Easter Weekend

Spring (and allergies) are here!

As I sit here with Evie Grace typing, 

she is sneezing in agreement with my last sentence!

Evie Grace and Ruthie

Aww, they are holding hands.

Evie Grace and I share a nice, reflective evening walk on Good Friday.

Trying on Evie-Grace's new "Easter" hair accessories.

Simon helps Evie Grace enjoy her new book that Nana brought her.

We went on a family walk to the park and around the neighborhood on Saturday.

Matt brought along his newest copy of "Wired" magazine and enjoyed 'stolen' moments with it.  He was literally reading it as we walked until he realized the correlation between feeling nauseous and his walking while reading habit.

Evie Grace had a diaper change at the park, so I took advantage of the photo-op!

I just realized this picture posted twice.  Hmmm...

Our ancestors probably never imagined tending to green beans while sitting in front of a computer! 

 A good chance to edit my blog and catch up on some blog-reading.

Easter Morning!  Easter Morning!  

What a happy, what a happy day!

This is the day that the angels said, 

"The stone's been rolled away!"

(an Easter song mom always sang for us on Easter Sunday morning)

Mom:  Simon, what are you thankful for?

Simon:  I am thankful for my cat.

(we don't have a cat)

I love my almost-bald daughter's profile as she looks at her big brother!

Okay, so I know why Easter baskets are given on Sunday morning.  To bribe the child into dressing into the out-of-normal dress-wear.  

Pretty much every piece of clothing was a jelly bean bribe.  

The green sweater = a green jelly bean.  

Two blue loafers = two blue peanut m&ms, etc...

Normally, I don't resort to bribes, but it was in an effort to regain peace on this special Sunday mornign!

What a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

My Easter began with a phone call from Afghanistan's capital city from the dearest of dear friends. 

A nice half-hour chat, courtesy of Skype :)

Another BIG Easter blessing was getting to see Scotty at church!

We haven't seen Scotty since fall of 2005!

We posed after church for these Easter pictures.  I had forgotten to let Evie Grace wear her headband and/or bonnet to church, so we HAD to get some pictures with those precious girly items.

Notice Simon's sword :)

A quote included in a card last Thanksgiving from Kellie that I have come to love...

"It was God's goal in all his dealings with Job to be merciful and fit him for a greater blessing."  -- John Piper

I love how Simon is sitting on his car garage.

LOOK at Evie's animated smile!

Mom gave Simon an Easter gift-bag.  It had a bible verse written on it, and Mom was led to believe for a second that Simon could read.

Here's the story:  Mom started to read the verse printed on the bag...

Mom:  "Let everything that has breath--

Simon:  "Praise the Lord."

Mom:  Oh my, he can read!  Did you hear that?  Look, he finished the sentence!

Amy:  It's a song he likes to sing... :)

Simon is enjoying a spring visit from his Nana.

In the spring and summer, I wear skirts a lot.  Well, needless to say I haven't worn them in several months.  I wore a new white skirt the other day that was very twirly, and Simon had several funny assumptions.  One funny assumption (maybe the white shirt on white skirt) was that I was an angel.

Simon:  Are you an angel?

Another funny thought was that I was a princess.  He talked about that some, and then later I asked him to do something, and he said, "I will in just a minute, princess."  The twirly skirt also made him think we should dance.  So, we did.  Then he held up his hand over his head, together, and said, "Jump on these, mommy."  Apparently he has seen some very sophisticated dancing somewhere and thought we should try some moves :)

Precious.

Look at how she is clasping her sweet hand together!

We need to find her some tights that fit!

It looks like she isn't too happy with them, either!

Actually, she had the sweetest disposition all day!  

And it was a long one for her, too!

Trying out new poses...

The last picture coming up is my favorite Easter snapshot!

Oh, another fun memory, bookended my Easter.  It began with a lovely phone call from a friend in Afghanistan and ended with a lovely walk and smorgasboard dinner with three friends here!  Terri, Heather, and Rachael came by and enjoyed maybe the oddest dinner ever.  Rachael was taken with hummus, Heather with pink salad, and Terri with butternut squash :)

AND, HERE IS THE PICTURE AND LITTLE GIRL THAT ARE AS CUTE AS A BUTTON!