I will now take this moment to put up glorious Easter pictures in which we celebrated a glorious Easter. In which pictures we try really hard to look like we've got it together. I'll let you in on a few realities of life as we go. Heaven forbid we actually fooled anyone with our matching clothing.
If you follow me at all on Facebook or Instagram, you have heard more than enough about this little dude lately. More fun than a barrel of monkeys. Screaming, crying, tantrum throwing monkeys. But we love him like crazy and pray he'll grow out of it. If not, there is medication.
Master George is almost exactly four years older than Peter. They play marvelously well together... until they don't. Until Peter demands and George pesters and Peter screams. Until Peter commands too much attention and George has to fight a little harder for his piece of the attention pie. Bless George's heart, he's only six and Peter is challenging. Siblings and parents further removed than George have a hard time keeping peace with Pete, so perhaps we expect a little too much from George. Everyone has their limit.
Dressing children in matching clothes is one of the chief joys of motherhood. And you better believe if Costco had had an outfit in Cannon's size, he'd be right there with them. Oh, heck... if I could have found one for Clark, I'd probably have gone there too! Shameless.
Can you believe how dark Cannon's hair has gotten? Do you remember when he was a little blondie with curls? Still curly, but not even close to blonde anymore. And I am happy to see that he is learning how to smile for pictures. He's been in a rather unnatural "smiling" phase for pictures for about 3 years. I am liking this big smile a lot better.
Listen to me... so judgmental.
Kids really change so much from age 8 to 9.
The Peter photobomb was quite intentional on his part. He would hide behind the tree and then pop out.
Faith and Greta have matching dresses as well. I couldn't help myself.
This is one hardworking, determined, dedicated little gal. She did, however, steal some chocolate chips I was hiding in the freezer for when I needed them. Like this evening. I really needed some chocolate and my blessed chocolate chips were gone. I will forgive, but I can't forget.
What a little princess! We are so grateful to have her here and I have nothing bad to say and nothing to tease about. She is lovely and delightful in every way. The end.
Glasses and braces never looked so good on a 14 year old. This girl is so, so clever-funny. This evening, in my distress over my missing chocolate, she emailed me a haiku (Japanese poetry form) she wrote. With her permission I will share.
It varies in size
It smells and tastes like heaven
It rules us all
True... so true. So young and yet so wise.
I'm in love with her dress.
Even as I type Bethany is working her little fingers to the bone practicing her violin. Her music is the soundtrack to my life. Sometime I think my life is just a giant montage of me taking care of kids with her violin music in the background.
She is often up late doing her practicing and sometimes I even fall asleep to the sound of her practicing. Talk about dedication. I do feel guilty in those moments. Guilty of what? I don't know... it just seems like if she can stay up late practicing, I really ought to be able to stay up and do the dishes or something. You know, I'm not one of those people who has to have a clean sink before going to bed. I sort of wish I was, but I also sort of feel sorry for those people.
He's off in Houston, TX this week with friends. They are completely geeking out on robots and figuring out how to get themselves around in a strange city. He's having the time of his life. We miss him, but are surprised at how many leftovers there are at every meal in his absence.
He taught his Sunday School lesson about the last week of Christ's life. I wasn't there to hear it, but he told me about it and it sounds like it went pretty well.
Church on Easter Sunday is my favorite. I love celebrating the resurrection and Christ's victory over death and sin. While it is in no way a matter of eternal significance, I also love seeing all the Easter outfits and springtime colors.
What charming, demented children you have! Why, thank you.
Can you believe we still make them line up before we go downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus brought them? Yes, it's all part of our master plan to get them to want to move out someday.
For many years the Easter Bunny has brought books for Easter, but I guess he was feeling restless this year and he brought Legos instead.
It would seem Bethany did not wish to be photographed. Oh well.
We see in this picture that George does not care at all about matching pajamas-- frankly, neither do I. And Cannon clearly has slept in his clothes. Whatever.
You'll never steal my chocolate out of the freezer, will you, Greta?
Before heading over to my brother's house for an Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt we stopped by the cemetery to visit the graves of Tessa and my mom. I know some people find cemeteries rather depressing places and they certainly can be somber, but it's my favorite place to go on Easter. It makes Easter so meaningful because it means death and separation from loved ones is not permanent. It is a temporary separation and we will all live again and we can be with our families forever.
The kiddos with their stashes of eggs.
The cutie little ones. I love that the girls have adorable little Easter buckets. I tossed Peter a plastic Walmart bag and Bethany and Elinor encouraged him to show no mercy.
It was very wrong...very wrong, indeed.
Cannon is in red dashing off the stairs. Bethany and Elinor are up on the deck in blue and yellow cheering their siblings on. Sometimes my people are clannish. I am a big believer in having no parental intervention in Easter egg hunts. If the kids can't find the eggs themselves, then they really don't care that much how many eggs they get.
And on that kind, caring, considerate note, I'm off to bed. I'm pretty sure I've said more than enough for one evening.
