Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter 2011

Easter is so many things, and I’m thankful for all of them…the celebration of our risen Savior and our Ultimate Hope,  the eggs (even though you couldn’t pay me to eat one), the baskets and bunnies, the new Sunday clothes, the songs, the family time…all of it was so good this year.

As far as the family time, ours started a few days early this year. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew, Garrett got to my parents’ late Thursday evening. Garrett just celebrated his 2nd birthday a few weeks ago, and since we weren’t in Georgia for his party, we had one here!DSC_9534 Cupcakes at 9:00 p.m.? DSC_9536Certainly! What better way to celebrate a sweet boy?!?!DSC_9550

Annabelle was so excited that Garrett was finally here. Bless his heart, she must have tried to give him at least a hundred hugs and kisses over the weekend!

On Saturday, we took our first dip of the year in Pappy’s pool. What’s the next best thing to having a pool yourself? Having a pool next door at your in-laws’! :)  

That afternoon, my parents came over and brought Garrett. (Beau was in his best friend from high school’s wedding this weekend, so he and  Kristy had to do all the wedding stuff.) We had a little Easter egg  dying party with the kids on our back sunroom. DSC_9578We bought the “Egg Spinner” this year, and it was a success. DSC_9628But we had to do some old school egg dying, too! DSC_9618

DSC_9605

DSC_9622

DSC_9648

DSC_9650

DSC_9663

DSC_9684

We played in the yard and DW smoked some ribs for supper. DSC_9705

I took the kids on a golf cart ride, and I don’t know when I’ve seen Garrett more excited. He was moo-ing like nobody’s business at all the cows. In between “moo’s” he’d yell, “Hey Cows!” Precious.

Sunday the bunny stopped by our house, and AB was pleased to see he’d left her some “Gummies” and “Choc-it” in her basket. These were two of the four things she requested. The other two? Cake and Sweet Tea. Bunny didn’t leave any cake or tea this year. Maybe next.

ab

DSC_9768

We stopped by my in-laws and got Pappy to take a picture of the three of us. (And Finally AB would look AT the camera.) :) She loved that everyone had “tink” (pink) on. (Even Daddy’s tie). DSC_9788

 

At church this year, at the end of the service, the kids released butterflies. DSC_9814We were all encouraged to bring some flowers from our yard to put on the flower cross before church started. DSC_9798 We cut three roses from one of the bushes in our back yard. Devin’s grandparents planted the bushes years ago, so it was neat to use those flowers. DSC_9800

After church, we headed over to my Granny’s for lunch. DSC_9857My uncle smoked a ham and Mom made everything else, and it was all “adicious” (as AB would say).DSC_0020 DSC_0028

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hid eggs, played with lizards, and petted a “mongoose”. It was like reliving my childhood.

DSC_0034

Uncle Beau, the Lizard, Garrett, the stick, & AB

DSC_0041

My girl petting the lizard…

DSC_0049

AB, Pop & The Lizard.. ha.. at one point I announced how redneck the whole thing was, to which my Mom replied, “This is educational.” :) We DID see the lizard change from brown to green to blue. So that HAD to be educational. Right?

DSC_0051

DSC_0003

DSC_0059

Me & My Granny

DSC_9976

Beau, Kristy & Garrett

 

The Great Egg Hunt of 2011..

DSC_9869

DSC_9888

DSC_9910

DSC_9922

DSC_9926

DSC_9932

DSC_9999

 

That evening, we had dinner at DW’s moms with the brothers & SILs, but the only picture I have is of the onions she brought everyone from Georgia (some of the family there are farmers, and they live right outside of Vidalia. So just GUESS what kind of onions they grow…) :)DSC_0060 and of my nephew decked out in sunglasses, a sword and tighty-whiteys. (Not going to post that one on my blog, but I will be saving it for his high school yearbook one day). :)

Hope your Easter was great!

~amw~

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Hippity Hoppity…

What do you get when you have:

- new Children’s ministry kick-off / ribbon cutting at church

- Easter egg hunt & bonnet parade after church

- a trip to see THE Bunny himself

&

- an Easter tea

all within three days of each other?

