Easter 2008

Easter was lots of fun this year. Emily kicked it off by having her first Easter Egg hunt at a church in Boerne. After much preparation, this fierce competitor ran over to her first egg, calmly sat down, put her Easter basket on the ground, and proceeded to open her egg to see what was inside. Mom, also a fierce competitor, kept trying to tell Emily that the "other kids are getting all the eggs"!!!, but it all fell on deaf ears. The final score of eggs? Emily: 3...the other kids: at least a dozen or so!

There is a lesson here somewhere...I think it goes something like "stop and smell the roses"

On Good Friday, we ventured over to Houston to visit Rockabye Nana, Buppa, Aunt Jamie and Uncle John, and cousins Jacob and Aiden. Emily and Jacob had a blast playing together and on Saturday afternoon, participated in ANOTHER easter egg hunt. The competition was much more easy going, and Emily actually picked eggs and put them in the easter basket before opening them up!

Fun with Emily

So I decided today that while Addison was peacefully taking her morning nap, that Emily and I would spend some quality time together and decorate Easter Eggs. If any of you haven't ever had the pleasure of decorating Easter Eggs with a 2 1/2 year old, let me fill you in on a little secret...it can get kinda messy.

And incidentally, the Easter Egg dye does not come off little fingers like those awesome "washable" Crayola markers. It also does not come off of faces, hair, clothes, tables, dogs....or ANY other surface that it touches. I imagine the person who invented this Easter Egg dye is laughing his or her butt off at moms like me who have the audacity to believe that THEIR 2 1/2 year old won't wipe the dye on every conceivable surface...just cause they can.

But I digress...we did have a FABULOUS time, and Emily was very proud of her tie dyed eggs. We made one for daddy, mommy, Emily, Addison, and of course, Allie.

Just so she doesn't feel left out, here are also a few pics of the little muffin, already 9 months old and CRAWLING!! Look out world!

Easter Time!!!

I just had to share this precious pic of Emily and her easter basket yesterday! Her preschool class had their little Easter party, so of course, I had to dress her appropriately. Who knew that she would be the ONLY one dressed in a dress when I dropped her off! Oh well, she didn't mind...and rather enjoyed twirling around before we left to see her dress fly around her legs. What a sweetie!!

Oh, forgot about this

By the way, I feel like I should definitely let you all know about this one. I must admit, I was a little freaked out when Emily first did this, but now, I'm finding comfort in it. Maybe some of you can relate...

Probably a week ago, Emily and I were snuggling in her bed after she woke up from her afternoon nap...this is a normal routine which I absolutely cherish EVERY MOMENT of! She sits up in bed, nonchalantly points to the corner of her bedroom where a dresser and lamp sit, and states matter of factly:

"Mommy, do you see the angel in the corner of my bedroom?"

Mommy's hair stands up on the back of her neck as she casually says:

"Well, honey, I don't see that, but is that what you see?"

"Yes, mommy, there is an angel in the corner of my room"

"What is the angel's name, honey?"

"Her name is Rumor" (sometimes the name is Cuddly, and sometimes it's a name I don't understand)

On a DAILY basis since then, Emily routinely points to the same corner when we're in her room and asks if I can see the angel. Now I tell her that I do see the angel, not because I REALLY do, but because I believe that there IS a guardian angel there that only she can see, and I don't want to take something that special away...I do believe God reveals Himself in ways that adults just aren't willing to or can't see, and children don't have that "screen" over their eyes that most of the rest of us do.

I think this is really cool now, and I wonder sometimes who this guardian angel might be. Is it my grandma or grandpa Underwood, or my grandpa Johnson? Is it someone from Brian's family? Is it a different one each time?

So, if that didn't make the hairs on your neck stand up (in a good way), maybe this will...

Just tonight, when I was putting Emily to bed, we have another conversation about the angel:

"Mommy, do you see the angel?"

"Yes, honey, I see her" (we have settled on this angel being a "she" most of the time)

"Emily, what is the angel wearing?"

"She's wearing purple"

"Oh...does the angel talk to you?"

"Yes"

"What does she tell you?"

"She's going to watch me fall asleep...I don't have to be scared"

...so, if that's not a guardian angel, I don't know what is. Sweet dreams Emily!!

Better late than never...right???

Ok, so it's been, what...4-5 months since my last post on this blog? I mean, it's not like we have TONS of friends with MORE kids than we have who are so irritatingly PROMPT with their posts! Anyway, things are great here. The girls are getting so big, Addison just started crawling (Emily calls her "Roly-poly"...too cute), and she waves to everyone, it's absolutely precious. Of course, I can't seem to get her to do it when I have the camera flashing or the video rolling, go figure. Emily TALKS CONSTANTLY, and especially when I'm on the phone! She is ever-so helpful with her sister, makes her laugh, and LOVES to hold her. I know eventually they will get into knock-down, drag-out, hair pulling girlfights...but for right now, I thank God that they like each other! Here are a few pics of the sweeties! Until next time, hopefully not in 5 more months, Anne