Our Easter Celebration

As our pastor says, Easter is the Superbowl of our faith, so we made certain to celebrate this wonderful holiday as best we could. Our Easter was filled with a lot of fun activities, good food and beautiful weather. We started things off with an Easter egg hunt at playschool. As usual, Caroline had us sign up to bring the cupcakes for the party and wanted me to come to the egg hunt with her. I was so glad she asked because I was planning on going anyway. Since Will's teacher was out on Thursday, he got to go along with his sister for the egg hunt. Unfortunately, I didn't send his basket with him to school. Since Caroline had made a bunny basket for the hunt, she gladly shared her basket with him. She stuck close to her brother throughout the hunt and when they came upon a cluster of eggs hidden together she said, "This one is for me and that was is for you, Will."

Later Thursday afternoon Mimi made a surprise visit to drop off the kids' Easter happy. They were so excited to discover that is was Easter Little People that fit perfectly with their playhouse and farm set.

On Friday, Nana came to town and took us to eat Mexican. Afterwards, we went shopping where Nana bought Caroline the cutest little silver cross necklace. Since Will is still smitten with his Scooby Doo crocs, he opted to not get a necklace...thank goodness!
Friday night, we finished painting our wooden Easter eggs that will soon become an annual tradition. Caroline loves to paint, so I decided the eggs would make a nice keepsake each year.

After we finished those up, we dyed our eggs which Caroline said stunk. All Will wanted to do was toss them around. Let's just hope he doesn't try that with a raw egg!

Saturday morning the Easter bunny made an early surprise visit. After they dug through their Easter happies, we headed to the Ag Museum's Easter Egg hunt where we met up with Mecie and Helen. The kids had a blast riding the ponies, getting their faces painted, hearing the Easter story, riding the carousel, jumping, and hunting eggs. It was really a great hunt and well worth the trip! To top it off, rumor has it that Caroline and I made it on the WLBT news Saturday night.Saturday night Nana and Pop Buddy treated us to Cock of the Walk. We all got a kick out of being seated at the same table we had sat at about 10 months earlier. Pop Buddy pulled out the pictures he had taken with his IPhone only to discover that Matt was wearing the same shirt! Thankfully it wasn't his usual Flowers Hospital tee, but instead his favorite striped polo. I guess now he'll listen when I say, "Are you really going to wear that again?"





The kids loved seeing the ducks and Will enjoyed drinking tea out of the tin cups. He thought he was such a big boy and kept saying, "more". When we got home from dinner, Caroline and I made Easter story cookies. Despite being a little over her head right now, it is a great message and helped her grasp the concept that Jesus died so that we might go to heaven. When we woke up on Sunday, we discovered that the cookies were hollow, just like the cave was because Jesus was alive and had risen from the dead. She thought that was so neat!
After church, we enjoyed a home cooked Easter meal on the back porch. Since the weather was nice, we all decided to head to the farm to enjoy the afternoon. Despite being totally unplanned, I knew it would warm my grandparents' heart to have a nice Easter meal and see the kids. While we were there, the kids got to help feed the bull, Pappaw helped heal a booboo and Will gave Mommaw the sweetest sugar ever. As expected, my grandparents were tickled pink to see us and it provided for a great end to a wonderful Easter celebration!

He's Alive!

Beth Moore and New Orleans

This past weekend, I went with my cousin, Mecie, and her church to the Beth Moore conference in New Orleans. I've done Beth Moore studies in the past, but I had never gone to one of her events. What a wonderful experience it was. I felt like she was speaking directly to me the entire time. Plus, there is something so uplifting to be amongst a large group of believers who are thankful to have such a wonderful Savior. I also really enjoyed having a weekend to spend with Mecie without having to care for our kids (who can be a REAL handful when they get together).


We stayed at St. Pierre in the French Quarter and enjoyed wonderful food at Murials and Bubba Gump's. Of course, on our way to the hotel we took a slight detour and unintentionally ended up touring some of the devastation of Katrina. It was so sad to see how the city still has not fully recovered, and it really brought home to me just how bad it was for those unfortunate familes who had to experience the storm and its aftermath firsthand.While Mecie and I were enjoying ourselves, I was not the least bit concerned about my husband and kids because Mamaw Kat and Pappaw came to town to help out. When I came home, I was greeted by a nicely manicured lawn. In addition, they cleaned all of the nasty pollen off the back porch so that we can start enjoying this nice weather we're having a little more. Though I'm sure Matt could have handled a night alone with the kids, I know he was glad to have a few more hands to help corral them to bed. Plus, the kids and grandparents get a kick out of seeing each other. That being said, I'm already planning my next Beth Moore conference!

