Happy Easter!

How is it already April?! Seriously, I feel like we should still have a few more months of cold weather left. Yet, here we are -- April 2013 and it's hot enough to go to the pool already...

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter Sunday! Ours wasn't exactly ideal since James had staff duty, but we still had a great day. While we most definitely plan to teach Samuel the real meaning behind Easter -- the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ -- this year was spent mainly doing the commercialized side of it... egg hunts along with candy, new books, and a few toys all stuffed inside a basket. He's too young to really understand it, but I plan to do the Resurrection rolls next year (you bake a marshmallow inside a roll and then it comes out hollow, like that of the tomb, showing that Jesus Is Risen)...

Even though we went to the Good Friday church service and there was no real reason to dress Samuel up on Easter since we mainly stayed at home, I still used it as an excuse to break out another tie for him to wear. I love little boys in ties! So we met James for lunch and took Samuel to the parade field and grabbed a few pictures. I must say, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to conquer the rough sunlight (with absolutely no shade available most of the time) while doing photography, but so be it. We still had to grab some pics!

In case you were wondering, that's not real grass -- there's no such thing here in the desert! The Army invested in AstroTurf in that particular parade field...

You like his ghost-like appearance? Yeah...still working on shooting in that harsh light...

And here are some pictures from when Samuel first woke up and checked out his Easter basket...

He likes to use various toys to make music, so we got him a little recorder. As of right now, he prefers using it upside down...

I couldn't help but laugh. He was inspecting the peeps, then turned them around and looked at the ingredient list as if he was really reading it. I think someone has been watching momma when we grocery shop. Clearly, the ingredient list for Peeps violates any type of real food diet since we've been avoiding a lot of the processed foods these days, but come on, it's Easter!

Exploring the living room...

And since we're too impatient to wait for his birthday, we gave these to him on Sunday. He is LOVING the fake fruit and vegetables! I love watching him grab the little knife to cut his fruit, ha.

Would you like a pear?

Love that sweet boy! I can't tell you how much joy it brings as we hit each holiday, knowing we get to celebrate it with him! I'm so thankful that after so many years of avoiding so many things due to the pain of our losses, we can enjoy the little things like giving Sam an Easter basket and watch as he excitedly checks out each item. It really is indescribable, and to many, I'm sure it seems like such little things, but it's huge in this house. As I was driving to post to meet James for lunch on Sunday, for whatever reason, Easter 2010 came to mind and it just made me so thankful to be where we are now. Back then, James was deployed and I was attempting to grieve the loss of our daughter, Olivia. I went to church and lunch with my sister Deb and her inlaws -- trying to hold a smile, but the pain was just so severe that I could barely do it. Back then, seeing the cute little girls in their Easter dresses was like a stab to the chest, but now...well...it's sugar-coated and the pain isn't in the forefront thanks to being able to enjoy the little things with Samuel -- like dressing him up like a little gentleman, ha. 

Oh, so thankful...