This Easter was very quiet and simple.  In years past, we always trekked to my Grandma's house (about an hour and a half away) and crammed into her tiny kitchen and dining room with my uncles and cousins.  It was always a loud and boisterous occasion, and border-line claustrophobic, given the closeness of the shared quarters and my Grandma’s towering, hoarded collections of this-and-that’s.   
But the day after Thanksgiving last year, my Grandma had a stroke, and she is now confined to a wheel chair.  Not wanting to put a strain on her and her recovery, we decided to stay in town this year, and celebrate the holiday with my mom and dad, who live right down the street.  Grandma still made her presence felt, though - she made her famous Coconut Cake and ferried it down to us through my sister. 
After lunch, which was a tasty turkey, stuffing, and green beans affair, we walked back to my home and hunted Easter eggs.  The day had been a little rainy, so we ended up hunting them inside the house.  Mike's mom and grandmother also came over and shared the Coconut Cake and helped the boys find the eggs.  It was peaceful and relaxing.  I enjoyed listening to my mom (a.k.a. Grammie) and mother-in-law (a.k.a. Grandma Pendley) gab it up.  They’re hilarious when they get going. 

Part of me, however, misses the frenzy and activity of the by-gone days.  The vying for the last scrap of Broccoli Cheese Casserole, the animated conversations of political and social science brought forth so eloquently from the lips of my blue-collar uncle (I’m being facetious), the not-so animated conversations of my unmarried and much younger cousins, who I still shared the children’s table with, even though I had expanded the table to include my husband and our own children.  Unfortunately, I don’t see this type of gathering ever happening with my family again.    

Inside, I realize that this event happens to all of us.  One day, the tides simply turn.  Generations shift.  New traditions begin.  Watching as the changing-of-the-guard occurs between my Grandma and my mom, I am troubled by the inevitable passage of time, and the certainties that will travel with it. 

Then, I realize that allowing myself to be burdened to watch life’s clock is ridiculous.  It’s better to focus on the time at hand, and to appreciate what we have – because what we DO have is truly precious.      

Tonight, Max and I dyed a few Easter Eggs.  He was a great helper.  In the course of things, I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk to him about why we dye eggs at Easter. 

"Max, do you know why we dye the eggs?"
"So the Easter Bunny can find them?"
"No, silly." Although I had to appreciate his creative response.  I steered clear of the Easter Bunny, which is an allegory of its own, and focused instead of the importance of Easter's lesson of Everlasting Life. 

The egg began to officially represent the rebirth of Christ about a century after His death, when the Catholic Church adopted it as a symbol; the lesson was that even though the egg is hard like a rock in a tomb, a new life springs forth from it. 

But even before Christianity claimed the symbolism, eggs have always been representative of new life and rebirth, across hundreds of civilizations, and for tens of thousands of years.  Anyone who's seen a baby chick come from an egg will attest to the amazing way that life materializes in unexpected, God-like ways.  And, as eggs tend to be eaten before they become chickens, the lesson also translates into eggs becoming sustenance for our bodies, thereby giving us life as well. 

Traditionally, eggs were dyed red to represent the blood of Jesus, as sacrificed for us on the cross.  But today, the vivid array of colors that accompanies Easter eggs also speak to the joy, love, and forgiveness that Christians carry in their souls everyday. 

As I explained to Max how eggs are much more than breakfast fare or houses for baby chicks, he seemed to really absorb the lesson.  

New Life is a gift of God’s Love, so it is with gladness and thankfulness that we celebrate our Easter traditions.        

 

I am usually off Thursdays and Fridays, but this week, I worked on Thursday so I could have Saturday off.  Now, I have a three day weekend!  Woohoo!
Of course, the reason for the extended weekend is that Sunday is Easter, which means that today is Good Friday. 
It is on this day that we observe the death of Jesus.  I placed an out-of-office reply on my email, and let my calls go to voice mail.  Today is a quiet day - a day of reflection and introspection.  A day to marvel the love of a man that would give his life for a principle - to teach us all the lesson of sacrifice, and the meaning of unconditional love.  My thoughts stray to whether I could embody that depth of conviction.  What would I die for?
The answer is right in front of me - two crazy boys that I love more than life itself.  Both of them are wearing these silly bunny masks that their Grammie gave to them last year. 
I thank Jesus for my blessings, who are giggling infectiously, and also for His sacrifice, that taught me to love so deeply.      

Maverick is showing signs that he will end up being my athletic child.  He is very courageous, and loves to exert himself physically.

Today he proved this when we took him to the playground, and he proceeded to climb up the rock stairs on the playscape and come down the slide.  On his own. 

At first it scared me; I didn’t want him to get hurt, and every maternal instinct I had kicked into overdrive.  But then, he was having so much fun, I didn’t want to prohibit him, either.  So I watched over him closely as he tested his new limits.  Up the rocks, down the slide, over and over!  Way to go, Maverick!

Today was one of the best days ever.  I woke up early, and went to my Long Range Clinic with the Sure Shots, where I had an opportunity to shoot a rifle that is quite possibly more expensive than my SUV - a McMillan CS5 Alias.  Just WOW.  Even though there was 25 mile-per-hour cross winds, and the day grew colder than expected as the front blew through, I still had a blast.  Literally. 
After the clinic, I skipped the office and decided to work from home the rest of the day. As I checked a few office emails, and took a phone call or two, I found myself intermittently begging the boys to keep their noise down.  Seriously, it sounded like a circus in my living room.  On my last, exasperated attempt to ask them to play the “quiet game,” I gave up.  I had to.  They were just being so darn cute, I surrendered.     

