Fatherly Thoughts: Easter and the helicopter

Dear Laura,

You were probably wondering why you were chasing around plastic eggs thrown out of a helicopter onto a football field this Sunday. I can't really tell you what that has to do with Easter. It was still fun to watch you pick up a few remaining shells after hundreds of kids flooded the field to fight for every candy-filled egg they could get their hands on. Your mother and I decided you're too little for that craziness. You still seemed to enjoy watching and picking up the scraps.

Yes, Laura, there are a lot of different views about what Easter is all about. Sure, we gave you an Easter basket filled with treats and tried unsuccessfully to get you to go near the guy or gal in the Easter Bunny outfit. Of course, none of that has anything to do with Easter. Yea, all of that is nice and fun, but it doesn't compare to the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross and rising from the tomb.

As you get older, I hope you'll come to me and your mommy with questions about this special day. Even if you don't we'll still enjoy telling you.

Right now Easter might not seem that exciting without the helicopter, the football field and plastic eggs, but I pray that one day you'll know in your heart how exciting of a day it really is.

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has enjoyed this day with family and friends remembering the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. We had a great day, as you can see from the following pictures...

Our little Easter Bunny enjoying her Easter baskets.

Posing with the tulips in the front yard of our house.

Walking with daddy on the way to the Easter Egg Hunt at the park where our church is currently meeting. We have been helping launch a new church here in Richmond and this was our first Sunday with a corporate worship service. The building we are leasing won't be ready for another two weeks, so we are enjoying the weather and worshiping outside for now. We had a great launch with about 60 adults and 21 kids!

Once she understood what she was supposed to do at the egg hunt, she really liked it. Every time she saw an egg she said "o mowr eit, dad-dy!" (Translation: one more egg, daddy!)

Examining her "eits" on the way to our next big Easter event -- The Helicopter Egg Drop!

My parent's church sponsored this event and it was pretty cool to see. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the eggs coming out of the helicopter. Laura was a little too small to participate in the egg gathering, but she still had fun watching!

Next we headed to Monument Avenue for Easter on Parade, a Richmond tradition. There is not a real parade -- the people walking up and down the street are the parade. And many people had on crazy Easter bonnets and dressed up their dogs with outfits and bonnets, too. Every time Laura saw a dog (and there were many, many dogs) she pointed and said "A dod-dy! A dod-dy!"

Posing with momma during Easter on Parade.

Playing in a garden in front of a beautiful house we saw while walking down Monument Avenue.

Feeding her new baby that she got from Nana and Granddad for Easter. At least she is using the bottle for this picture -- earlier she was using the watering can on the table behind her as a way to bring nourishment to the baby!

Happy Spring!

Spring has sprung here in Virginia and Laura has been taking advantage of the nice weather by playing outside quite a bit. Here are a few of our favorites from the last few weeks...

Laura never gets tired of running around in the yard. In a few weeks she will have a new swing set to play on outside...she won't know what to do with her very own "whee!" (her word for slide and swing)

Pushing the stroller is always more fun than riding in it!

While chasing Shawn, Laura says "I wide, Dad-dy!" She is really starting to talk more and more!

Laura's very own seat on mommy's bike. She loved every minute of her first bike ride, including hitting my legs saying "Do, mom-ma, do!" (Translation: Go, momma, go!)

Springtime brings rainy days as well and Laura has found a way to beat cabin fever...

Enjoying the fort daddy made in the living room.

And never underestimate the fun you can have wrestling a huge teddy bear while wearing Mommy's shoes!

Playtime!!

Laura loves to play. If she is awake, you can be sure she is playing. Some of her favorite things to do are wrestle with daddy, get tickled and laugh until she can't breathe, climb around on us and the couch, and play with her babies. Shawn snapped these pictures the other day when he and Laura were playing on the couch:

She has an infectious laugh...and we hear it a lot throughout the day!

Taking a break to smile for the camera.

No play session is complete without a hat!

And since Laura loves to play so much -- we decided it was time she had a playroom of her very own. Shawn and I spent the weekend moving furniture out of our downstairs guest bedroom and moving Laura's toys in. We can't believe they ever all fit in our living room! She is really enjoying having her own space -- and we are too!

As you can tell, she is seriously deprived of toys!! (Just kidding) And, no, this room hasn't been this clean since we moved everything in:) I just thought it would be nice to clean it up one last time...it might be years before we see the carpet again!!