Pre-Easter

Just a little note about Good Friday. We had a very spiritual day, and I regret now not bringing the camera to the Stations of the Cross that were outside. It was a beautiful day, and we followed the real cross (made of real 4x4s) as people held up plaques of the different stations and we sang "Jesus remember me, as You come into Your Kingdom" again and again. It was really beautiful, . . . especially watching Leia Rose participate so fully! And Annie was well behaved in the stroller as well. I had a mother come up to me and say, "The first time we came and did this, my boys were just your daughters' age. Now they're over six feet tall, and they STILL love to come to this!"

We also watched Jesus Christ Superstar (as we have many times over the last week or so), and talked about some of the events inside that movie. I'm so glad that someone set Jesus' Passion to music!!! We also did some special prayers and read a very special Way of the Cross book that I had saved for the occasion. (We try to do these things between 12 and 3, so that I can explain to Leia Rose about the timing of the whole event.) And throughout Lent, Leia Rose spent lots of time coloring the different Stations of the Cross in our coloring book during the Stations on Fridays. I'll have to make sure to record those in a post as well. All in all, I'd say it was a very holy and meaningful Easter Triduum for all of us.
Here are Leia Rose and Annie relaxing with their respective lovies & watching "Tibo" with Daddy on Saturday morning. (His Lenten sacrifice was getting up with the girls every single weekend of lent. GREAT sacrifice!!! Can you do it again next year, Brian?) Just a little note about Leia's lovie. This is an example of how sistering works both ways. Leia Rose has noticed the joy Annie gets with her lovie, so Leia Rose decided to create her own (not that she didn't always love Perri Pat Pat, she has, but never to this extent). This is the "new" Perry that Oma got Leia when her original one was lost. Leia made a decision to start sucking on Perry's ear so she would look "loved." ; ) Funny that all of this was a conscious decision. : )
Leia and Annie also received really neat cards from Grandma and Grandpa! Leia's was a paper doll bunny! Yep, she punched it out and played with it right away. : )
Later that day we decided to do the Resurrection Days for the ump-teenth time, . . . but this time with Annie! : ) Such a GREAT review of the Easter message!
And this time, Annie got REALLY excited about finding the eggs! She would make little exclamations as she waddled around finding them. : )

Look at THIS! While Leia Rose and I were finishing up the Resurrection Eggs, Annie walked over to the sandbox, opened the lid, got inside, and started playing, . . . all by herself! : )
On the way to dinner tonight, Annie was mesmerized by this little St. Patrick's Day pinwheel. (This is a commonplace activity.) She stares at it just like this and periodically you hear a "Fffff, Fffff, Fffff" sound of her blowing it. ; ) She did this a LOT at Mass on Easter Sunday, much to the delight of the little girl behind us and all the people walking up to Communion. : )
And here is the exact way Annie always looks when she's just relaxing. : )
Not too exciting a picture, but I thought I should document that for a few months now (since January) we have begun using a regular high chair at restaurants (with our special disposable placemats and bibs). Again, so funny that I NEVER would have let Leia Rose do this. But Annie isn't interested in touching the high chair, so why not? Notice the dried "fruits" from Gerber and the soggy chip on her placemat. : ) We went to On the Border in Cary because it was on the way to Brian's and Leia's next event . . .
The stage production of "Go Diego Go"!!! THIS is the picture I WANTED Daddy to take. (This is Steve & Kevin courtesy of Karin's blog, by the way. They went to the show as well, at a different time.)
But THIS is the picture I got. Leia Rose wearing her Diego backpack in the dirty parking lot. She is REALLY proud of it, though. : )

And at least you can see the baby jaguar mask she got to wear during the show. Leia Rose was impressed that Dora and Diego could swing in on vines. She loved the whole thing. Before they went, I specifically asked Daddy, "Make sure you buy Leia a shirt." Do you see a new shirt in this picture? No. I was pretty mad. ; ) I know it was nuts to let them go to this show on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, but it was only in town a couple of days and Leia Rose LOVES Diego. (Plus, I had a coupon.) : )
Here is what my fingers looked like on Easter morning. Hmmmmm, . . . is there any question as to who is the REAL Easter Bunny?!? That darn red dye. None of the other colors were this pesky. And this picture was taken AFTER I worked on my hands with paint thinner, goo gone, stripper, nail polish remover, and soap (ruining my hands in the process). I was scared to death that Leia Rose was going to notice, so I made up this story that I "made a mistake and poured my lip stain all over my hands" which I actually had to DO, so I wouldn't be technically lying to my child. ; ) And after all that, Leia Rose didn't notice. In fact, the only question I got was, "But how does the Easter Bunny get IN Mamma?" (I told her that I thought it was through the vents under the house.) : )