My sweet boys,

Easter gave us a run for our money this year. We started the celebration early at Shep and Dece’s house to keep from having too packed of a sunday. We walked into their yard and I nearly cried over how special your Dece made things. From the kiddy dinosaur decor to the wind kite and music blaring it was a dream for you two. Cars and toys galore and a picnic style lunch complete with enough sugar cookies to keep you from a decent nap, Sheppard.

Darling River. You spent the entire afternoon being driven around in the remote control car by your Dad which you thought was amazing, between climbing in and out of one of Dece’s lawn chairs nearly giving me a heart attack every five minutes. You threw a few plates of food onto the grass for Evie and drank enough juice to cause a drought, but other than that you weren’t on your A game which we later found out why 🙁

Shep……good gosh did you love hunting eggs! Sweet Dece hid those eggs a thousand times for you and you acted just as excited and astonished each time you discovered one. You lined up Dinosaurs at the table for what seemed like an hour and went on an enthusiastic (probably thanks to the prior mentioned cookies) hunt inside for your Easter basket. Funny bunny glasses and some swim toys were jumbled in with candy and pez galore and you were in heaven! We walked to the park and Shep got to see you and River go down the slide between my forcing you to get a few photos in on the side. You passed out cold on the way home with those silly bunny glasses stuck on your face making your Daddy and I giggle for a solid five minutes. You made today so special! Watching you grow and be able to enjoy celebrating holidays makes my Mommy heart so happy.

Then Easter Eve came……

River. No wonder you weren’t fully into our celebration on Friday. You spent a solid day with the stomach bug and after 3pm on Saturday seemed to be on the up and up. Easter morning you were nothing but tears and shortly after baskets were sick yet again so we cancelled the day for jammies and sent Shep off to Pinson to see the greats with Honey. Speaking of that trip my little man…you had a blast! Honey sent me video after video of you hiding eggs all throughout Papaw’s house putting on quite the show for everyone. I was so happy you were able to see family and get out of the infirmary. River seemed a bit better and we needed out of the house, so Daddy and I headed to meet Honey halfway and get you back home bc we missed you so much! I talked your Daddy into stopping at Krispy Kreme for a little sympathy dessert (I like to feel sorry for myself when y’all are sick bc well, it’s gross) and I heard from the back seat “my tummy hurts!” Oh kiddo, mine did immediately too. Mine did too. I had this awful mom-tuition that you were sick and it wasn’t 2 minutes later (and mind you we hadn’t made it to the pick up window for my treasured donut) before you were projectile vomitting (too much?) all in the back seat. It was Easter so let me remind you that you’d had a lot of chocolate…..

You said over and over as we changed you in the parking lot “my mouth spilled mommy!” and I felt so sorry for your sweet little self. Funny thing is, you were cracking me up within minutes of heading home and I was once again reminded by you how to truly treasure each moment and not let it get the best of you. You got sick a lot more, but you were such a joy between the bouts and I fell more in love with you that day. Your brother was so sweet and content with staying in and played so sweet with you until you were both feeling better.

Here I was……wanting you both to enjoy the hard work I’d put into your baskets and that day. Wanting River to debut the knit outfit I’d worked tirelessly over and hoping you would throw the blanket I had sewn over your lap like you did with your Thomas one each morning and instead I got puke and a lot of tears. I felt so sorry for myself that day, but then you guys reminded me what it was about. New beginnings. Hope. Eternity. It isn’t about the clothes for church or the eggs and the hunt, it’s about being thankful that we don’t have to pay for our sins. We don’t have to spend eternity doing anything but celebrating that Jesus conquered the grave. Please keep your hearts in remembrance of that. Don’t let the “stuff” ever get you down like I tend to do. It doesn’t matter. None of it does. I’m so thankful to have you both to share the amazing life of Christ with. I smile thinking of you boys reading all about it to your children one day. I adore you both.

Xx

Mommy