 

One tired little girl, that’s what! DSC_9411

(One tired big girl (& boy), too!) :) DW & I are so looking forward to some weekends when we have nothing to do.

Here’s what we’ve been up to this week!

 

I’m the children’s director at our church, and this past Sunday, we dedicated our new children’s ministry area. We’ve been working on it for about six weeks. DSC_9188We did a complete overhaul on our church’s basement and made a space specifically for the kids! We’ve named the space KOW Town (Kids of Williston), and are so excited about the new area, and the program as a whole! Lots of people put so much time and energy into this project and it was so much fun to be a part of. The center part of the space is like our worship area. It’s even got prayer rails on each side, like a real church. The children have the most darling pews their size that they sit on during our large group worship time. Our “Construction Crew” hasn’t finished building all of the pews yet, so that’s why there are only four so far, and we had to use some of the old chairs for the kick off…

DSC_9206

DSC_9191Each side of the “stage” area was designed to look like storefronts in a town. Each store was decorated by a different family/families. It was so fun to see everyone get so creative! DSC_9193

DSC_9195

DSC_9194

DSC_9197

DSC_9196

DSC_9199

Sunday was a big day at our church. After the KOW Town kickoff and worship service that morning, we had lunch and then all went to the parsonage for the kids’ Easter egg hunt. The committee who planned to Egg hunt this year did such a great job. They had so many cute things planned including a bonnet parade for the girls. I ordered AB’s bonnet from Etsy and LOVED it! DSC_9340

DSC_9307

The girls all took their turns walking the “runway.” As they walked down, their name, age and favorite thing about Easter was read off. So cute.

There was no way baby sister was walking the cat-walk alone…so momma had to join her. DSC_9246

After the bonnet parade, it was game and egg hunt time!

Our girl had lots of help finding eggs… Daddy & Aunt Kels stayed close by to help her spot them. DSC_9310

And she had a crew of papparazzi making sure we got some pictures of her! I laughed because we had four cameras snapping that afternoon! Pappy had his big lens out, her Granny had another camera, Aunt Nen had hers and I had mine… DSC_9359

 DSC_9313

With cousin Warren…

DSC_9264

That evening, my parents came over and we all took AB to see the Bunny at the mall.

Me, AB & PopDSC_9413

I didn’t have my heart set on a picture of her with him, after what happened last year. But surprisingly, she was glad to see our old friend this year. The only thing was, she just wasn’t interested in sitting in his lap or beside him ALONE. Which means that I, at nearly 30 years old, had to have my picture made with Peter Cottontail, too, this year.

My momma was the one to try to get her to sit with him first,DSC_9426 but then suggested that since she didn’t want to do it alone, I be the one to have my picture made with her. Thanks, Mom.

So here’s our 2011 way overly-priced Bunny portrait…bunny

This year, our $20.00 not only got us 2 5x7’s (SO glad there’s two, because I know someone else will want a copy of this picture), but we also got a sheep mask, a bunny “crown” as AB calls it, and an egg with a Tootsie Roll in it. I am sure if we’d called within the first 10 minutes there would have been even more. DSC_9443

Wednesday, the little music class that meets each week at our local library had an Easter tea and egg hunt. It was too cute. I was terrible at taking pictures, though. DSC_9455

DSC_9454Every table was decorated darling and there were so many different tea pots and tea cups. DSC_9518ALL REAL, which made for lots of nervous mommas. Nothing got broken, at least at our table anyway, so we all left feeling quite accomplished. Ha. After the tea, they had a little egg hunt and AB got to practice her hunting skills one more time before Sunday.  DSC_9477

DSC_9464

DSC_9465

Some of her friends that were at the tea… Cousin Willie, Madelyn, AB & Cori. Michael was running from his Momma, so he didn’t make it in the pic! Ha…

DSC_9495

We’ve had such a busy and fun week, and the weekend is going to be the same, I’m sure!

 

~amw~