Easter 2011

Easter morning the kids awoke to their goodies from the Easter Bunny. The EB left their goodies on the fireplace mantle and in the morning Landon came to our door to wake us up while you guessed it, Emerson had already disassembled her basket of stuff and was already eating candy out of the eggs. Lil' stinker! Mr. Rule Follower didn't touch his until we came out and told him to. Emerson proceeded to eat ALL of her candy by 8:30am of course without asking while Landon enjoyed his books, new lawn chair, and silly bands. They both loved their chairs and had a good time reading and checking out their stuff all morning until it was time to go to church. They also hunted for more Easter eggs in the house that were filled with more candy and money as they love putting change into their piggy banks. Church was interesting as Jason decided he wanted both kids with us instead of in Sunday school/nursery. Landon was perfect the whole service while Emerson was a toot. She was just squirmy and very loud as she has no concept of a whisper or inside voice, hence the vocal nodules and hoarse voice that she still has. She wanted to talk, make comments, and noises the whole time. At one point during the offering she yelled out "Grandma" to my mom very loudly during a quiet part of a solo. Needless to say I missed most of the sermon and she will always be going to the nursery. :) After church we headed to my parents house for lunch and more goodies from the Easter Bunny and another huge egg hunt with over 50 eggs. The kids enjoyed just playing the whole time. We left their house and then went to Jason's parents house where the cousins played, dyed and decorated eggs, had more goodies, and another egg hunt where they racked up some more candy and money, even some $1 and $5 bills! Uncle Marion came over too and he seemed to enjoy being around the kids and helping out with decorating the eggs and watching them hunt eggs. It was a very busy and eventful Easter Sunday, but a good day nonetheless! Emerson was asleep in the car halfway home because she was so tired.

I'm glad that Landon actually understands and can tell you all about the true meaning of Easter. He knows it's not all about egg hunts, candy, and the Easter Bunny. I feel like everyone gets caught up in the hype of all of the holidays and forgets the true meaning, I'm guilty of it too. America is all about keeping up with the Jones'! I was talking to one of the relatives of our new neighbors last night and she works for the American Red Cross....she has been one busy woman! She had already planned this trip to come visit family and should be in Alabama right now. She was already on the way to Texas when the tornadoes occurred. She said they are already preparing for hurricane season and are worried this year. It was very interesting to hear all about the Red Cross and the amazing things they do for people, truly amazing! They are hurting badly as they run 100% on donations and obviously they are taking a huge hit with the economy. We were talking about all of the natural disasters recently and the state of our country and she was saying how God is telling us with all of these natural disasters that we need to come together, help one another, and quit worrying about "me, me, me". Yep, that's right! Our church has recently embarked on an amazing new mission, ME3, that revolves around the same concept...what can you do to bless others and we are starting right here in our community, especially with the children. Wish more people would jump on the bandwagon!










The kids always love posing in front of the characters. Emerson lately doesn't want to cooperate with pictures; she makes faces, hides her face, or closes her eyes. You should see what we have to say and do to get her to cooperate. Typically we turn it into a competition with Landon and that works!















Emerson was a little obsessed with this giant plastic egg not wanting to part with it


This picture bugs me...it looks she she just gave birth to a giant plastic egg! :)



I think Jason had the most fun dyeing the eggs and experimenting with the colors/designs. The kids liked painting them with these new paint sticks that I found and they actually participated for quite a while although Emerson looks quite bored here waiting to get started.









What a day! When I look at this picture it really strikes me how grown up she is now!! And how beautiful she is. Landon is at that stage where his face isn't changing that much, but Emerson is. Makes me sad....no longer a baby as she will be three in 2 weeks! :( I've been emotional lately with her starting preschool next year and Landon kindergarten. I'm going to be a mess come August! Luckily they start school one week apart from each other.

Farm Fun

After my parents brought the kids back on Saturday afternoon we headed up to Chappell Hill to go to Uncle Marion's weekend place/farm. He was cooking an early Easter dinner and some of Jason's family were coming over. Jason's aunt and uncle picked up Jason's grandma, Busha, so we were able to see her too. We also didn't want Marion to have to spend this time alone as I'm sure holidays are difficult for him. It's still an adjustment for us too as it's not the same without Aunt Alice. :( She's never far from our thoughts and is always there in spirit. The kids had a great time just playing outside, of course. They were perfectly content! They checked out the cows, new calves, the yummy gardens, tasted some dewberries (Landon loved them and wanted more but due to the extreme drought he only got about 4!), rode on the 4 wheelers (Emerson of course cried when they started actually moving) which Landon loved, and played with "Dawg" the dog. No surprise that Emerson spent most of the day sitting or laying on the floor with Dawg petting him and loving on him. Landon loved hanging out with Uncle Richard and playing t-ball. He just absolutely adores Richard and he is so good with the kids although he gets them in trouble sometimes. It's pretty funny to watch! Richard even set up t-ball practice for Landon....redneck style! Using materials from the shed he made do (see the hilarious pictures below) and Landon had fun practicing. It was a great day at the farm with family, fun, good weather, and delicious food!


The kids adore Uncle Marion! I wasn't fast enough with the camera but both kids were walking hand and hand with him while he was showing them the calves.


Enjoying some fresh berries

This was one of the friendly cows, but you still had to watch your back












Emerson is crying for "Momma" here. Jason kept saying she was laughing and I knew she was crying. She was terrified for some reason...she's typically afraid of nothing! She was content as long as it wasn't moving. Later when we asked her why she was crying she said because "I wanted my Momma!".


Enjoying their lollipops that Uncle Richard bought just for them. So sweet!