Easter with my boys

Do you know my Jesus?

"He is not here, he is risen!"
Mark 16:6

...and because of the sacrifice He made on the cross and his resurrection and ascension, Jesus promises eternal life to anyone who believes, trusts and hopes in Him.  Happy Easter everyone!  This was the first Easter in at least five years where we stayed home.  Annie & Poppy were at the Heritage Golf Tournament and Ma-mere & Pa-pere were in Greensboro...so no Easter weekend in Cashiers this year.  Thompson and I made Resurrection Cookies Easter Eve and both boys were excited to see the Easter bunny visited our home overnight. 

William's Head Protector

As expected, William wants to be just like his big brother!  And biking is no different.  If in the garage, he's standing on the scooter or trying to get on T's bike.  He even brings T's helmet to us seeking help put it on.  So, we ordered him a Strider Bike and in preparation for its arrival, got WY his first helmet this morning.  (Of course, we think it might be advantageous for him to wear it throughout the day as his forehead seems to take the brunt of his falls these days.)

Blurb

Thanks to my friend Beth Spray, I learned of Blurb - a website where you can create and publish your own book.  And if you've got a blog, you can import your posts to make a book...so that's exactly what I did!  Over the past few weeks, I made four books, one dedicated to each year I've been blogging.  And while I've enjoyed scrapbooking for the past 10+ years, I think I may forego it in lieu of Blurb, getting my "comprehensive scrapbook" published at the end of each year.  It's hard to find time to scrapbook these days and it certainly doesn't capture many of the daily moments I blog about.  Plus, I love the size (7"x7") of the books I've created...perfect for archiving.  Can't wait for family and friends to enjoy perusing through them!

Easter Egg Hunt

With Easter days away, Thompson suggested we have an egg hunt in our yard.  So, yesterday afternoon, we hid eggs and set the boys loose.  We encouraged T to find the "more-hidden" eggs, leaving the "easy" ones for William.  And for William's first egg hunt, he fared well...better than Thompson at the same age I believe as I remember T being more interested in picking up pine straw than eggs. At the conclusion of the hunt, we sat in the grass to discover the goodies tucked inside - starburst, smarties and orange slices.

How William enjoys ice cream

...clinching the bowl in his hand while trying to shovel the "good stuff" from the bowl to his mouth.  And just when you think he's done, he puts the rim of the bowl to his mouth and tries to drink every last drop of melted ice cream!

It must be trash day!

If Thompson's lucky enough, we're home Tuesdays when the garbage truck makes its round through our neighborhood.  For months now (perhaps nearly a year), the garbage men have invited Thompson onto the truck's back step to help them dump the trash.  In doing so, he's learned what each of the levers do and how to operate them.  Over the past couple weeks, there has been a new guy working the back, so Thompson has observed from the driveway knowing he doesn't know Thompson often helps dump the trash.  Well, this week, the driver came to back of the truck, informed the new garbage man of Thompson's role, instructed Thompson stand on the step and show the new guy how he could operate the controls by himself.  And if that was enough...he then made sure Thompson went to the other side to empty the second garbage can attached to the dumping mechanism.  What a Tuesday!

Spring Break Recap

We spent the past week in Cashiers at Annie and Poppy's house for Spring Break.  No "big" plans, but figured a change of scenery would be nice for the week.  With Thompson's school running Monday through Thursday, vacation began on Friday!  So, to recap...

Day 1 (Fri) - drove to Cashiers, Rusticks-stop, lunch at Subway, played outside Annie and Poppy's house in the afternoon, trip to library, drove-by the fire station (met Fire Chief Randy who invited us to return next week for a tour of the facility and ride in a fire truck), introduced to Bo-Bo and Be-Be (cardinals that enjoy Annie and Poppy's bird seed), Aunt Allison arrived from Atlanta

Day 2 - morning outing at the Village Play, golf outing with Poppy (and joined by Allison and Annie), played in the creek beside Annie and Poppy's house, dinner at Chattooga Club sans T and WY, watched/fed Bo-Bo and Be-Be

Day 3 - church, golf outing with Poppy (and joined by Annie and Bobby), watching of the Masters, watched/fed Bo-Bo and Be-Be

Day 4 - visited Lonesome Valley to see Sheila, explored the nature trail that runs behind the Village Play, playground time, Rusticks-stop, ice cream at SweeTreats with Poppy, Highland Hiker for new kicks for T, watched/fed Bo-Bo and Be-Be

Day 5 - visited Merrie-Woode, library, Rusticks-stop, played at home due to dreary weather, watched/fed Bo-Bo and Be-Be

Day 6 - fire department experience (Chief Randy was ready for us and glad to see we returned.  He spent a good hour with the boys!  When T indicated he wanted to ride in the ladder truck, Randy said that was an excellent choice, so T rode shot-gun as he drove us around town.  WY enjoyed his time at the station and in the truck as well), story time at the library, Rusticks-stop, lunch at Wendy's, watched/fed Bo-Bo and Be-Be

Day 7 - morning at Ma-mere and Pa-pere's mountain house, watched the guys with the blowers for +30 minutes, Sapphire Valley playground, Rusticks-stop, driving range with Poppy, watched/fed Bo-Bo and Be-Be, returned home to CBL

We ended up leaving a day early as Annie got sick last night and the doctor confirmed this afternoon she had strep throat.  Poor Annie!  We are praying for a speedy recovery.  We'll spend tomorrow getting settled back into our routine.  T has two birthday parties this weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday, and Bobby will be heading to Columbia Sunday with some guys to catch a Gamecock baseball game.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I failed to comment on how fascinated William was with Bo-Bo and Be-Be. Without a doubt, watching the birds was his favorite Spring Break activity. It seemed every free moment, he was grabbing someone's finger and walking them to the front door, pointing at the bird seed (indicating you need to go outside and put it on the banister), then walking inside to shut the door and standing at the window to see if the birds would come. Thanks Bo-Bo and Be-Be!

