Sunday, April 24, 2011

Some Easter Highlights









So.... we made it through Easter. I stayed away from the computer completely from Friday night at bedtime until tonight at six... but here are a few highlights from Saturday and Sunday:

***Kyle and Christy taking us out to dinner and having great uninterrupted conversation while the rest of the kids did fine here having pizza...

***Salinda falling asleep and trusting Gabby with us while Henry took Tony to the Y. She spent a long time on Bart's lap figuring out how to open plastic Easter Eggs and feeding candy to her Grandpa. She's very inquisitive and intentional. Her personality reminds me a log of how Salinda was when she was little.

***Playing a family game with almost everyone. Christy, our oldest son Kyle's wife, who is teaching kindergarten right now catching herself saying to everyone, "I'll know you're ready to play when everyone's quiet."

*** Having Tony, Leon, Sadie and Rand all willing to be at the church by 6 a.m. to have a part in the Sunrise service. The youth did a great job.

*** Having Sadie's friend announce quite loudly on in the second pew at the church, "Well, I'm not self conscious!" and bursting into quite loud laughter.

*** Leon leaning over to me and whispering, "Wilson has a jelly bean in his butt crack." Apparently, Leon had put one down the back of his shirt and it just kept falling. I don't think that most mom's heard that this morning.

*** Watching Dominyk do a great job accolyting.

*** Seeing eight of my sons in ties and white or blue shirts.

*** Getting my first kiss from Isaac. He's so cute! You ask him "Isaac, give me a kiss" and he reaches in and grabs both cheeks with both hands and comes in for a kiss. Heart melting. Seriously.

*** Bart's sermon as he instructed us to "Run Away and Never Come Back" -- to run away with Jesus from our selfishness, pain, sin and addictions and never come back.

*** Having 11 of my 12 children choose to be with us for both church and dinner and to have Courtney and Isaac here even if John is in jail. And not a single one of those visiting said anything negative or critical to us as parents.

*** Seeing my husband interact with both of his grandchildren at the same.

*** Having Sadie choose to sit by me in church and snuggle and hold my hand at her initiative even though she's 16...

*** Having so many of my kids willingly help get dinner on the table.

*** Bribing Ricardo to smile in family pictures.

*** Having everyone seem to enjoy each other and those who don't live here leave wanting to come back.

*** Having an uninterrupted nap and an incredibly calm evening as most have napped or quietly watched TV.

Lots more photos on Facebook -- including shots of Bart and I each getting Isaac kisses!

It was a much better weekend than anticipated and I'm grateful!

4 comments:

GB's Mom said...

Glad you had such a weekend!

robyncalgary said...

i cannot begin to express my favourite parts of this post, absolutely everything. the pictures are SO great, thank you for sharing! both grandbabies together, what a great thing.

and ricardo smiling?!?! wild. tell him it looks good on him :)

and so nice for courtney to come :)

and salinda's looking well, and gabby! oh my goodness. what a treasure

and isaac kisses?! what a sweetie! i think hes right around the same age as my younger daughter, my heart bursts when she nuzzles into my neck and hugs, kisses will be so fun when she gets there!

ok im going on and on. like i said theres just so much i love about these highlights :) thanks for sharing. happy easter to you and yours <3

Anonymous said...

New tattoo for Mike?

Claudia said...

Can't keep up with Mike's tattoes.