Spring Fun Fest

Last week, our church hosted a Spring Fun Fest for the community. As usual, our kids loved it. Both of them got a kick out of the fire truck and even got to try on a fireman's hat for size. Caroline showed off how well she could slide like the big kids while her brother watched from the sideline. We're not quite ready to let him try it out just yet. To help soothe his discontent with not being able to slide, Matt got him a cotton candy which seemed to do just the trick!

Latest projects

Well, for most of you that know me, you know that I don't halfway go about anything...instead, I put my all into whatever I find myself doing. So, it should come as no surprise that I am really busying myself lately with some sewing projects. Here are a few of the things I've done:

Easter baskets for the kids...
An outfit for Caroline that matches her Easter basket (I'm still working on Will's matching outfit)...A cowboy outfit for Will...

Caroline's Playdate

After we left the dentist's office on Thursday, Caroline and I went to visit our friends, Tamah and Abby. It worked out perfectly since Will was at playschool. The girls had a tea party and then rocked their babies to sleep for their afternoon nap. While they were occupied, Tamah monogrammed the kids' Easter baskets for me. Tamah is such a talented seamstress. You can check out all of her cute stuff at Sew Happy. Caroline and I both had such fun and can't wait to see them again!

Caroline's 1st Trip to the Dentist

Today Caroline had her 1st dentist appointment with Dr. Amy Jones in Madison. Since we had been talking it up for a while, she was actually looking forward to the visit with only a slight bit of apprehension. When we walked in, there were tons of fun toys to play with, so Caroline felt right at home. Christy, the dental hygienist, was so sweet and explained everything to Caroline before she began. She even let Caroline pick out a toothbrush that she used to help clean her teeth during the exam.I don't know why I was apprehensive at all, because Caroline was a champ....no tears, no squirmies, no questions. She just laid back, opened her mouth as wide as she could (which according to the dentist isn't that wide because she has such a small mouth...I guess we know whose mouth she didn't inherit). According to Dr. Jones, Caroline doesn't have any cavities, but needs to start flossing to avoid future cavities because her mouth is so small which causes her teeth to be close together. The eager patient was excited about using floss, so this shouldn't be a problem. When it was all over, Caroline got to pick a prize out of a treasure chest which made the visit just perfect in her opinion (and mine as well).
When they walked out of the room, Caroline said, "we will have to come back and do this again sometime." Here's Caroline showing off her new pearly whites:
I should have known that the visit couldn't be that perfect because Dr. Jones dropped a bombshell on me. Yep, she highly recommended that Will come with Caroline at her next appointment and get his teeth cleaned as well. Now that should be an experience! Caroline heard the news and when we got home, she informed her little brother all about her trip to the dentist and told him that next time he could go with us and watch her get hers cleaned and then it would be his turn. Oh joy! I think I'll need the laughing gas for that trip.

Weekend with Pop and Mimi

So while we were in Dothan checking on our "2nd home", Pop and Mimi kept the kids. According to all parties involved, it was a very enjoyable visit. Thanks Pop and Mimi for taking such good care of our little ones and not spoiling them too terribly bad!

Mimi knows how I like to post all of the fun things the kids do on our blog, and was so sweet to send me the following recap (with pictures) of their weekend together. My only complaint is that she didn't include any picture of herself or Austin and I know that they did their fair share of chasing our little ones around! We went down to see Uncle Randy Friday afternoon. Caroline was so funny. We were getting ready to leave the house and she said, "I don't have to change clothes. I look cute in these." I took the picture in front of the fireplace when we came home. She did look really cute.
Will really enjoyed playing with the boxes that we keep the toys in. He would put his head down in it so that his sounds would echo back at him. Also, Sunday after dinner, he was walking with one of his toys. He
dropped the toy and bent over to pick it up. He just fell right over on his head. He was so tired.

Your Dad was so proud at church. Will stayed in the nursery and the
Brown's were waiting with your Dad to see him after the service. Austin was carrying him up to your Dad and he starting calling Pop and pointing. That made your Dad's day.