Happy Easter! (A Recap in Pictures)

We had a lovely Easter weekend!  On Saturday we went to lunch hosted by Jonathan and Laura in their new house!  Laura really went all out, too!  She was quite the happy, newlywed hostess!  We had a spiral ham, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, green beans, and a terrific Easter chocolate cake made especially by you-know-who!  (That would be ME for those of you who lean towards the slow side.)

Think Rob loved my cake?

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a great, lazy afternoon at home with the kiddos.  Bobby went to the ballpark to coach, but when he got home we geared up for the next morning.

Sunday morning we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had paid our house a visit!  The kids were super excited!  We went to early church which is a change for us.  We are usually an 11:00 AM service kind of family.  So hustling and bustling on Sunday morning took some getting used to.  But thanks to Bobby's steadfast ways, we were on time!

I was so excited to see on Twitter and other social media how many people were mentioning Christ's rising from the dead on Easter morning.  I really worry that today's society is doing everything in its power to shove Christianity into a closet or allow it to collect dust high upon a shelf.  Every single holiday has gone so commercial!  I have to admit that I lead a lot of commercialism in our home, too.  It is a struggle for me to raise good Christian children; I struggle with setting an example for them first and foremost.   But on Easter Sunday, I tried to mention Christ plenty of times more than eggs, bunnies, cake, etc.

After church we headed to my mom's for lunch.  Oh...my...goodness she made an Easter staple for us.  I was not raised on hams and gravies.  For every holiday we had some derivative of this:

 ...pictured above is the results of a two-day cooking event...homemade lasagna with secret family-recipe sauce and all the works! It's wonderful! We had a plethora of desserts to sample, then it was on to a very exciting egg hunt for the kids!

Well, it's time for a few "shots" and then we will call this day done!

I love this woman!

I love this man!

Me and my sister-from-another-mister!

This is real life on film...sometimes you just have to put the camera down!

Happy Easter, everyone!  This holiday is a wrap!

As God As My Witness, I thought Turkeys Could Fly...

Y'all, I have to admit it...I love Thanksgiving.  Why?  Well for starters, it's not Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas for all the Christian reasons.  But geez, that holiday has really gotten away from us in the past few years.  With Thanksgiving, there's no pressure to out-do, up-gift, or whatever.  It's just food and family.  Did I mention the food?

Since I partook in pretty much the whole "Gobble 'til you wobble" today, I'm not going to talk much more.  I'll just leave you with some highlights.  Enjoy!

First of all, what a difference a year makes!  Take a walk down memory lane with me.  Rob and Caroline were unfortunate lucky enough to be able to don their turkey shirts two years in a row.  Technically, C's went from a dress to a shirt, but who's counting?

We started today with lunch at Bobby's dad's house.  What a spread they put on, too!

L-R Laura my soon-to-be-SIL, Pam a.k.a. "Mimi" and me

Caroline "reading" a card to Mimi and Rocky's neighbor, Mr. Don

Our lunch hostess and host -- Mimi and Rocky



Let's eat, y'all!

After lunch, we went to Bobby's mom's house...to eat again!  Because it's Thanksgiving, we certainly need to thank God for all our blessings and for our delicious bounty.  We also should be ashamed...very ashamed!

Each year there is a pick-up game of football in Bobby's mom's front yard.  This year, the players seemed a little...younger...than days of yore.  But my heart was so proud of my boy and his cousin!

L-R Rob (5) and Braxton (7)

 And during the game, we the biddy hens looked like this:

There are a pair of new baby twins in the family -- Lucas and Easton are about 8 months old.  Lemme tell you that Caroline went nuts for the boys.  She kept pleading "hol' the baby.  Gi bodle to baby."  She thought they were life-like dolls for her enjoyment only!

Speaking of babies, take a look at Williams family matriarch, Jeanette a.k.a. "Maw-Maw"  Here she is with 12 great-grandchildren.  There is one baby on the way and at least two I can think of who were not photographed.  What a family legacy she has created!

Maw Maw has seen many things come and go in her lifetime, but who knew she could be gansta' fab?  Check out her flat-bill:

Clockwise from Top R: Debbie (Bobby's mom), Maw Maw, Delane, and Gwen

Well, that's a wrap for this year's Thanksgiving.  Here's to weeks of turkey sandwiches! Turkey salad! Turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey A La King! Or gallons of turkey soup! (Who doesn't recognize that as a quote from A Christmas Story? Love that movie!)  May God bless all of your 365.

My Birthday Dinner and A Couple of Baptisms

In case you don't know, my birthday is August 15th.  Yay, me!  My first cousin and I were born only eight days apart a few years ago and throughout the years, we have celebrated many a birthday together.  This year is no different.  We chose this weekend to basically throw our own party! 

Aren't we a couple of great looking 33-yr-olds?  Stephanie (Aug 7th) and me (Aug 15th)

By the way and while I'm thinking about it, Stephanie does not read my blog!  She doesn't get into the computer very much and when she is computing, it's mostly for work, not leisure.  I told her last night I could say whatever I wanted about her and she'd never know!  So I'll just rub it in that she's the older one.  Ha!

We invited some of our closest friends out to a yummy, upscale Tex-Mex restaurant.  That can only mean one thing: Pomegranate Margarita?  Yes, please!



Dinner was great.  There were about 15 people at the table.  So of "my" guests (we invited people from both our joint and separate circles) included the following:

sweet sister-from-another-mother Kylee, me, and SIL Kristy

My hot date!  This is actually a good picture despite his hating to be photographed!

The Morris kids spent the night with their Mimi and Rocky, so this morning Bobby and I took advantage of being childless by going back-to-school shopping for Rob.  That boy racked up, too!  It was our state's tax-free holiday weekend and to further lure in customers, many stores had additional sales.

This afternoon we attended the baptism of two very special siblings, Madison and Maddox.  Bobby was named their Godfather, so he had to participate in the ceremony. 

You wouldn't know it from Bobby's face, but this is a very happy occasion.

We are Roman Catholic, as is the children's father, Matt.  In the Catholic tradition, babies are usually baptized very young.  Just as all Christians believe, that one baptism is enough to completely forgive a person of original sin.  However, since you are being baptized due to your parents' decision, you also get to participate in a Rite of Holy Confirmation later in life.  That is when you as an "adult" in the church -- though in some parishes this age is around 13 -- confirm and renew your baptismal promises to lead a Christian life.

Madison wasn't baptized as an infant.  Her mom, Sheila, isn't Catholic and she wasn't sure she wanted to do this for Madison.  Over the past four years, and nowt hat there is baby Maddox, Sheila and Matt agreed to baptize their younger children.  Older half-brother Miles was baptized as a baby and I am his proud Godmother.  Here are some images from today's double ceremony:

Maddox Gage

Madison Ann

This was the best I could get the kids to do for a family shot.  After this we went to an early dinner, and now we're at home enjoying a quiet Saturday night.  I hope your weekend is going as well as you have planned.