He is Risen!

Today is the most important day of the entire year, where we reflect on the Resurrection and remember what God has done for us. We enjoyed church so much today and Father Crary's homily was really wonderful. I teared up knowing that this is the last Easter homily I will hear from him, as he is retiring next January. All day long I have had all of our blessings on my mind. Mostly, I have been giving thanks for my children and for Jesus for dying upon the cross for our sins. That means that my children, and all of us, may have everlasting life. As a parent, knowing what awesome things are in store for my children, well it doesn't get better than that! We are so blessed and feel so passionately about raising our sons to be believers and to do good works.

Today was extra special for me as a mom because we celebrated Brendan's first Easter and James' third Easter. Nana and Granddaddy came up from Houston for the weekend. We had lots of fun despite sharing the holiday with a grouchy toddler. It seemed that he rode an emotional roller coaster non-stop. It is frustrating but also makes my heart ache for him because he doesn't seem to know what he wants from one moment to the next. I think feeling that way would be pretty awful. I know that I find myself praying more for patience and guidance than I ever have in my life. Brendan of course was just his happy smiley self the whole time, thank goodness! I am not sure what we would have done if he had been a grouch too. His little warm cuddles brighten my day so much. I hope that he will never get too old for them! I know these terrible twos will pass.....I just hope we all survive it in the meantime! :-)




James was getting over being sick, which could have led to some of his grumpiness, and slept a lot of Saturday. We decided to take him to the Haslet Easter egg hunt and to the park instead of going down to the Stockyards, and I am so glad we did. He was scared of the egg hunt! I guess all those kids coming in his general direction was too much for him. He probably would have been even more overwhelmed at the Stockyards because they would have been really crowded. I was impressed with the Haslet Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny was there and they had done a pretty good job putting the whole event together.




This morning we went to church, came home and had a nice lunch (made by Central Market....YUM!) and then the boys napped. The church service was beautiful and James could not wait to go this morning. He kept saying "I go church!". The choir was especially nice today and I just closed my eyes and listened to the beautiful music. At one point it really sounded like angels singing! I just remember thinking, what a joyful noise we are making! We watched some classic movies like The King of Kings and took it easy. It was nice to hang out around the house with the family. The Easter Bunny came while the boys were asleep this afternoon. I am so glad that he had that wonderful plan, because it meant we got to deal with a less grouchy James. James LOVED finding all the eggs in the yard and kept running around finding more. He would laugh when he found an egg and talk about the egg he found. The church service and the egg hunt at our house were by far the best parts of the weekend. Even though the Easter Bunny loaded up his basket, the big hit was a nerf football. He and Daniel must have thrown it for over an hour this afternoon. That kid has quite an arm on him I must say! Brendan's basket was filled with baby goodies: Johnson and Johnson's Baby Bubble Bath, a stuffed bunny, Sprout Organic baby food, Touch and Feel Cards and a Touch and Feel book. We sat him on the floor with the basket and he was so sweet pulling the things out one by one and examining them so carefully. What a doll he is! The Easter Bunny left baskets for the boys with Nana and Granddaddy too. The boys raked in with clothes and money and bubbles and books. We are all looking forward to next year when Brendan can join in the egg hunt. That will be really fun! We look forward to sharing with our sons the real meaning of Easter and enjoying the fun family traditions that make it extra memorable!

Here are some pictures from our weekend! Hope you and yours had an eventful and meaningful Easter!






He is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!