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Friday, April 17

he is 3 today. at 12:59 pm, to be exact.

he was my most difficult labor. he was our largest baby (weight & length). he was our most difficult baby (to this point, spencer may change her mind).

he has a great sense of humor. he has the most giving heart. he has a very mathematical mind.

he loves me like no one else loves me. it is so true what they say about boys and their mommas.

he loves cookie monster, woody from toy story, hot blue (name he made up for royal blue, equilavent to his sister's favorite color, hot pink.), cheese, blueberries, milk, pockets and his sisters.

he loves these pants (would wear them everyday) and giraffes and rain boots.

he loves reading books, putting together puzzles and building with blocks.

he runs everywhere.

i love to hear him pronounce words like william & binoculars. i love the way he misuses pronouns and starts many sentences with " i no want . . "

he is precious to us. he stole our hearts that day three years ago and we couldn't imagine the world without him. happy birthday, buddy! we love you!

2

Monday, April 13

goodies from the bunny.

cookie . . .

and candy

then, we headed to church. after church, we went to my parents' house for an egg hunt and lunch. it was supposed to be the other way around, but we hurried out before the rain came. i promised the kids they would get to have their own egg hunt at meme and papaw's house and i wasn't about to make them miss that one, too. so, off they ran . . .

miller found a blue egg with money didn't want it-what?

note, he is doing his best chevy chase in caddyshack.

he put it back. then, proclaimed to all, "hey, i no want money in my egg."

guess who did! until miller realized he did want money in his egg. watch out, girl!

spencer spent the time blowing bubbles and freezing her tail off while they hunted.

then, a family portrait

lunch, please! we spent the rest of the day like most of you did, i assume-watching golf and hanging out with family. it was nice to just sit and not have to be anywhere. i feel like the only time we observe like the sabbath is intended to be observed is on holidays when everything is closed.

by the way, the following conversation occurred in the car on the way to my parents' house:

me: what did you learn about in sunday school today?

miller: a cross and a tomb

me: who was on the cross

carter: jesus

miller: and the tomb. and two women were sad and crying.

me: then what happened?

carter: he is alive!

the easter story told by my children in its simplest form. and, that is all you need to know.

hectic holiday

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i have the best intentions. i really do. i try to plan ahead, but before you know it, it is the last minute and i am rushing to get things done. luckily, i usually pull it off, but it doesn't mean things don't get lost in the shuffle. this year, with a new baby, easter the week before a birthday, and josh's busy season starting in february, i have been a bit off my game.

on thursday, miller missed his easter egg hunt at school because it was moved up and mommy was franticly trying to get teacher gifts, extra eggs for other classes, bottles for spencer, and every other thing under the sun done before drop off. it broke my heart! i literally threw him over a fence while kids grabbed all the eggs off the playground. he looked like a deer in headlights. i felt horrible. the thing was-i checked the schedule on tuesday because i knew i would be late with all the stuff i had committed to, but they moved it up and i am still sad about it.

so, fast forward to saturday morning, and i realize we haven't gone to see the easter bunny. ugh! seriously?? but we plan to go to the botanic gardens for their annual easter event, so i deal with it. we put the kids down for an early nap, wake them up, and get them dressed in time for the egg hunt. we get there just as their age group finishes. ugh! seriously?? i am about to lose it! but, josh decides we will just let them fight it out in the 6-9 year old age group. josh strategizes with them and they head out:

together

miller grabs a blue egg

carter stops to wave

they are too sweet and naive to participate in this age group-look at the "kid" on the right. do you see him buttoning up his shirt after stuffing it full of eggs? really??

carter makes her way back, but where is miller??

there he is

mommy to the rescue. he was heart broken because other kids got blue eggs, too. he wanted them all. bless his heart! his little basket had 6 blue eggs in it. i felt horrible! still do . . .

quality time opening eggs made everyone feel better, so we headed off to see what else we could find.

carter posing in the tulips. where did she learn this pose?

trying to teach miller how to pose

not interested

so sweet

the bunny picture, after much coercion.

obstacle cours

sack races

bunny faces

and, we finished the day off with cotton candy and snow cream. it ended much better than it began, thank goodness!

*we didn't forget we have three children, but spencer slept through the entire event.

how to dye eggs 04.09

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we dyed eggs with the tillmans again this year. it was a bit more chaotic than last year having added two babies, but the more the merrier, right?

with 4 adults and 5 kids, we tried to be organized. each adult helped a big kid while josh took pictures. but when spencer demanded that she be fed, miller was left fending for himself.

attempting to dye his hand yellow

avery and her foofa egg

ms. jennifer shows off her mad skills while helping carter

miller thought we said egg drop

after all eggs were dyed, we busted out the paas color sticks. they are so much fun! plus, they help disguise all the eggs that turned a weird shade of brown from "suicide" dying (you know, where you dip the egg in every color dye).

avery channeling her inner jackson pollack

miller "writing" his name

carter's finished piece of art

it took miller and avery approximately 2 seconds to "decorate" all their eggs, so they headed off to play. i put spencer in charlie's carseat to help carter and when i turned around, miller was doing this:

poor spencer. she just sat there like the little doll he was treating her as.

and, after being left there for longer than expected, she did what any baby would, she put it in her mouth. bless her heart-couldn't someone at least put clothes on her??