"I Wanted to Say"

This is, by-far, Thompson's most coined phrase these days.  We successfully ended the "but you know what" era that seemed to last most of 2010 and have now found ourselves in the "I wanted to say" era.  "I wanted to say" I can't begin to count the number of times this phrase precedes what T tells us.  "I wanted to say" I need to work on breaking this one, but wonder what will be next?

Early Potty Training???

In an attempt to help diaper rash WY got earlier today, I took his pants and diaper off this afternoon to let his little red tush breathe as he played in Annie and Poppy's carport and driveway.  As he and T were playing, he kept lifting his shirt up and looking down as if something were to happen.  So I said, "Can you make pee-pee come out?"  He looked, took his stance with bent knees, and lo-and-behold, out came pee-pee.  Needless to say, I was shocked!  I think William was so proud of himself so he kept walking around, pulling up his shirt, stopping, I'd ask him the question and he'd pee.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not nearly ready to conquer potty training, but perhaps this is a sign it'll come easy.

Growing Boys

It seems as though every-passing day we discover the many ways T and WY are growing and maturing. So, to highlight...

William is quite the comic. We always thought Thompson was funny, but with William in the picture, we think Thompson is more witty while William is down-right funny!  His communication skills continue to improve and it is becoming the norm to find him signing and speaking simultaneously.  But when he doesn't get his way, boy can he throw a tantrum! They are a sight to observe...he sits down, throws himself on the floor and then squirms around a bit.  Thankfully, they are short-lived.  To say William loves the outdoors would be an understatement.  He fusses most times we have to transition indoors.  He enjoys playing in the dirt, helping me garden, and being anywhere Thompson is.  This past week marked his first walk around the "loop" in our neighborhood.  While it took 45 minutes, he walked every step of the way.   William has also developed a keen interest in Thompson's bike and scooter.  And believe it or not, understands how they work, even though he can't manipulate them exactly.  I found him yesterday pushing T's bike around in the garage and wearing his helmet.  When it comes to listening, very few sounds go unnoticed...especially buses, airplanes, birds and dogs.  And finally, on a similar note, William has amazed us with his recognition of musical instruments.  It started with listening to some musicians on YouTube and now, whenever he hears the sound of a guitar, we find him pretending he's strumming a guitar.  Another musical child, perhaps?

As for Thompson, he is most proud he has finally said "good-bye" to the nightly pull-ups.  Once he could go 5 consecutive nights keeping his pull-up dry, then he could wear underwear at night.  I think we are on night 20...yeah!  He's been most excited about the surprise set of Star Wars underwear he received on day 10 as a reward for making the transition.  We just have to remind him to tell people about the underwear and not show them off!  Thompson is beginning to read, which is awesome!  He is also starting to demonstrate an interest in a variety of sports as we find him practicing softball, soccer, golf and basketball.  Of course, he still enjoys Star Wars and Legos.  Interestingly, he is eager to learn the signs taught on William's sign language DVDs.  Thompson still experiences "happy-sad" moments and surprised me this afternoon when he had one at the conclusion of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.  To summarize, he was moved at the father-son relationship between Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) and his son Luke Skywalker.  Vader kills the Emperor to protect Luke and then asks Luke to remove his mask so he can see Luke with his own eyes, which means Vader will die.  Luke has to let his father go and as the movie concludes, Luke sees the spirits of Anakin Skywalker (his father as the good Jedi he was before becoming a Sith Lord), Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda.  It provided a great teachable moment to talk about how much Thompson loves his daddy and visa versa.

Summer or Winter?

It's hard to believe the boys were in their swimsuits yesterday for an afternoon of water fun with friends Lilly and Nora Cumbie...and today they are bundled in their winter fleece coats, mittens and hats!

 

Disney Magic

Yesterday afternoon, Annie and Poppy took Thompson to see "Disney Live! Mickey's Magic Show" at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, SC.  From all accounts, they had a fantastic time and I think the magic and illusion fascinated Thompson.  Afterwards, they returned to Asheville where they had dinner at Brixx Pizza.  And, of course, no outing with Poppy is complete until you've had ice cream (or dessert of some kind!), so they topped off their evening at Cold Stone Creamery where Thompson had cotton candy ice cream "since [he] had cotton candy at the show."

Honey

Yesterday over lunch, Bobby asked me to get him something from the kitchen and I used the endearing term "Honey" to repsond to him.  Thompson inquired, "Why do you call him 'Honey'?"  So we talked about how it is a name I use for daddy since I love him, just as we have endearing nicknames for Thompson.  We asked, "what does daddy call mommy?"  Thompson's response, "Babe."  He then paused for a few seconds and replied, "So there are two honeys, the kind we have in our pantry and what you call daddies."