On Easter, Facebook and a Grateful Heart

The season of Lent and Easter seems to spring up so quickly. I really wanted to prepare more for it this year but did so in a hodge podge kind of way. This was the first year that we explained Jesus' death and resurrection to Weston. We have a couple of story bibles that have good age appropriate storytelling. My favorite brief summary from him was, "Jesus got dead on the cross and then He came back". Lots of tough questions too..."Mom, when are we going to heaven?" Tonight I was praying with him about Jesus as our Savior and when we were finished he asked, "Mom, does Jesus wear a cape?"

We made a palm branch the week of palm Sunday. He had his toy donkey trample over the palm to be accurate. The whole activity ended with him angrily throwing the donkey across the room. Whatever.



I gave up Facebook for Lent. I have a love/hate relationship with FB. It was good to have a break. And since I spent an unnecessary amount of time reading moment by moment updates of people's lives, I had quite a bit of time to reflect on some things. In BSF this year we're studying the book of Isaiah. A few weeks ago I read Isaiah 61:3 and it was the icing on the cake of things I feel like God is teaching me right now about a heart of gratitude.

NIV translation, "...to bestow on them...a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair"

NASB translation, "...He will give... a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit."

King James Bible, "...to give unto them...a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness."

Spirit of despair? Check. Faint Spirit? Check. Spirit of heaviness? Check. Not all the time. But enough.

Pair that with reading this book and there is a new little addition to this blog. A running list of gratitude. Everyday and then I will copy here when I post. Choosing to have a spirit of thanksgiving in the moments of everyday life just as Jesus did the night before His death when he broke bread with the disciples. Focusing on gifts rather than hurrying. Seeing God's blessings and goodness in difficult and dark times. Slowing. Down. Changing.

It will not come easy friends and I will not do it perfectly, but you will hold me accountable (all ten of you :)).

And so we begin...

#1 Shades of spring greens contrasted with white of Dogwoods.
#2 Small hands with dimples for knuckles



#3 Husband who crosses things off my to-do list (because he did them)

I didn't really bother with Easter apparel, but Lily did look so sweet in this little dress. The only picture I have of it is her escaping through the front door. Which pretty much summarizes why it's the only picture I have of her.

Black Eye

I suppose every little boy has their first black eye.

First Zoo Trip of Spring

Hallelujah that the weather has finally gotten the Spring memo! We took our first trip of the year to the zoo last week and had a great time. Since we live so close to the zoo I usually pick a "part" of the zoo to do, but this day we did the WHOLE zoo. Three and half hours later, Lily was exhausted and I was a close second.

Merry-go-round...




Lily wanted no part of riding an animal and death-gripped my shirt the entire time...




She also took charge of this little jeep in the Children's Zoo. I'm pretty sure she's in a great deal of family photos since every time other kids got in to take a cute picture she came over and hollered at the door as if they were trespassing.



This is horrible, but I have to post this picture because after I realized what I had captured I could not stop laughing. Since I was looking through the camera and it had started to take the picture, it was delayed and I didn't see him start to fall. It's blurry because I started to move to catch him, but the picture still took...



More Children's Zoo...




Elephant...


Zebra...



Baby giraffe...

Welcome Spring, we missed you!

And I Quote...

We were on the way home from a friends house a few days ago and Weston in a very distressed and concerned voice says to me from the backseat:

"Mom, I don't want to get big."

"What do you mean buddy?"

"I don't want to be big. I want to stay little."

"Well, what do you like about being little?" (I thought since we just finished Potty Training Trauma Part 2 he was going to say he wanted to wear diapers longer)

"I don't wanna be big. I wanna stay little so I can snuggle you."

What can I say? I want him to stay little too! Could someone press a pause button please? At least the slow-mo one. However, instead of agreeing, I assured him we could still snuggle as he grows bigger.

It Was Too Quiet...

Three and Underwear Free

Enough said.

Three and Diaper Free

Westie turned three on Friday. In the weeks prior to his birthday if you were to ask him how old he was going to be he consistently said, "six." Lord help me when he truly is six because three sounds old enough. A preschooler! I asked him this week if he could please stop growing up and he replied, "No, I'm just going to get bigger and bigger." Dang it.

We had planned a little play date during the day with a couple of his close buddies. Sadly, one had dance class, one got pneumonia and another was also sick. That left us with little Sophie as the life of the party. They had a great time! They play really well together and Sophie goes along with Weston's goofy antics and love of animals. I think they played "snake" with two pieces of string for 20 minutes.



I've already talked to Sophie's mother about an arranged marriage after witnessing this: Sophie gives Weston a big hug and looks at him, "I love you Weston." "I love you too," Weston replies. Then he looks at me, "Sophie is my special heart. A special heart is when you love someone."
Oh. My. Goodness.




We made cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday". Noni stopped by for lunch last minute since we were short on guests.

When Kurt got home we headed to Red Robin for dinner. We were a little unsure of the wisdom of this idea since containing Lily in a high chair is often a full time job, but it was a lot of fun and Weston loved the "to do" they put on for his special day.




Lily was a chow hound and ate Weston's entire corn dog in addition to a healthy amount of french fries. Lord knows this girl needs quite a bit of fuel for her fast moving motor.

I took this picture on the way home because I just couldn't believe how old he looked. Hands in his pockets? Definitely wasn't doing that last year.


We opened presents when we got home. From Mommy and Daddy he got a dinosaur floor puzzle, velcro frog catching mits, Goodnight Train (a favorite book we always get at the library), lacing beads and an alligator sleeping bag.



The sleeping bag was the favorite and everyone had a turn...



He got sweet gifts and cards from family and friends and seemed genuinely thankful for people thinking of him on his birthday. Man we love this kid. He just has a sweet little spirit about him. He makes us laugh so much and has the most curious mind I know. Two has been normally challenging, but he is pulling through and growing so much and we're just so proud of him.

The next morning we woke up and started the Three and Diaper Free campaign. Cold turkey. The gradual approach, while tempting, will not work for Weston because he would just wait and go in a pull-up. So while we're diaper free, we're certainly not accident free nor stubborn-free. In fact, I thought it was supposed to get better everyday, right? Well, we're on day 3 and each day has been worse than the one prior. Today when Kurt got home I left him with the kids and went to Target and ate a hot dog by myself for dinner...that's pretty bad people. Here's praying that the Lord's mercies and Westie's underwear will be afresh in the morning.