Easter Weekend…part 1

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord!  We celebrated by spending lots of time with our family!  What a blessing they are!

Friday night we had our annual Easter egg dying party at my brother-in-law’s parents’ house.  We’ve done this for years, and the kids love it!  Nancy boils DOZENS of eggs and lets the kids decorate them.  We let the kids explain the Resurrection Eggs, and it was so special to see how much the kids learned and remembered.  I was blown away by how much sweet AnnaLeigh had learned.  She is two years old, and that just proves to me that little ears are always listening even when you think they aren’t.  The Bible promises us in Isaiah 55 that the Word of the Lord does not return void, so your babies are NEVER too young to hear about our Lord and Savior!

I wish I had pictures from Friday night, but I didn’t have my camera.  I have one blurry pic from my phone, but that’s it. :(  Oh well, there’s always next year…I hope…right Bob and Nancy?!?  (Thank you so much for your continued generosity to us and our maniacs!)

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Saturday was kind of a rough day.  Brad was working and for some reason our house was meltdown central.  I tried to hold it together, but by the time Brad walked in the door I was ready to quit.  He ran to change clothes, and I tried to shuffle fussy kids into the car.  We were very late meeting my parents for a “fun” evening, and just then the STINKIN’ (I’ll use that word instead of the word I would like to use) DOG got out.  He’s such a pain…a cute pain, but a pain!

My attitude was BAD.  Preston’s attitude was bad.  Lilly Katherine had hit some kind of horrible sleep-deprived wall, and she was freaking out because Sam was running away.  Brad was exhausted from working all day.  AnnaLeigh was antagonizing LK, because that’s her most favorite thing to do these days.

I told the kids that we were all going to have an attitude change, starting with me.  As Brad drove out of the driveway, I said we’re going to pray for a renewed spirit and positive outlook, and we were going to pray for a fresh start.  About the time I bowed to pray, the maniac dog started chasing the car.  We had to drive around the block as he ran beside us barking, but we finally got him in the house.  At that point we were almost an hour late. (No surprise to anyone who knows us)

I got back in the car.  I prayed.  I know that I personally felt better.  I decided I was going to have a good time.  Sometimes I literally have to tell myself that, but whatever works for me to have a positive attitude…right, dear hubby?

We pulled up to our beautiful church for family fishing and a picnic.  My mom, dad, sister, Alan, Caleb, and Truett were already down at the dock, with picnic tables out, fishing poles lowered, and fish being caught right and left.  All the sudden the day turned around.  We had a wonderful time!  The weather was absolutely amazing.  The breeze was refreshing.  The fish were biting.  The crew was happy!  I was happy! :)  Thank you, Lord, for my family!  Thank you for sweet, fun family times!

This is my sweet, intense, first born son.  He’s so extremely tense that even fishing isn’t relaxing to the poor kid.

But my big bug caught a fish, and that made him very happy!  Plus, it was the biggest fish caught since we had been there, and that made him even happier.  He is just a little competitive.

Then there’s this one.  They could not be more opposite?  She was just “sittin’ on the dock of the bay, watchin’ the tide roll away.”  She’s not bothered by much, thank the LORD!

She and Uncle Alan caught a big one.

AnnaLeigh had fun fishing, too.  She was fishing with Mimi.

She was so proud of her little fishy.

“Hey lil fishy.  How uh you?”

Caleb and Alan on their professional rod and reel.

Truett and Papa.

And…my father.  His lips are a little too close to those fish lips if you ask me!

Here’s a good idea of how things work around here.  AnnaLeigh is 5 weeks older than Truett.  They LOVE each other.  They embrace every time they see each other as if they’ve been apart for weeks. It’s precious and sweet, but lasts only a few seconds.  See below to find out why.

Truett is fishing.  He’s doing just fine by himself.  Along comes AnnaLeigh.

“What you doin, too-it?”  (As she totally invades his personal space)

“Hey, yet me hewp you, too-it.”  (As she smiles knowing exactly what she’s doing.  He’s still thinking she’s just there to be sweet.)

Then he realizes her little scheme.  She cackles as she tries to steal the pole.  Truett is most upset…as anyone would be.

As I’ve said before, she’s small and mighty!  This girl is a little fireball, and she is funny while she’s feisty.  Oh, heaven help me!

My mother, she kind of likes this little fireball.  AnnaLeigh kind of likes her, too.

My mother must love her if she’s going to let AnnaLeigh put dirty little fishy fingers on her mouth.

“Dat you nose?  You need to blow you nose, Mimi?”

Before we left our little fishing hole, Preston made one last catch.  He kept saying, “I think I’m getting something!  Just wait one more minute.”  Well, he got something.  He caught a little turtle.  It was the perfect way to end our perfect fishing trip.

My baby boy was so excited!  He hasn’t stopped talking about his big catch!  He was “the only one who caught a turtle, you know.  It was the bigger than the fish, too.”  (As I said, just a little competitive…but I’m thankful he is!)

Thank you, Mama and Diddy!  We had a wonderful time!

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Thank you, Lord, for all the creatures that swam below us, all the birds that flew above us, for the breeze that blew by us, and your Love that surrounds us.  Thank you for thinking of so many amazing details!  Thank you for a blessed family time!

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Many more Easter pics to come.

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