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I love Easter!  What a beautiful time of year.  What a beautiful message.  What a sweet time with children.  I love it.  This year our Church's General Conference also fell on Easter weekend (a bi-annual event that is always held the first weekend of April and October, where Church Leaders speak and give messages that are broadcast all over the world).  It was wonderful – here are some of the highlights:

Egg Dying with the Little Boys

Derek and Jacob went on a long bike ride while me, Caleb and Samuel dyed eggs – we had such fun!

 

Easter Egg Dive with Friends

Our friends the Hall's hosted their annual Easter Egg Dive where the kids dive for plastic eggs filled with coins and the little ones hunt for eggs filled with candy.  We enjoyed a great meal and had such a great time fellowshipping with friends.  It felt like a quintessential suburban Easter/friend/spring party.  Loved it.

 
  
Easter Brunch at Mom's

After the traditional hunt for Easter baskets (the Easter bunny left a trail of jelly beans from the kids rooms to the stairs and baskets were filled with shoes and books this year), my Mom and Steve hosted a lovely, quiet Easter brunch for us on Sunday morning.  My mom has become quite the entertainer and sets a really beautiful table.  Grandma Kake joined us and we had a nice time.  It's so nice that we live so close and can enjoy quiet, easy times like these.

 

General Conference Dinner at the Dalebout's

Every April Conference weekend we end by watching the last session at the Dalebout's and have a fabulous dinner afterwards.  It's relaxed and comfortable and I look forward to it every time.  Love these friends!  And hard to believe that we'll be sending Christian, the oldest, off to college in the fall.  (Notice how I say "we" like "we" have something to do with it – he feels like one of "ours" and "we" will miss him).

 

 

Talk about a wonderful Easter weekend!!

 

I devoured this book in 4 days.  It was a page-turner.  The subject matter fascinated me.  I was enthralled with the characters.  And like all good books should do…it made me think about the characters, the subject, the issues raised…long after I had finished (I'm still thinking about it).  My Southern blood and ancestry made me especially sensitive.

It begs me to ask this question:  What things in our culture, in my own life, are despicable or ugly, but accepted?  What do I allow, but shouldn't?  Do I follow the crowd or try to go against the grain?  How would I have behaved 40-50 years ago – what crowd would I have been a part of - was there a choice?  Was the choice already made for you?

I really liked this book BUT give a strong warning to friends that there is a lot of language in this book that I found offensive…one scene in particular.

This morning marked my 1000th post on this here blog – not bad – 1000 records of life in the Smith house – from the Meredith brain – since it's inception in August 2005.

Hopefully that means there's been at least 1000 blessings counted.

If I was Oprah I would give away a car or something, but alas… well, here's to 1000 more.

My view from the grass where I do my sit-ups during Samuel’s speech class. I have 30 minutes each Tuesday and Thursday and I’m determined to use them to my advantage. Trying to lose 10-13 lbs. There…I said it. Now you can all hold me accountable! 🙂

I got Samuel a few gifts for Christmas and his b'day that I stashed away to use at an opportune time.  He got so much at the holidays and is at the age where he didn't notice it being here one minute and gone the next!  (Sneaky mom!).  With all of my trek preparations last month, I found that pulling out those long-lost gifts came in pretty handy.  One was something called "My Sandbox" – a little box full of sand and construction toys.  He LITERALLY spent hours playing with this one day – it saved me!  That was fun.  And another was a big pad of paper and some fingerpaints.  Those didn't occupy us for hours of independent play (like the other) but did give us some fun mommy-and-me time.  It's fun to watch him play and discover and enjoy.  I love these preschool years.

We had another fun evening of gourmet food in March, with Rebecca and Christi hosting a San Francisco-inspired evening.  I was having such a good time and enjoying the conversation so much that I forgot to take pictures!  Although I did get a few…fun night.

My mom celebrated her b'day at the end of March.  Poor thing had to bring her own cake to our house to celebrate!  We were still recovering from trek and when I invited her over to dinner I asked her if she wanted a cake and she said "oh no!" (not wanting me to worry about it) and then brought one anyway…always looking out for me!  I love these shots of her and Samuel – he loves to blow out candles!

 
 

 

Her staff threw her a "Fancy Nancy" luncheon in the school library on her actual birthday (note: her name is Nancy and she's an elementary school principal, for those who don't know!).  A wonderful potluck of finger sandwiches, dips and other "girly" foods.  And teachers (and some kids) all wore their fancy "best" – a few came in Prom dresses and even a wedding dress.  It was very cute.  I stopped by and surprised her and had a great time visiting with everyone.  They love and respect her, which is great to see.

 

She is THE BEST mom and grandmother a girl could ask for – without a doubt.  Love you, Mom. 

Bluebonnets are one of my favorite things in all the world.  Maybe because my grandmother loved them.  Maybe because they're the perfect shade of blueish-purple.  Maybe because they're true Texan, like me.  But whatever it is – they make me happy.  (Throw in some Indian Paintbrushes, and it's heaven!)  So when a friend told me they were in abundance at the JCPenney corporate headquarters, I had to go see for myself.  Something I love even more than bluebonnets – pictures of my kiddos in the bluebonnets!!

 

And I have to say that this picture might be the photographic "catch" of my life!  I waited patiently for that bee to get just where I wanted him – I LOVE this picture.

Today I'm potty-training Samuel.

Cleaning the kitchen.

Doing laundry.

And reading a book.

Aaaahhh…life is good.

Last night we all ate at Palio's Pizza Cafe – one of our favorites.  We had Derek load up our bikes onto the rack, so Jacob and I could have a "date" afterwards.  We rode around and then stopped at Yogurtie – a great new little frozen yogurt shop.  Then we rode about 4 miles with a beautiful sunset calling us home.

I'm realizing how very much these one-on-one times mean to Jacob, and to me.  It was such a delightful hour and a half.  Looking him in the eye, listening to him attentively, and doing something physical with him is exactly what we both needed.