These Are The Days of Our Lives: April 2012

Monday, April 9, 2012

He Is Risen!

I have been teaching Talullah about the meaning of Easter for the past couple of weeks, and I think she gets it. She's only three, so obviously it's just a basic understanding, but I'm still excited that she can tell me the reason we are celebrating this important holiday. She can tell you how Jesus died on the cross, went into the tomb, and then went up to Heaven. How exciting to instill the love of Jesus into my daughters heart from an early age! When she has an owie, the first thing she does is to ask momma to pray for it. What a joy to know she trusts Him to heal her!
For the past three years we have had the family to our house for an Easter potluck dinner and an egg hunt for the kids. This year, poor Berlyn caught a nasty cold the day before and was absolutely miserable. She was such a good sport the entire day, though, saving all of her fussin' for bedtime. ;) We had such a lovely time with the family. Every single person was able to make it this year, and even though Wesley had to work he came by during his lunch break. Let me run down just a few highlights from our day...
*We let the girls open their Easter baskets after breakfast. They were thrilled about the little princess toys Nana bought.
*I noticed Miss T at the table before our guests arrived, and my Peeps were missing their heads. I also noted a bight out of one of the sugar cookies. "Berlyn did it!", was Talullah's response.
*Uncle Nate read the kids the Easter story while the other men hid the eggs out in the yard.
*The rain held off long enough for the kids to run around outside. Hooray!
*Grammy and Grandpa Downey with all 8 of their grandbabies. Adelaide (6) Hugh (4) Talullah (3) Gillian (almost 3) Berlyn (1 1/2) Mae (11 mths) Vivian (9 mths) Havanna (1 mth)
*Nick and his beautiful family. So blessed to have such wonderful in laws and loving aunts and uncles for our girls!
*Our family photo!
*The kids decorating their cookies. A very messy craft, indeed.

Happy Easter, everyone!!!

My little Minnie

Havanna is getting to be such a big girl. I'm not just being a mushy momma, either. Big in the literal sense. I have to stretch her little head and pull her shoulder down just to clean the creases in her neck. Her legs are a series of rolls. And boy, oh boy, do I love those chubby little cheeks. I must kiss them a hundred times a day.

Our new 'pet'

Nick went out to fetch the daily eggs from the chicken coop, and came running back in for the camera. Little did we know, it seems like our friendly chickies have invited an unwelcomed guest over for a visit. What worries me most is the size of this little beast. He looks like he's been eating healthy for quite some time...

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Cousins

Tonight I'm watching Hugh and Gillian for an hour while aunt Dallass takes Adelaide to gymnastics. Talullah couldn't be happier. (Except for the fact that Adelaide couldn't be here. She is pretty sure her older cousin is so sad to have to go to gymnastics instead of play with HER.) It's been a pretty rough day for me, mentally. My three girls have tried my patience every way possible, and it's likely that I'll be driven to tears before the days end. So, as bad as I feel for doing it, when the cousins got here... I sat them all down in front of Winnie the Pooh. I hate using the television as a babysitter. They were being so well behaved, and I could hear them in their giggling so I just had to check on them. How cute are they, all cuddled close and laughing at Pooh?!

Hail?!?!

Today just about blew my mind. When we headed out to take Talullah to gymnastics, the sun was shining. I even remember thinking, "I'll HAVE to get these girls outside to play today while it's so nice." An hour later we were home again, and the sky had began to cloud over. As soon as I got the girls out of the van, there was a HUGE wave of thunder. Out of nowhere! By the time we got inside, hail was pounding the ground outside, bouncing off the grass like mad. What is going on with this weathe?!?! Talullah said... "It's freezing cats and dogs, mom!"

Putting the company to work

We invited Brendan and Ashlee over. Not only did they bring a delicious dinner of chicken taco's to share with us, they read our girls their good night stories. What great friends! Talullah and Berlyn were just thrilled about it. They even went to bed without much of a fuss, although they probably laid in their beds for an hour and a half talking and laughing before falling asleep. This mom was just happy they weren't crying and fussing since they were missing out on the fun. They could hear the adults in the kitchen playing a board game, eating brownies and drinking chai. It's been such a long time since we've had a nice night like this with friends, it was absolutely wonderful. I'm tempted to make it a weekly tradition. Brendan? Ashlee? What's for dinner next week? ;) Just kidding. We were just happy to have their company and we can't wait to do it again!