Easter 2011

At least it's still the same year!

We had a truly amazing Easter weekend. Here's how it went down:

Friday

Carson got to play with Jana and Lila in the morning while I attended a meeting at work. She was so excited when we got there, she nearly jumped out of my arms. Jana's sister Sara (who kept Carson when I first went back to work after she was born) was even there for a bit, and Carson had such a blast.

Friday night, we got to eat dinner with Brandon (a rarity in April)--went out for some delicious hibachi. Carson was very entertained, and the food was excellent.

Saturday

Gram came over in the morning to hide some eggs and bring C some Easter goodies.

Carson really enjoyed finding the eggs, and I think it's a game we can continue to play even though Easter is over. Carson had so much fun, she took a 3 1/2 hour nap that afternoon!

Sunday

Sunday was a perfect day. I had set out Carson's Easter basket the night before, and after breakfast we decided to just let her play for a bit and not call attention to it. Carson was hanging out on her mat and caught sight of her basket from across the room. Her jaw literally dropped and she RAN across the room to it, with her mouth hanging wide open. I've never seen her so overwhelmed with amazement. It was like she COULD. NOT. BELIEVE. this thing was just sitting in front of the fireplace full of fun-looking stuff.

C quickly perused the basket, checking everything out and then carefully revisited each item to give it a more thorough inspection.

After her morning nap, we headed to church for a beautiful mass, excellent music, and just such a heart-warming celebration of what Easter is about. Carson did great in the cry room and made a new friend--a little boy who she greeted with a cheerful, "Hi," about 394873 times.



After church, we headed to Meme and Papa's neighborhood clubhouse for a fantastic Easter dinner, hosted by Toby and Angie. Carson is in heaven when she is with her cousins, and it was so joyful to have Angie's family and our family celebrating together.

We played on the playground for a bit,

ate WAY too much food, and had a super-fun egg hunt that kept the kids (and all of us, really) entertained for quite awhile. Here are our three gunslingers, headed out for the chase.

We left full, exhausted, and feeling truly blessed. Our lives are so full of grace. We are surrounded by people who love us and love our daughter with full hearts and open arms. We live in Jesus's presence each day, because of what he sacrificed for us and because of what he has given us. He has showered us with His own love and the opportunity to know Him through those who love like Him each day. We look at our lives, our friends, our families--and we know we are where we should be. If we falter, there are countless others around us to help us up, to show us the way, to pick up the things we cannot. Thank you Jesus for your blessings, your sacrifice, and those who bless and sacrifice for us each day!

 

Why I Haven't Blogged...

...And we're back!  Sorry for the extended hiatus.  There are a few technical issues that have kept me from blogging, and there are also some reasons that have nothing directly to do with computers but which have been sucking up space in my brain, therefore making blogging fall lower and lower on my list of priorities.  Here are my excuses:

1. My computer broke.  Really, it did.  Thankfully, my brother Toby at Delphi Global Techology was able to get it working again.

2. My hard drive was full.  Too many pictures & videos, so I was hesitant to load the most recent ones for fear of losing them.  So I couldn't put the most recent ones into a blog post.  So I ordered a new drive that's like a thousand jiggawatts, with space for all of the outtakes I should delete but don't before loading pics on our computer.  Again, Toby to the rescue, as he installed it & helped me transfer all our pics & video to the new drive.

3. Our internet went out.  Once the computer was working correctly again, the interweb at our house was not.  And you know how appointments with the cable company go.  He fixed the internet.  He broke several of our cable channels.  What are you gonna do?

4. Brandon has been working 100+ hours a week.  That's not an estimate or exaggeration.  He has really been working that much.  Our household is a partnership in all respects, so when one partner is THAT overworked and so rarely home, it can make the other partner feel a bit overwhelmed/grouchy/incapable of doing much besides the necessary household tasks of day to day living.

5. My brother Tom's lung collapsed.  Random but true.  I know, this has nothing to do with my computer, but we spent a few days visiting in the hospital, and it definitely absorbed some brain space as doctors tried to figure out why (a fibroma in his lung) and if any further action was needed (not currently).  So it was a bit hard to focus until we got his final test results back this past Friday--biopsy was good news.  Yea!

6. Our sweet niece Madelyn suffered a 'partial amputation' of her pinky finger.  It's pretty much as horrible as it sounds.  For details, check out the post on her parents' blog HERE.  So again, not related to my computer, but definitely related to my brain.  One good thing is that Carson & I got to spend an afternoon with Patrick while Maddy went to the doctor.  We had a great time and learned a few valuable lessons about what order to do things when playing with kids & water (i.e. take off clothing items you don't want drenched before you fill the water table, etc. etc).

7. Illness.  First, Carson was sick--congestion, coughing, etc.  Then I got sick--bronchitis, sinus infection, etc.  Good times.

8. Job insecurity.  My school/county technically had to 'let go' all of their part time employees due to budget cuts.  And of course, Gwinnett County decided to wait until the absolute deadline to give out contracts, which was 5pm last Friday.  Good news: I have a job next year!  Bad news:  it's full-time :(

So...that's that.  The Easter post is written.  I just need to put pictures in it.  So more will be coming this week!  Thanks for hanging in there with us!

Update

Hi guys--
We're having some computer issues, so our Easter post is going to be delayed a bit.  Keeping our fingers crossed that the computer isn't totally dead, and I promise I'll post as soon as I can. I'm on Brandon's computer now, but all the pics aren't on here.  So I'll put up just this one for now.
Hope to finish posting soon!