Sweet Little Dear

My sister had her baby and I practically begged her to let me take newborn pictures of him.

Because one of my favorite things to do is to pretend I am a newborn photographer.

Here is a teeny little baby Wyatt, before he got his plump little cheeks.

 

A long time coming

Windowsills dripping with flowers, as they should be

Andrew made my day when he found some forsythia hiding out in our woods and brought some back for me.   Melted my heart in a puddle, he did.

Moses is a Master Stacker and stacks anything he can find.  Reorganizing and consolidating the spices

 was a major score for him.

First dinner on the porch- March 21st- and then winter came again.

Half naked babies are a sure sign that it is getting warmer.

It has been a long time coming... but the peepers and birds have come again to serenade, the blossoms swell and pop, the children don sunhats and throw off the shackles of socks and shoes, the empty windowsills sprout life and the mornings come in shades of fire and roses. 

Spring has sprung.  (It's my favorite!)

(I am FOR SURE ignoring the thin layer of white snow blanketing the rooftops yesterday morning.)

My Peanut

Andrew celebrated his 15th birthday a few days before Easter with a simple request of calzones, Doritos, funnel cake and staying up late to watch the movie Jurassic World.

He also requested an almost $200 crazy expensive Spotify watch but ain't no way that was happening (and he knew it!).

Thankfully, he is the sort of guy to be just as happy with a carb filled movie night.

The best gifts this year were from friends (the last three photos)-one even came in the mail!- and it is clear they know exactly what makes the boy tick.

He asked me later in the day why I kept taking pictures of him all day long....but doesn't a mother have a right to be sentimental about her boy?  He is growing before my very eyes and I love it and I hate it at the same time.  I want to see what is in store for him and also simultaneously to freeze time.   I am so proud of the man he is becoming and I love the boy he will always be.  

Grow those muscles, do!  And use them well for the glory of God.  

Your Mama loves you.  (And your Papa.)

Eastering

 I hope everyone had a lovely Easter!  Ours was.

The nasty storage clothes bins covered in dirt and grime and dust from the barn provided each of us with at least something springy and clean to wear (this hasn't been our first Easter rodeo) which I discovered too late to do anything about it if they hadn't anyway.

That mess of a counter at the beginning of this post turned itself into beautiful loaves of egg bread, dozens of copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls with honey cinnamon butter, lemon curd and angel food cake.  

And the sun warmed up the mud enough to not squish and splatter while children looked for eggs. 

I know I spout off all the time on how the Lord has taken the broken, ugly, tattered and awful and uses it all to bring about good and beauty and truth.  But it amazes me all the time.  And there is no other time that speaks more fully to this than the Resurrection.

He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!