Easter 2011

The days leading up to Easter Sunday were eventful, so I was truly grateful not to have to travel. I planned an Easter brunch for our Houston family which now includes both Liam's aunt and uncle. I could not be more thrilled they are both so close and have the opportunity to be such a huge part of Liam's life.

Liam has been blessed with a crazy fun, racecar driving uncle who is incredible with him. Whenever Uncle Steven walks through the door, his legs start kicking and his dimples reach maximum capacity. They are going to get into so much trouble together! My brother's love for my son is overwhelming to me. If I had dreamed of the relationship that the two of them would have, it would not have been big enough. They instantly bonded and seeing them interact fills me up with happiness to the moon and back.

Aunt Nolie lives up to her name, Magnolia! "Splendid beauty and dignity." Maggie is beautiful both inside and out and Liam lights up whenever she comes for a visit. She loves Liam like he was her own and anything that boy wants... she gets. The way she spoils him and cares for him warms my heart. I always know he is in the very best hands when she comes to babysit! I know Bill feels the very same about his sister.

After falls and cuts and infection and fever, we were unsure of how our Easter morning would turn out. When we woke up Easter morning to Liam's playful chatter in his crib, we knew it would turn out to be a wonderful Easter. And it was.

Pappa, my dad, always insisted that the Easter bunny ring the doorbell and leave the baskets by the door. Even though both his parents passed before meeting their great-grandson, I know they were smiling down upon us as we carried on their family tradition.

Luckily I planned ahead the night before and laid out all of our Easter outfits so that we could enjoy the excitment of watching Liam as he discovered all of the treasures the Easter bunny had left.

Despite my efforts, I played a little too long and we were running behind as usual! When we went to drop Liam at the church nursery he had moved up a class. New class. New teachers. New Friends. New fears. And mommy got paged. When I looked down to see the flashing pager, my heart jumped into my chest. I raced out of church as fast as my legs would carry me, taking off into a sprint as soon as I hit the chapel doors. A million terrible thoughts crossed my mind. Liam has never cried so much to be paged. Not when we drop him off at school, not at the church nursery, not with the babysitter... Of course something aweful has happened. As I burst through the nursery and scoop up my red-faced toddler with eyes swollen of tears I immediately start checking is body for signs of some type of trauma. Nope. Just mamma drama. What a relief! I can only conclude that with all our ER activity and rush to drop him off with new faces, he got a little overwhelmed and maybe a little scared. We spent the rest of the Easter sermon on mommy's lap eating cheerios and listening to the award winning artist Wayne Watson belt out the most incredible hymns. Yes, Wayne Watson goes to our church. Yes, every Sunday he plays the grand piano as he fills the chapel with his voice. No, I do not take that for granted. I know we are blessed. I soak it all in and there was a part of me that was glad I was paged so that Liam could listen and be touched by the beautiful music on Easter Sunday.

 Liam fell asleep on the drive home. We carefully laid him in his crib, while I started brunch and the Aunt and Uncle Bunny hid all the eggs!

When Liam woke up from his nap, he was greeted with a racecar Easter basket from you know who! It was filled with all kinds of treats including sugar free peeps! Liam especially enjoyed the vroom noise it played when you pushed the button.

Then it was time for the big hunt! Liam toddled up to each of the eggs showing preference to the red ones!

Of course we had to point at each of the eggs that we found!

And then, from across the lawn.. just as I was about to put my camera away, it happened. My favorite Easter moment. Maybe one of my favorite photos of my precious boys. The love between a father and son.

We spent the rest of the afternoon blowing bubbles and drawing with chalk.

And we took a little time out to Skpe with the grandparents!

Happy Easter!