up, told her how hard it is to be one, and we went inside! So, we'll probably have some difficult days as she goes through this developmental phase and beginning to learn that life has limitations and disappointments. A tough lesson for anyone to learn at any age, poor baby ;) She'll make it, though, especially if that huge molar will finish breaking through her gum!