Easter Escapades

Another post that's overdue, but you all know me! Honestly, I was not like this BC (before children). I made it to places on time and always turned in my homework on time. Now I'm beginning to realize that this "caught up" status I am constantly striving for is always going to be just out of my reach. Oh well, the blessings of motherhood have far outweighed the struggles...and here are some of those blessings, now!

Easter Sunday we spent at John's aunt and uncle's with his side of the family. They just moved to a really neat property on a small lake near Cedar Lake. So we did the traditional Mehok egg hunt there, and Julia had a blast. John got to be off for this holiday, so we were fortunate to have him with us. I'm feeling too tired to think up captions on all these, so use your imagination!

Mehok Memories

This post is long overdue, therefore it's also outreageously long because the pictures just keep piling up. Even as I type, there are more that I need to get from Marlene and post because they're adorable. Anyway, I guess I should explain myself. A couple months ago Julia had her first sleepover at Tony and Marlene's. Naturally, I was the only one that shed any tears that night. Even at well over a year old, it was hard to spend that first night without her. She had a ball, though. Since then, it's pretty much become a weekly thing. They have all kinds of adventures and I get tons of pictures to see what they did. These are some highlights from the last few sleepovers, courtesy of Marlene and her camera.

Pulling on Papa's boots. I love the look of strain on her face.

I love this one. I think they were on the golf cart at the moment.

I wish I could adequately spell out Julia's pronunciation of the word "chicken", but I wouldn't do it any justice. It's hilarious. As soon as we pull in the driveway to visit she sees the chickens and even blows them kisses. Every day she's there, they let the chickens out and collect the eggs. Julia carries them in a little bucket. On this particular day, the egg she is showing off became breakfast the next morning.

Mmmm...

Oh! It's a rock! Isn't that the most exciting thing you've seen all day?!

Marlene has become masterful at taking pictures like these where you hold the camera out and take one of yourself. I should make a collage of all the ones she's taken of herself with Julia, there are a lot of good ones.

You'd better sit down for these next few. I swear this child eats like a horse, she's just so skinny! I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure why she's naked, but I do know that she loves to run around without clothes on. At home, whenever I strip her down for bathtime she loves to squirm away from me and get in a bit of streaking before I catch her. Apparantly she made off with an Easter basket this time.

Look at those muscles!

There's no shortage of facial expressions here!

Saying her prayers. Notice that her mouth appears to be full already. Oh well, we can't be perfect!

Marlene bought Julia a pretty dress for her visit to the Easter bunny. They took some pictures first, and it's a good thing, because...

...she screamed for the bunny! I expected as much, which was why I consented to let Grandma take her while I was at work. (I didn't have it in me to make her go to Santa when she freaked out.) She will laugh at this picture one day, right?

Yes, she is about to do what you think she's about to do.

Julia's first egg dyeing experience. Marlene changed her into an outfit she had at her house, but surprisingly enough, she told me later that it all washed out.

Her hand was only slightly blue when I picked her up.

Apparantly, she wasn't too crazy about being dyed herself. She loves baths though, and that's what followed.

The finished product. It's hard to tell, but the yellow one closest to her hand has a bite taken out of it, shell and all. I'm sure someone had fun fishing that out of her mouth!

Mmmm... Chocolate bunny kisses. If only all kisses were chocolate!

Well of course she's smiling. Wouldn't you, if someone just gave you the biggest piece of candy you've ever seen in your life? No wonder she never wants to come home!

At least she's generous!

But, it's okay to have chocolate bunny for dinner when you have corn on the cobb for dessert! Only at Grandma's.

When she spends the night at Papa and Gaga's, Julia knows that first thing in the morning Grandma sits in her chair to read her Bible. They've gotten used to doing it together.

When Julia stays the night on a Monday, sometimes she tags along with Grandma to her crocheting club on Tuesday morning. I expect she'll be making me blankets and wash clothes any day now.

Such concentration.

