Easter 2014

We had a lovely Easter. The weather was beautiful, and it was all the more the fun with two little ones this year. I dyed Easter eggs with Samuel & we hid them in the yard. It was so much fun for me to do that with him.

On Good Friday, we went to Shaw Nature Reserve and enjoyed the flowers, and the playground.

 Easter baskets - filled with some practical goodies, like pajamas and some fun, frivolous goodies.

On Saturday, we went to the Eggnormous Easter Egg at John Weldon Elementary. It was fun - and lots of eggs. 20,000 of them!  Eva Kate is almost walking. . .

 We have the best neighbors! Someone on our street is the resident Easter Bunny, and we are all suprised to find  our front yard filled with Easter Eggs on Sunday Morning!  Samuel noticed them before we did & he started asking to go outside right after we got him up.  He had a ball & got to eat some goodies that we usually don't have on hand. Thank you so much to the Easter Bunny!

 She found a peep! The allure of these candies is lost on me. I never liked them as a kid.  They both like them, so I don't mind letting them have them on occasion.

 At church, we were blessed to witness a number of baptisms. It was a marvelous time of worship!

Eva Kate's Baby Dedication

Last Friday, we had the joy of dedicating Eva Kate to the Lord. It was a blessing to have all four of our parents here for a few days for her dedication.  

The church served dinner, and even our picky eater Samuel loved it. He ate meatballs, fruit salad, and part of a cupcake. I think the fact that Papaw was feeding him had something to do with his successful meal. 

I don't have any photos with James in them - at least not yet. There was a photographer at church who took family photos, but we haven't received them yet.  Eva was given a children's bible - which was different from the other three we already had. James and I were given a copy of the book Spiritual Parenting.  In the weeks leading up to the dedication, we had a couple of things to prepare for the night. We were asked to write out some of our hopes for our child, so we could share them with everyone at our table and pray over them.  This is what we wrote our for Eva Kate:

After everyone had read it, we all laid our hands on Eva while James lead us in prayer for her.  The church served dinner, and even our picky eater Samuel loved it. He ate meatballs, fruit salad, and part of a cupcake. He would prefer to live off of milk, and nothing else. I think one reason he ate so well was because his Papaw was feeding him, and he thinks Papaw hung the moon.

This is what James and I gave Eva:

This is one of my photos that I edited. I had a canvas print made at Walgreens. It will hang in her room. My parents gave her a book that plays "Jesus Loves Me" and James' parents gave her a copy of Longfellow's Evangeline that belonged to her Great-Great Grandmother.

The next day we went to the Cardinal's Game. They were playing the Cubs, and the Cardinal's won. We saw Wainwright pitch - and get a hit. The kids did pretty well at the game, and the weather was great. 

Samuel has learned how to say Yadi - the catcher's name. He said it all the way to the ballpark and several times on the way home. We saw a few fireworks at the game. When asked what he saw at the game, Samuel will say "Yadi. Hot" Hot is in reference to the fireworks.