Back-blogging: What Aaron does while Daddy grills dinner...

Back-blogging: Happy Birthday, Mama!

The end of April brought another birthday for me, and this one was pretty low key (especially compared to last year's blow-out). But the mention of ice cream was enough to lure me out of the house, so we headed to the mall for some special birthday Cold Stone. It turned out to be a surprisingly nice afternoon, given that it was a trip to the mall. We hardly ever go there as a family, so there was a certain novelty to it. And, of course, the ice cream was yummy. Aaron even got a special treat - a triple berry smoothie. He loved it!

Back-blogging: Easter 2009

I did a terrible job of documenting our Easter celebration this year. I realized that I never even got a good picture of Aaron in his Easter outfit (which was super cute!), and he's now outgrown the pants, so there's no hope of a recreating. We also missed out on egg decorating and hunting, a result of poor planning on our part. With my mom in town for the weekend, it was a hang-onto-your-hat kind of time, and none of my grand plans really came to fruition. Thank goodness for the message of grace that Easter brings!

One of the best parts of the day was worshipping with our church family. It's the first time in a long time we've felt so deeply connected to a church, and it made for a wonderful start to this joyous day.

We did have a wonderful Easter dinner with good friends the Andersons. For Rosie's version of the story, check out her blog.

The table is set, including fresh flowers from the garden. This was a sure sign of spring amidst our chilly April weather.

James wanted a picture of us together. Harder to accomplish than one might think.
Eli is ready to eat!The girls hang out in the kitchen. I've love the growing friendship between our two families.

This is quite possibly the best picture of Aaron's outfit that exists, and I didn't even take it! Add a linen blazer and matching hat, and it's almost the whole ensemble.

Back-blogging: St. Patrick's Day

Yes, I'm way behind in updating our blog. Though this post is dated in March, I'm writing it in June. :-) I'll try to get caught up on what we've been up to, so forgive me for some archival material. Hopefully the cute pics of the A-man will make it worth it.

Here's our family at the Elmhurst St. Patrick's Day parade. When we lived in Elmhurst, this parade made it's way right past our front door, so it was a lot of fun to take Aaron back to our old stompin' grounds. It was a beautiful spring day, and we really enjoyed being together. Blah, blah, blah... you know you just want to see pictures :-)



More catch-up coming soon! Stay tuned...

Have you missed me?

I'll admit I haven't been as bloggy as usual lately. But there's a good reason, I promise. Want to know why? Watch this video to find out...

Thoughts on Easter...

I'm thinking a lot about how we'll celebrate Easter this weekend, and wishing I'd given it more thought before it snuck up on me. Since I only have a few minutes before Aaron's nap comes to an end, I'll quickly get to my point: I'm worried that all the fun with Easter eggs and candy and stuffed animals is going to get confused with the reality of the day. Easter is a celebration of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection - he paid for each of our sins with his own life. So how do I keep Jesus from becoming a fictional character amidst the egg hunts and photos with the Easter bunny? Can I keep Jesus the focus of our celebrations and still partake in all the cultural trappings that come with the day? I know a lot of you out there have young children, too, and are perhaps struggling with this same question. So what's your game plan? How will you make Jesus the star of your Easter celebration?

The Bread Art Challenge

My friend Rebecca has a great challenge on her blog today, and I took her up on it. :-)

A friend of mine posted about the Bread Art Project this week, and I thought it was super cool, so I participated, and I hope you'll think about it too!

Simply visit the website for the Bread Art Project, create a piece of artwork using a photo that you upload, and $1 will be donated to Feeding America. Feeding America works to help feed the hungry in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico, and their website says that a $1 donation helps them provide 10 pounds of food to people who are hungry.

So here's my very own bread art, made from our new Sharp Images logo:

Now it's your turn! Go to the Bread Art Project for yourself, make some fun art, and help those who are hungry. And send me the link to your art when you're done. I want to see how creative some of you can be. :-)