Catch Up (Ketchup?) Time!

As I did last year, I gave up "leisure internet use" again this year for Lent. It may sound odd to give up internet because most people give up certain types of food or drink, but I find it more meaningful. My mistake this year was that I forgot to let people know I was going to "disappear" for a while. Sorry about that!

Here's what you've missed out on!


At the end of January, we attended a Bridal Shower for my cousin, Matt and his fiancé, Stefanie. Emily is going to be the flower girl for this wedding so it was extra fun!



Later that evening, we got to surprise Ryan at his 18th birthday party. Emily was pumped to be able to surprise him and on top of that she got to play with some new friends at the party. Ryan is such a great big brother. He had a lot of family and school buddies at his party and still spent extra time with Emily which made her feel so special. They really do have a special brother-sister bond considering there is 15 years difference between them. It's very heartwarming to watch them together.



We had more cold weather and snow than normal. So, to help fight the winter blahs, we broke out the play-doh a few times.




Emily spent a little more time working on phone etiquette this winter. This particular night she wanted to talk to Nannie before bedtime. We happened to buy some curlers earlier that same day... who could resist taking a picture of this?




Now that Ryan is still going to high school full-time and working a part-time job on top of that, we haven't been able to spend as much time with him this school year. We spent an evening at Dave & Buster's with Ryan. Emily was intrigued by the air hockey table. She had a blast playing against another girl her age while Ryan and I looked on.














Fast forward to Easter. As I mentioned earlier, Emily is going to be the flower girl in my cousin's wedding. I thought it would be fun to make her dress for the wedding and since it's been a while since I've sewn a formal (my own wedding dress - almost 10 years ago!?!) I thought it might be wise to make a practice dress using the same pattern. Enter: Easter Dress. It's not made of any fancy material, just plain ol' cotton. But I wanted to be familiar with the pattern and instructions before I sewed on white satin. Emily was very patient with me and after about 4 evenings we had a dress.

A few days before Easter, I realized we didn't have shoes or tights to go with the Easter or flower girl dress. We went shoe shopping together and found a pair of strappy sandals that would work but have been a little tight on her toes. Just as we were getting ready to leave, I spotted another pair that would work much better. Em tried them on and said, "LOOK! Mommy, they have hips!" "Sorry, what did you say?" "Hips! Mommy, they have hips!" "Can you say that again? I don't understand."

At this point in her life, she's used to my ignorance. She's gotten very good at finding other ways to describe or even pantomime what she's talking about. Being ever so brilliant, she points directly at the heels. "See Mommy? Hips!" "Oooooh. Baby, those are called heels."

Here's my girl on Easter morning with her new dress and her "hips".




After our Easter service at church, we spent the early part of our afternoon at Uncle Chuck and Aunt Connie's house with our extended family. The food and family were fabulous and the weather was spectacular. When everyone was done eating, we got to take the kids outside for an Easter egg hunt.


I think this was the first year that I could just turn Em loose and let her run on her own. It was great to sit back and watch their excitement.








Well, maybe I should have supervised a little closer. Emily found a stash of golf balls that were filling a hole in the yard. Eggs! Hmmmm, I wonder how those got there? I'm pretty sure she realized they weren't eggs, but she kept reaching into the hole and finding more and more golf balls. There might have been 6 or 8 balls in that hole! Surprise!




This one was set up to be a great picture... but you know... kids and sun in the eyes... doesn't always work like you hope it will! ...well that, and her cousin in the blue dress behind her had previously been pulling the hem of her dress up to her eyebrows and I was laughing too hard to snap the "good" picture.



After the fun at the Easter egg hunt, we ventured to Utica to hang out with the other side of our family. Em loves getting to play with her cousins, Jeffrey and Rachel. (On a side note: The crowns were part of Em's Easter basket and she took them to each party to share with her cousins.) Again, I think this was one of the first family functions that I was able to let Emily play on her own most of the time and just check in on her occasionally. She did great and Tom and I got to enjoy grown-up conversations with our families!


Easter's over now and Emily has initiated a LOT of conversations (almost daily) about Heaven, Jesus and God. She's been asking things like:

"Where's Heaven?"

"Can we go to Heaven now?"

"Can I see God?"

"Is that Heaven?" (while pointing to a field with a pretty sunset)

"Maybe there's popsicles in Heaven! Maybe there's jumping beds in Heaven! Maybe... MAYbe..... MAYBE..... (and then in a whisper) there's CAKE in Heaven!"

"Why did Jesus die?"

"I don't want Jesus to die."

"Can we be with Jesus all day in Heaven?"

We do our best to answer her questions. She gets a lot of it... but it's hard to phrase things for a 3-year old to understand. Well... a 3-year old that still thinks Shrek, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and other stories are found in her Bible.