Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Happy Easter!  We've had a good day....Easter bunny visit here...church...lunch with the family at our house.  We are tired from two busy days of entertaining, so I think I'll just leave you with some pictures of the boys in their Easter finery. 



An Easter Birthday Party!

Happy 2nd Birthday, William! 

Tonight brought a fun party.  We were joined by lots of family...GranGran, PopPop, Dee, Uncle Cameron and Aunt Heather, Aunt Elizabeth, and Aunt Susan and Uncle Rob all joined us for hamburgers and cake and ice cream.  We are blessed to have lots of family near by!

William thoroughly enjoyed his Easter bunny birthday cake...even though his absent minded Mommy forgot to buy candles!

After cake, we watched the birthday video.  William loved calling out everyone's name as they appeared on the TV!

We finished the night with presents.  We made the mistake of letting William open his brand new vaccum cleaner first.  He wasn't interested in any presents after the vaccum cleaner.  He loved it...hasn't put it down yet...Mommy is hoping that he'll leave hers alone!

We laughed after that fact that he received his own vaccum cleaner, lawn mower, and shovel and rake.  Guess it's time for him to get to work!

The big boys had a hard time letting Aunt Elizabeth go home...good thing she's around for a few days!

It was a great day...very fun to celebrate a special little boy.  William, at two, you are tons of fun.  Your expressions are adorable...your curls are quite an attraction...your ability to communicate is great...your temper is a little worrisome...your awareness of what your big brothers are doing is growing everyday.  We are blessed to have you in our family and look forward to watching you grow even more! 

Happy Birthday, Curls!

William 2nd Birthday Video

When Philip turned one, I made a video set to music to remember his first year. We showed it at his birthday party, and a tradition was born. I have since made ten videos!

Chris wanted me to post William's 2nd video online so that those of you who couldn't be here with us could see. Enjoy!

I'll be back soon with all the birthday details!

Maundy Thursday

I was too tired tonight to wrestle three tired boys at church alone for the Maundy Thursday service.  Given that Philip and Daniel can tell you quite a lot about the Last Supper, due to their repetitive work with the Cenacle lesson in the atrium, I decided to focus on this aspect of the Passover meal.

Jesus rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel with which He was girded.  After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

I thoroughly enjoyed having my feet washed!  The boys loved helping out bathing everyone.  It was a fun lesson and I learned that little boys listen to the Bible quite well while in the bathtub!

Divide and Conquer

Poor Chris has been hard at it these past few weeks at work.  Early mornings and late nights have become his routine.  I hate to admit it, but they have made for productive sewing time for me.  Easter outfits are officially done...just need to be washed and ironed before pictures tomorrow!  I am well on my way to finishing a coming home gown for #4 too!  These were my must finish projects before baby arrives, so I am glad to be making progress.

Today brought a first for this crazy year of having two in different pre-schools...parties on the same day. Both boys had their Easter party and egg hunt. Despite telling Chris that I really thought I could manage both, he insisted on helping out. So off I went with William to Philip's party and Chris attended Daniel's!

Philip's class had a great hunt and pizza lunch! 

William was a trooper to go along!

We only have one camera, so I don't have pictures from Daniel's.  But here's what we saw when we drove in the driveway. 

  

One happy boy to be with his Daddy.  From all accounts, his hunt went well too!  Thanks Daddy for taking time out of your busy day to be with him!  I know it meant a lot.

Fun in the Sun

Last Sunday, we went to the Chinese buffet for lunch after church.  My fortune cookie stated, "This Saturday will bring great excitement."  I'm glad that the excitement included a trip here...

   

instead of the hospital!  When Chris suggested that we take the boys to tour the USS Alabama (aka the Battleship), all I could conjure up were memories of visiting as a child and the heat being unbearable.  Thankfully, we could not have picked a better day.

The boys loved walking around the ship. 

The guns were a huge hit.

I loved watching Chris explaining how everything works to them.

I was quite fond of the quarters for the soldiers.  I'm thinking these would be a great space saving idea for the boys' bedroom...

This guy got a little claustrophobic (wonder where he gets that from??) inside the ship, so he and I spent most of the time exploring the decks.

In addition to the ship, we toured the airplane hangar and the submarine.  We finished off with the tanks.

It was a great way to spend a few hours on a beautiful day.  I'm sure there will be several more trips to visit in the years to come!

Never Gonna Feel Like That Again

Are you familiar with Kenny Chesney's song "Never Gonna Feel Like That Again?"  It sums up my feelings right now.  The chorus is:

It was my life and it was fun
Another season of my life is done
Another race I'm glad I got to run
Another chapter of my life, it's over
No I'm never gonna feel like that again
Time's rushin' by me like the wind
Never be as young as I was then
No I'm never gonna feel like that again

If you've talked to me recently, you have heard a litany of complaints...this baby is so low...I've never been this uncomfortable before...the contractions seem endless but no labor...etc.  But as the due date gets closer, I have to admit that I'm getting a little sad.

I have loved being pregnant each opportunity that I have had.  For the most part, my pregnancies have been easy and uncomplicated.  This one may have worn me out a little bit more, but I'm convinced that it is really the three little boys in my life that have made it hard...not the precious number four!

But this is it, my friends.  Although I have always said I'd like four to six children, I have promised Chris to not even mention a number five!  I am thankful to have come to the conclusion, too, that our family will be complete, but oh it does make me sad to think I'll never feel like this again!

So despite the thoughts that my body may not make it through another day pregnant, I am trying to enjoy these last days.  What a gift from God each child is!

Along those lines, I am changing the name of my blog because regardless of this child's gender, it will no longer be "my three sons."  I've changed the name to "Up to the Gills" because well, I think I'm about to be up to my own gills!  Anyways, out of convenience, I am not changing the web address.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Whenever William wears this...

he demands that you sing the Peter Cottontail song over and over to go with it!  He sings along and it is absolutely precious.  Needless to say, we wear it a lot!

Last Sunday was our neighborhood Easter egg hunt...a little early, but oh well!  Check out the boys attire...

In our house, Sunday afternoon has always been a wear what you want to type of day.  I remember Philip as a toddler always wanting to wear his Alabama t-shirt and his only pair of shorts!  It is basically a reward for letting Mom give them no say so in their church attire!

This Sunday being no different, Philip came home and put on his hand-me-down (from his preschool teacher's son) Star Wars t-shirt.  I don't typically let him wear it out of the house because I'm not big on the look but more importantly it is about three sizes too big. 

He couldn't believe I let him wear it to the egg hunt.  To be honest, I had been up the night before with what seemed like endless contractions (that did thankfully end!) and I just didn't have much fight in me.

Daniel, on the other hand, is typically too lazy to even change out of church clothes!  So deeming it too hot to wear pants, he put on his red twill shorts with his Peter Pan collar shirt.  Very interesting combination.  Again, Mom didn't say a word.

At least William was dressed for the occasion!

The hunt was fun.  Nice to be in a neighborhood full of kids! 

Let the sugar high begin...

A Trip to the Farm

Today I accompanied Philip's class on a trip to Brantley Farms. 

There was a lot for us to do...

a train ride...

tons of animals to pet...

 a horse to ride...

tons of animals to feed...

and a hayride (that Mom did not participate in!)...

It was nice to have a day to spend with just Philip.  Daniel and William were at school having pictures made.  I hear William did not cooperate very well!  Oh well, we ended the school day with a trip to Old Dutch. 

It sure pays to have a pregnant mommy sometimes!!