April 8

Happy Easter!

This Easter has been more fun than the past few because Caleb is starting to understand the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. He loves to read the Easter story in his Bible stories book, and will start talking about it at completely random moments. For example, we were in the parking lot at Target the other day, and he looked up at me and said, "Oh! Jesus died on a cross!"

Why yes, Caleb. He did.

"I see a cross right there!"

There's no cross in sight. Nothing that even remotely resembles a cross. Ok, kiddo.

On that same shopping trip, I decided to buy some Easter cards to mail to our grandparents. I found some cute flowered cards, but really wanted to send something about Easter, not just springtime. I said this out loud to Caleb, and a lady stocking cards heard and directed me to the religious cards. And then, Caleb found the Jesus cards. I am kicking myself for not photographing them, in all of their cheesy religious glory. They feature a resurrected Jesus, standing in a field of daisies, with glitter all around His head.

Totally  not my style.

And Caleb loved them. He insisted we get the sparkly Jesus to send to our loved ones. So we did. And as much as I cringed knowing that people would think that I liked those tacky cards, I was pleased that my two year old chose Jesus over bunnies and flowers and eggs. 

So today, when he was feeling so crummy that we had to skip church, I felt pretty bad. I mean, our Lord probably felt more than a little crummy when He died on a cross for us. But we still skipped church, and I think it was a wise choice.

Easter baskets for my darlings. This year I ended up skipping baskets for Chris and me. I was disappointed about it, but I just couldn't find good stuff to put in them without spending a fortune.

She's smiling, but can you tell how terrible she feels? Poor Daisy. She was up every two hours last night. (Another reason why we skipped church today.)

Caleb, examining his new Muppets movie. He watched it right away, and loved it! I'm sure it helped that we bought the soundtrack a month ago, so he already knew all of the music.

I found this book for Daisy in the bargain bin at the grocery store. It's called Daisy, Daisy, and it uses the song "Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do" to tell the story of two dogs who fall in love. How could I pass it up?

Showing off her loot. The Cardinals shirt is sparkly, with puffy sleeves. Girl clothes are so much fun!

Later, we had both of our families over for Easter dinner. It was a relatively last-minute thing; I decided at church last Sunday that we should throw something together.

The weather was perfect, so we ate out on the deck.

The kids soaked up grandparent time.

And of course, they looked absolutely darling (if I do say so myself...).

Daisy really didn't like the feeling of the grass on her bare legs, but she really liked the eggs, so she stayed put. 

And the hat. Couldn't forget the hat. It didn't stay on long.

Just like last year, Grandmother hid eggs for Caleb and helped him find them.

We got to meet Sally's new beau, Mark. He didn't run away screaming, so I think we were OK...

Our happy family!

Daisy really liked her eggs!

Max, Ryan, and Emily came a little late, but Max wasted no time digging into the eggs. (Or balls, as he called them.)

Our Easter spread: Garlic-studded pork loin, fingerling potatoes, corn casserole, brussels sprouts, spinach salad, and rolls (my first-ever attempt at yeast bread).

Sally and Emily - I have such gorgeous sisters! (But we missed the other two - Jenny had to work, and Grace is much too far away in Texas.)

Caleb and Max were excited to check out the picnic table that Grandma gave Caleb and Daisy for Easter.

(Side note: overhearing Caleb's conversations is hilarious! Max doesn't talk with real words yet - mostly jargon - but Caleb absolutely carried on a conversation with him. The boys were inside and golf was on TV; Caleb walked up to Max and said, "Hey Max! Do you want to watch this show?" Love it!)

Max shot some hoops,

then got to work mowing the lawn. He really liked Caleb's lawn mower!

Night fell, and the boys were worn out. Caleb snuggled up next to Ryan, and the boys watched some Diego. How sweet!