Easter Weekend

One of my children likes to have their picture taken and the other does not. I will let you decide which is which. Needless to say, there are no cute pictures of my children this Easter!

But, we had a great Easter weekend. My brother, Jeremy, and his family hosted an egg decorating and hunting party yesterday. And, it's sad to say, but it's the first time my kids have done both! When we were heading outside for the big hunt, Cooper asked Dave, "Where we go?"

Dave replied, "We're going to hunt Easter eggs."

Copper, believing his day had finally arrived, said, "We gotta get our guns."

Today we had a great breakfast at church, a wonderful service and then home for a big Easter lunch. Cooper has recently changed classes at church and now gets to sing with the big kids when they have special performances. I wasn't sure how it would go. I figured, like with most new experiences, he would half hide behind his sister. But, he marched right up there, turned around to face the audience, realized the spotlight was on him, and..........smiled. He loved it! He has said to me all day, "I like sing at church. I do that again?"

The best part of this holiday weekend is remembering all that Christ has done for me. It starts with the blood He shed and it ends with.......well, it doesn't end. He took a foolish girl and loved her into a new creation. If it weren't for that love, I truly don't know where I would be today.

Our Self-Talk

I have a cute little Layla story to share. But before you read on, you must promise me that you will not ask Layla about this story or anything else you read here on this blog. She has shared with me that she does not know why everyone seems to know everything and if it's coming from me, then I need to stop. So....promise?

Layla had a great day at school yesterday. She was the Top Banana, so when I picked her up, she was in a great mood and talked endlessly about every detail. My ears perked up when she told me about her playground adventure.

"Mom, at recess, we got to play outside and we played good guys/bad guys."

"Really, who were the good guys and who were the bad guys?"

"Well, really it was just Isaac trying to get us girls. And mom, he was about to get us. It was me and Emma and Emma didn't know what to do. I didn't either. So I decided I wasn't going to just stand there and be scared. So I tried to get away from Isaac and he started getting me."

"How did he get you?"

"He was just, you know, getting. Like Cooper gets me. Like kind-of hitting and wrestling."

"Really?"

"Yup, but I just kept telling myself, 'I can deal with this, I can deal with this, I can deal with this. I'm the strongest, toughest girl in this school and I can do this.'"

"Wow, did it work?"

"Yes. But Isaac and Emma both stopped and were just standing there looking at me."

"Were you saying this out loud or in your head?"

"Well, I started saying it in my head, but then I started saying it out loud. It worked."

Yes, it did work. Perhaps I will try that. It will either work because I really am the toughest girl or it will work because people will think I'm crazy. Either way.....

"I going to get married!"

Cooper announced to us that he is going to get married. The comment made me pay attention because the boy has never talked about this before. Here's how the conversation went....

"I going to get married, mom."

"Really, buddy? Are you going to get married today?"

"No, I get married when I big like Daddy."

Layla quickly pipes in...

"Well, I'm not marrying you, Brother. You are going to have to find someone else to marry."

"Lolly, I no marry you," Cooper says.

(Now, I can tell Layla is a little surprised that Cooper doesn't want to marry her. So she attempts to save face and give him a valid excuse).

"Well, I know you're not going to marry me. You can't because I'm your sister."

"No," says Cooper. "I not marry you because you too bossy."

Finally.....the BARN!

It was over 80 degrees here today...PRAISE THE LORD! Layla has been dressing in shorts and tank tops in the house for at least a month. You've never seen a happier girl running outside in her tank top, shorts and flip flops today. The highlight of the day for the kids was playing in the barn. You'd think that after last summer and fall, and all of our 12-15 hour days spent working out there, that they would be scarred for life. Nope, they were so happy! We cleaned up a few things, the kids hauled stuff here and there, swept, rode their bikes back and forth and even got a 4 wheeler ride with mom. And Layla got her first driving lesson with Dave. All-in-all, a very good day!