So I let work go.  Anything I was doing could wait until the next day, anyways.  Funnily enough, waving the white flag was actually quite refreshing. 

I picked up a Boom Whacker and joined Max’s Parade.  We pretended to be elephants and trumpet players and we made as many crazy noises as we possibly could.  Even Maverick was really getting the hang of making some animal noises.  I marveled at his mimicking ability.  He is doing so well.  And Max is super creative.  The imagination in his head is simply inspiring.    

So I found myself really having a lot of fun today.  So much fun, in fact, that I had a little tinge of sadness when I had to let Mommy responsibility kick back in and prepare dinner, baths, and bedtimes. 

All too soon, those worn out little men were tucked in and sound asleep, and I had a chance to reflect on the day.  It was definitely one that I want to hold onto forever.  I want to keep those rejuvenating laughs and giggles from this afternoon’s cacophony symphony locked in my soul, where I can replay them like videos anytime I need a lift in spirit.

I love you boys.  Thank you for making my day special.       

Tonight, I got home from work a little early.  Tomorrow is a big day for me (long range training class early in the morning) so I just wanted to relax.  I wanted to play outside with the boys while there was still a little daylight to be had. 

It was fun.  I pushed the boys in their swings and enjoyed their laughter.   Then, Mike came out of the house with a small gift wrapped for me.  He remembered!   It's just a few days before my birthday.

The small gift was a sweet surprise - inside the carfeully wrapped box was a simple, green apple.   In my head, I could just picture Max telling Daddy he wanted to give me an apple for my birthday.  Max had the cutest smile on.  So I went to him and gave him big hugs.  I said, "Thank you Max!"    On cue, Max said, "Oh Mommy, that's the wrong apple."  And he laughed and laughed!   I was confused...  until Mike brought an iPad mini out from behind his back and said, "Happy Birthday Mommy!"   
Well...  now that's what I call a sweet gift. 

At 2:00 am this morning, all hail broke loose.  No pun intended.  It was as if every piece of hail fell from the clouds all at once.   There was silence, and peaceful sleeping, and then suddenly, a thousand snare drums beating ouside the back windows and total mayhem!  All in the snap of a finger.  Lightning and Thunder!!  Wind Gusting!  Horizontal Rain!  And then, buckets and buckets of pea sized ice balls!!  It all slid from the roof, filling the gutters, slicing up the plants, covering the deck, the porch, the cars...  Inches deep!  And then, within 15 minutes, the storm had passed.  It left behind boken trees, leaf litter, and piles and piles of these ice pellets.  It was like someone had dumped pounds and pounds of the ice you get at Sonic Drive-In all over everything.  There was so much of it, I even made a Hail Man out of the piles on the deck.  
Fortunately, there was no real damage to the house or cars.  The landscaping's got some recovery to do, but I think it'll be fine.  As I drove to work that morning, it almost looked as if it had snowed the night before.  White piles of ice were everywhere.  By noon, though, it was 70 degrees and had all disappeared.  
  

This morning, we took the boys down to the park and introduced Max to T-Ball.  To my delight, Max really seemed to like it.  He chased after balls, ran bases, hit the ball from the T with impressive accuracy, and threw the ball well.   I was proud of him.  
When Max was 18 months old, he suffered a minor sprial fracture in his right leg from getting his shoe caught behind him while going down a slide.  He was in the cast for about 4 weeks, and walked with a severe limp for another 3 weeks after the cast was removed.  Even though he is fully recovered today, I am always afraid that this incident somewhat set him back athletically.  He just never seemed as adventurous after his accident as he was before it - it seemed like he took more caution in his movements, and he wasn't interested in running, climbing, or jumping after that.  The trade off was that he is now highly interested in quiet, sit-down play - like legos, blocks, and puzzles.  Although I think this is great, I also have established a goal this year to get him outside more often.  I think t-ball just might be what we needed to get him some fresh air fun. 
We'll have to see...  official practices with his team start this week!

This morning, I chopped up Maverick's banana and toast, and alas!   I was out of plates for him.  So, I tossed the pieces in a bowl instead.
When I placed the bowl in front of him, he looked at it in wonder.  He leaned over and looked into it for a moment, contemplating it;  then he looked up at me and gave me the cutest smile.   I then realized that I had never really given him a big bowl of food before.  I have always given him a plate, or finger foods on his tray.  When he placed his hand in the bowl to retrieve a banana slice, he shouted in delight. 
It was awesome.  I think I'll have to give him a bowl more often! 

Maverick is too cute when we go shopping.   We stroll along and he sits facing me, making eyes and gurgles and pointing at things excitedly.   Today, he saw this hat with a face on it.  He screamed and laughed and pointed.  "I want that hat, mommy!" he seemed to say.   I said, "does it fit?  Your head is sure getting big these days!"  So I took it and placed it on his head.  He then protested - loudly!! -and immediately pulled it off, throwing it away from the cart. 
OK... obviously he didn't think it was as much fun on his head as it was off, where he could see it!   Funny, silly Maverick.   I thought it was pretty cute, but I'm not going to buy him a hat that he only wants to look at, and not keep on his head.  
    ...Either way, thanks for being my shopping buddy today.  I hope you enjoy shopping with me as much as I enjoy being with you!   XOXOX Mommy.