Unexpected Smiles

Don't get me wrong. I knew before I began this whole adventure called motherhood that there would be many happy times. I expected them in fact. There have been moments on this journey that I have looked forward to with great anticipation and I've not been disappointed. As an expectant mother I anxiously awaited that first moment that I could feel the small life inside me moving, and when that moment came, I smiled to myself. I counted the days until I would get to hold her in my arms, and when I did, I smiled. And in the year and a half since Julia's arrival, the smiles haven't stopped coming. Watching her grow and play, passing all those important milestones, she has brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart, just as I had hoped she would. But... There have been many unexpected smiles along the way, too. Moments I couldn't have predicted. Things that have caught me by surprise and so tickled me that I smile to myself or even laugh out loud. So here they are, some snapshots that I carry in my mind and pull up from my memory whenever I need to remember just how much I love my job.

John and I chose to find out the sex of our baby at my first ultrasound, about halfway through the pregnancy. We were too impatient to wait for a surprise and it was nice to be able to refer to her as a "she" instead of "it", and even call her by name before she arrived. There was a downside to this knowledge, however. We are blessed with a large family, church family, and group of friends, most of which heard the word "girl" and immediately ran out to buy something pink. I will never forget the first time I laundered a load of baby clothes. When I pulled the lint trap out of the dryer, I laughed out loud. Pink. Completely pink. And even now, a year and a half later, it's just now getting to where it isn't so totally pink anymore. To be honest, I look forward to seeing the pink lint, and I smile to myself each time I do. I even enjoy folding all the tiny clothes, because I am reminded of how blessed I am to have a daughter and how fortunate we are to be able to provide for her. God is good. (All these emotions from a wad of dryer lint, tell me motherhood hasn't made me go soft!) ~

Picture this. A young mother, desperate for a moment of privacy from a daughter who is now mobile, crawling after said mother everywhere she goes to try to get some bit of housework accomplished, locks herself in the bathroom, contemplating whether it's safe to take a shower while dear daughter is roaming about the house. Thinking she has pulled one over on the child and managed to sneak away, she sits down on the toilet in the quiet bathroom to enjoy her moment alone. Lost in her thoughts, staring blankly ahead, she notices something move out of the corner of her eye. Snapping out of her trance, she turns her head quickly to the door, to the gap at the bottom of the door, where a tiny hand is moving from side to side, trying in vain to reach her. Suddenly, the moment alone isn't so important at all, and not nearly as fun as getting down on her hands and knees and pressing her face to the floor to peer at the infant on the other side of the door doing the same thing. And the look of joy on the child's face as her eyes connect with her mother's, realizing she has found what she is looking for... forever etched in my memory bank right alongside the image of the tiny hand reaching for me. ~

I'm sure, if they're honest, most people would have to admit that they sing aloud when they're alone in the car, whether or not it is a joyful noise to anyone but our dear heavenly Father! I'm guilty of this, of course, the only difference being that I'm rarely alone in the car anymore. No matter though, I sing out for my dear daughter to hear, thankful that she's still to young to tell me I sound bad or get embarrassed and ask me to stop. I will never forget the day that she did make make me stop, though, right in middle of a line, I paused to hear the most beautiful sound. My daughter was singing! Barely old enough to speak, with a vocabulary of only a few words, she showed me that you don't need words to sing, only a willing heart. And the monotone "ah's" ringing out in my child's sweet, small voice are the loveliest lyrics I've ever heard. She brought a tear to my eye that day, and a smile to my heart. ~

A Swing and a Slide

More from St.Patty's Day. We played in the back yard for a while, too. Julia wasn't thrilled with the swing. She mostly whined and reached for me to take her out, but she liked to watch Kristen swing high next to her. So she'd look at me and whine, then look over at Kristen and smile, then look at me and whine, etc. What a goofball.

The slide, on the other hand, she loved. I would think that would have been scarier than the swing, but what do I know? Maybe she's a thrill-seeker, uh oh!

Remember, you can click on these to enlarge them and see the anticipation on her face as Kristen starts to pull her down.

Ready...

Set...

Go!

She would laugh the whole way down, skidding sideways, one foot stuck, or whatever, didn't matter.

Julia's most favorite thing in the back yard? You guessed it, rocks! Little pea gravel to be exact. She would get a whole handful of rocks, carry them around, throw them down the slide, get some more, on and on.
Thought process... Hmmm...I really think I'd like to play with that ball, but then I might have to let go of some of these rocks. It sure is a fun looking ball, but no, these rocks are too valuable and new and exciting to part with. Besides, they're covered in...

DIRT! And I love dirt!

It's okay because Mommy says, "God made dirt and dirt don't hurt!"

Good news... the slide is considerably cleaner!