Pictures From Raleigh Easter

Caed showing Mason his spoils (1 egg)



















Brad "helping" Caed climb a tree















What a big boy!

My First Mother's Day

Last year, I got a rose at church on Mother's Day since I was already a mommy to the unborn Caedmon in my womb, but this year it was for real ... I am really a mommy and I'm so thankful to have this blessing in my life!

And what a lucky mommy I am! Caedmon and Brad woke up and made a delicious breakfast of strawberry crepes .... yummy, yum, yum, yum! (Caedmon had to take his 9am nap of course, but he dictated his wishes to Brad and Brad carried them out :). Then, we met my mom and brother at church and spent the rest of the day with them over at mom's house. This was the first mother's day in a long time that all 4 of us, now Caedmon, were together ... it was very special!

As I was getting Caedmon up from his early afternoon nap, I noticed an envelope in his pack-n-play that said "Mommy". I opened it and found an adorable card and some really cute pictures of Caed and Brad. (Brad wanted to give me some pictures of Caed and me, but those pictures are very hard to come by since I'm usually the one taking all the pictures.) Here's the one that I like the best:
(It was taken right before we went to Pullen Park on Saturday ... the boys and their red hats.)

As I thought about being a mom yesterday verse 28 from Proverbs 31 continued to come to my mind: "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." Not that I'm solely seeking blessing and praise from Caedmon and Brad, but the thought that on this day in 40+ years, I want to be able to look back over my life, see how God has grown me and shaped me into the woman in Proverbs 31, see how He has enabled me to raise and care for my family well, teach them of the glories of God and love my husband well. To be able to know whole-heartily that my family loves Jesus and chooses to use their lives to glorify Him because of how God shaped them through their years at home will be amazing! This is my prayer. And for all of you moms out there, I pray this for you as well.

Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo!

In case you missed my Facebook update yesterday, here's a picture of Caedmon celebrating Cinco de Mayo.
As you can see, he has his trusty paci and cellphone in hand. I was actually trying to bribe him with the phone so he'd take his focus off the hat and let me keep it on his head long enough for a picture. Sadly, the long strings and weight of the hat were too much and it took me several shots to even get this photo :). (Notice his hand placed strategically under the side brim, ready for a quick jerk to take it off.)

After C's "photo shoot" in the morning, I decided that in honor of Cinco de Mayo, it would be fun for us to have a fun Mexican-style dinner. So, I busted out my Mexican cooking magazine and went directly to my rabbit-earred page in the middle -- sweet potato stuff aneheim peppers ... yum! I added all the ingredients to my grocery list, but once I realized all that I had to do before dinner, I realized that the stuffed peppers weren't a realistic option ... so, I decided to get the majority of the ingredients for the peppers and make some type of quesadilla filling instead. If we wouldn't have had the scary threat of a tornado, dinner would have been ready on time, but it was still quite delicious. If I'm allowed to toot my own horn, these quesadillas were some of the best I've made ... sweet potato and black bean ones that is ... emmm. I feel that lately I'm becoming more comfortable mixing a variety of flavors together ... it makes my experimental cooking more fun and a whole lot more successful. That's at least my opinion, should you probably talk to Brad and see what he has to say about the matter :)

Caed's First Easter

Easter weekend 2009 began with a surprise day off for Brad that gave us time to go over to Mom's new house, in Raleigh might I add :), and help her unpack, organize the kitchen and help her build the "Pooch Deck." Well, I shouldn't use the word "we" in all the activities above since Brad did all of the hard labor on the deck, as well as mount the tv above the fireplace, replace old light fixtures with new ones and install a fan. Did I leave anything out? I on the other hand just installed shelf liner in the kitchen. All activities are comparable, right? Not quite ... great work Brad!!!

Here's a video of Caedmon before we headed over to Mom's on Friday. He's sitting in his Pamper's box and having a great time hitting the flaps.

Then, on Saturday, we went downtown to participate in the first leg of Raleigh Easter, the Vintage21-sponsored Easter Egg Hunt, and it all started with Caedmon's orange balloon ... this was Caedmon's first experience with a balloon. What a simple form of entertainment.

He pulled the string, bounced it off his head and just gazed at it!









We also participated in the 0-2 egg hunt and Caedmon, Mason and Daniel enjoyed their spoils. (1 Egg and a couple of small packages of Lemon Heads ... (they didn't eat the Lemon Heads; they just sucked on the wrapper ... real germ-conscious, I know.)







Here are a few other pictures from the hunt:









On Sunday, we enjoyed the second leg of Raleigh Easter at church as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. Here's a glimpse of what the service was like: http://worship.vintage21.com/. I have never sang "Joy to the World" on Easter but what a perfect song of celebration to capture the "joy" of the day!