Easter Weekend in Pictures. With Some Commentary.

Easter weekend. We were brave enough to travel, and so glad we did, to see family and celebrate Easter. Our normal eight hour trip is now ten hours, but we were VERY thankful for an ipad loaded with a couple of movies that helped keep Squirms occupied.

Saturday morning included a family breakfast and an Easter egg hunt. Squirms was not a very competitive "hunter"....until she realized what the eggs held: CANDY. 

Then....she decided to see if the eggs the other children had gathered also had candy for her to eat. I wasn't sure if I was horrified, amused, or proud. My daughter, at a country club on a tennis court, in a group picture with kids she's never met before, stealing eggs from a little girls basket.

We took over 300 photos during our trip. 284 of those photos included people (the adults!) smiling with their eyes closed. 

First Easter as a family of four.

Running....with chocolate around her mouth.

The Easter service was great - five people were baptized at the end of the service and there had been mechanical issues with the baptistry so all during the service we could hear rushing water as they tried to put enough water in for baptisms. The noise, sometimes rather loud, was a wonderful reminder of what we were celebrating. Jesus is risen. People were announcing their salvation, and we got to share with them.

We had a lovely lunch (I ate a lot of bacon. A lot.) and then Squirms got to run around outside.

My Favorite Photo from this weekend.

TPIII tried to help us arrange a sibling photo.

Yes. That's a leaf in her mouth.

R's family has a tradition of taking photos every Easter in front of a cross that their church family builds from flowers.

It's late and I'm rather tired. Here are three more pictures of adorable Squirms and the Great. There is probably a funny story I forgot to write about, maybe I'll post that when I write my post about Auntie L quotes during her visit in February. Oh! We did get to hear more about Auntie C's wedding plans! Very exciting!!

Dinner, Six Months, and Movies

Last weekend R took me on a date. A "real" date. He called the sitter, made reservations, and played with the two critters so I could take two hours to get ready. Actually, the most relaxing part of the evening was taking my time to get ready for our date - it was lovely to take a long shower, paint my nails, and put on eye make up. After dinner, during which I allowed each bite of filet mignon to melt slowly in my mouth, we went for a walk along the riverside and this pier.

Six Months

This guy is six months old (yesterday). He's doing great - healthy with adorable, thick thighs and cheeks that beg to be kissed continuously. Each doctor's check up is a reminder of God answering our prayers last summer and fall.

His laugh makes us laugh, and when he's awake he Must be moving. Judging by his ability to rock back and forth while on his hands and knees, it seems we might have a crawling baby soon. He's also very good at holding toys and putting them in his mouth. 

Yesterday morning was the Great's scheduled check up.....and yesterday afternoon was the Squirm's mom-is-panicking-because-she-suddenly-has-a-temperature-above-102-and-then-threw-up last minute doctor's appointment. This morning we're watching her movie of the week, resting (with dance breaks during the songs).

Silly girl

I am becoming a connoisseur of movies, thanks to Squirms. Early this year it was Mary Poppins (Poppins), March was Cinderella (Rella), last week it was the 1970's Winnie-the-Pooh movie (Winnie Pooh), two days of an old Muppet movie (Froggy), and this week is Frozen (Elsa, or Snowman). Now, she did cry the first time she watched Frozen, when Auntie L was visiting, but now she loves it. R noticed her saying the lines with the characters last night.

I smile a lot when Squirms watches a movie. She gets up to dance for each song, this week her Mary Poppins barbie has been her dancing partner and I've been assigned a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh bear to dance with (she gives command to dance by handing me Winnie and saying "again"). She is a very empathetic movie watcher, very sad when Cinderella runs crying into the garden and very happy when Christoff and Sven run back to try and save Anna. I've also noticed her singing a lot to herself during the Cinderella run.

This weekend might include more movies if her fever doesn't go away; or it might include the Easter Egg hunt we're supposed to attend tomorrow and a canoe trip for the husband and me in the afternoon. Either way, I'm going to eat a lot of chocolate cake tomorrow.

Photo Overload

Grandma, I'm sorry I said I would post these on Friday night. 

The Great still loves Space Camp. He's strong enough now to pull the hanging monkey toy from the "tree" and bang it on the side so it makes a very loud noise. He and Squirms think very loud noises are wonderful.

You like when I happily yell like a pterodactyl right mom?

Handsome.

We were playing outside this past week and Squirms just looked so darn cute that I ran inside to grab the camera. She was busy gathering weeds into her basket, running after the dogs, and wearing my old work shoes.

Who knew a basket of weeds so be so adorable?

She wears heels to the garden.

Our collards are still going strong!

I don't know how it's possible to be so cute and lovable.

Hi mom.

She walks better in heels than I do.

"Oh Shelby....Shellllllbyyyy"

Tanner is recovering from knee surgery. Shelby Ann is being her spry, lizard-hunting self.

I found mom's water bottle.

I've loved the three colors of weathered wood, green trees, and blue sky ever since my grandparents built a pool in their backyard and I got into the habit of "laying out" to get sun as a teenager (not a great idea for a pale girl with lots of freckles, but it was very relaxing). Their back deck with the tree that grew next to it made for a beautiful color scheme with the Alabama blue sky. While the colors in our back yard are a shade or two lighter, I still find it so beautiful and calming.

Sweet girl.

I don't know how I caught this move....but I'm glad I did. Happy birthday H.

Super Awesome.

Now I'm just kind of tired. Here are the remainder of the pictures, including green beans and a sibling photo!

I tried a recipe from the Pioneer Woman!

LOVE their faces in this photo.