Oh my. (Easter 2008)

Easter. Well, it was the typical greatness-- eggs, candy, ham, church, family, dresses. Well, that's where it got really interesting.

We let the kids get up and check out their easter baskets before getting dressed. Divide and conquer: Dad with Sam, me with Kate. Right.

Kate's been having some angst towards her changing table anyway lately-- I think it's confinement mixed with control, etc. But we got up there. Tights, no problem. Good. Good. Things are good. Okay, here's your pretty easter dress Kate! Oh boy! Woo hoo! Um, no.

Cue the screaming. I managed to get the dress over her head, quickly zipped and got her down. I tried bribing with the new pretty shoes. Oh, she loved the shoes. That was no problem. The dress, however, clearly had to go. She got down and continued screaming. She pulled on the ribbon and pulled the dress and tried to get it back over her head. I tried adding the sweater. No change. More screaming.

Stuart actually thought I'd dropped her because the screaming was so insane. I offered all of the distractions: cup, blanket, toy. No. She did actually take the blanket, but continued screaming all the way upstairs. Actually, there was a good 15 minutes, no exaggeration, of tortured screaming followed by thumb-sucking and pouting. But, when we put her in the carseat to go, it all stopped and she was fine. It was crazy. She kept the dress on the rest of the day-- until after lunch at least. I've included pictures. I am hoping to get professional ones done next week (she had some scratches on her face), but who knows if I'll get her back in that dress again!

Sam & Kate hunt for eggs

Sam and Kate before church

Sam and Kate at the Kids Table

Sam and Kate hunting for eggs in Granddad's Backyard

Kate found one!

Back in Action

The last time my parents visited, Nanny came over with them to watch a basketball game. It's been such a long year with everything she's been through-- all of the hospital stays, the broken neck, the moves. I'm not sure that I really had the faith to believe that my 91-year-old grandmother would survive all that and be back at my house for a KU game. We have been blessed beyond measure and only God could do that.

We got some pictures of Kate and her namesake. Here's one:

Textin'

Sam found an old cell phone of mine and was playing with it on his bed the other day. He actually got it turned on and was messing around with the menus. He looked so into what he was doing, I asked what he was up to.

"Just textin', mom," he said.

"What? Textin'? Where did you learn about that?" I laughed.

"You know, on tv, and just, well everyone is doing it."

"Well, don't get too excited. It's going to be quite a while until you get a phone of your own," I preemptively warned him. That and he has to learn how to read and spell and such.

Eggstravaganza

(I mean, how often is that term used during the Easter season? Does anyone find it original and clever anymore?)

Our church had a plain old Easter Egg Hunt scheduled for Saturday, and wouldn't you know it was rainy and snowy and a cold mess. So they moved it inside the gymnasium of an elementary school. And it was somewhat of an extravaganza. I would call it "Kidz Street Live: Easter Edition". There was a moon walk and crafts and all sorts of games. The kids had a great time.

Sam's school was participating in the Lee's Summit St. Patrick day parade, so Stu and Sam ventured out after Kate and I went home for naps. He had a great time. Apparently some other couples adopted his cause and scavanged candy. I mean LOTS of candy. He and Stu marched along side the float and he told me they said, "Step-ping stones! We have fun!" as they marched. Grandma and granddad were along to witness the excitement. Maybe next year.

Mother of a Celebrity

We made a road trip to see Lindsay's senior day game at Drake yesterday. It was a LONG day, but the kids did great and had a terrific time. Kate didn't do a whole lot of watching, but Sam watched about half (the inflatables were rather distracting). We found out later that Sam was on the TV broadcast on Fox Sports Net on Luke's shoulders. He's quite the little fan and I bet the two of them looked cute in their Drake attire.

The real celebrity of the day was, of course, Miss Lindsay and her big game. She not only played great, but she was gracious and made it through the affair in one piece, as did the real celebrity mom, Beth. Sam was totally thrilled to ride to dinner with Luke and Lindsay. Here are a few pics: