Jesus and the bunny

Happy Easter! Despite the lack of family around to celebrate and have a big meal together, we had a fun family day. The easter bunny left tons of eggs hidden around our yard. Everyone was up at 7 am for the hunt. He left the baskets in a silly place outside and chomped on all the carrots we left out. We had a lovely lunch in the sun and trekked off to the zoo. It was a glorious day and we giggled a bunch together. Mostly Marc and I giggled as we distracted the boys from things we didn't want to discuss (rhino boy parts, rednecks...)

At bedtime I read the Story of Easter to the boys. They were super serious about it. Really taking in each page. as we closed the book and looked at one another, Wills says "so what's the deal with the bunny? What does he have to do with Jesus?" Then Ben said "yeah. what does the bunny have to do with Jesus? Is it just a Spring thing or were bunnies involved?" ummmmm "love you. Have sweet dreams..."

*another really funny thing that we snorted about for a while. The brand new fancy Decatur sign has a "p" missing. It reads "decatur, a community of homes, schools,... laces of worship." Ben was really giggling about the possibility of a bunch of people singing the praises of laces. We came up with a lot of fun lyrics. (think Josh Grobin--"you lace me up...)

she's crafty

So, I am not longer a treadmill virgin. I went to the gym with my gal pals Whit and Carolyn to run and chat and to see if I wanted to join. I had so much fun! Who knew? I loved LOVED the man who was doing all the crazy arm moves while running. How could you not move like that with "boogie fever" blaring? As I was taking the tour (meaning me saying "I want to join, please don't show me around") I ran into my sweet friends, DeDe and Anna and they asked me how Kate was doing. That's when I handed the man my credit card. I am so looking forward to working out now with a slew of fun people by my side to giggle with. Seriously no one else was snickering when Rock me Amadeus came on. I'm so going to get kicked out.

DeDe and Anna have the coolest art studio in decatur called 2 Crafty Chicks. It's a great place for birthday parties, girl's night out and kid art classes. Go to their web site and check them out if you have not already http://www.twocraftychicks.com/ We have some pretty phenomenal pieces in our home from the lessons that go on there.

*oh and I was crafty today. I made a decoupaged wooden box (so cute!) for my friend Kristin and her sweet new baby. I am wayyyyyy behind on baby gifts.

there's no place like home

Waking up to find a tornado ripped through Atlanta was surreal. It tore right through downtown, hitting cabbagetown where our friend Gabrielle lives. She was who we first thought of when we saw how bad Cabbagetown was. We didn't have to look further than the AJC to find out. Caption said that everything was sucked out of her bedroom. So glad she is ok.

Another place came to mind...Oakland Cemetery. I wrote a lot of papers in graduate school about this place. I walked there frequently with my children as toddlers. Ben took his famous "different kind of hero tree" photo there. Sadly, it did not fare too well. Ben and I are going to go down when you can get through to it and see if his tree made it.

for marc

love you. hope you are dancing

just ordered a rug

do you hate it or love it?

sometimes you just need to see Mongolian herders in balloon hats. I know I do.

like the corners of my mind

Ben just went to a memory study at Emory. It was amazing what he recalled and how specific moments were remembered. However, I found he remembered more unhappy things than happy things. Bill's joy in the mundane blog really resonates now. Ben won't remember the fun days when we sat in the sun eating strawberries, reading stories and giggling but he will never forget burning his hand when he was two and he touched something hot. He remembers all the hurt feelings and scary things but doesn't remember feeding ducks on a nice day after a walk through the park. I try to ask "what was the best thing that happened today?" every night at dinner hoping that makes it stick, but I think this may be futile.
so here are some of my early memories that are good:
*the smell of my grandpa and sitting with him in front of a warm register on a cold day
*playing yatzee with my grandma
*my grandma teaching me to sew
*making sukiyaki in the afternoon with my dad
*burying my plastic dishes behind my old house with lala when i had to move
*playing "my father owns a grocery store" with my grandma
*playing in the button box
*my mom scaring me by jumping out of my closet with face cream on (it was a good scare)
*my grandfather teaching me how to draw
*my aunt letting me put stickers all over her cookbook
*my grandmother playing cards with me
*my dad helping me with my dollhouse, science fair project
*my dad, our school's only room dad, bringing coke as a drink. the kids loved him
*my dad singing "Country Roads" with me as we drove through West Virginia
*my Mrs Beasley doll

I asked Will what the best part of his day was today and he said "Mrs Wise opened the window so we could hear the beautiful sound of the rain." Hope he remembers that.

for W with love

Now that I am gone,
remember me with smiles and laughter.
And if you need to cry,
cry with your brother or sister
who walks in grief beside you.
And when you need me,
put your arms around anyone
and give to them what you need to give to me.
There are so many who need so much.
I want to leave you something --
something much better than words or sounds.
Look for me in the people I've known
or helped in some special way.
Let me live in your heart
as well as in your mind.
You can love me most
by letting your love reach out to our loved ones,
by embracing them and living in their love.
Love does not die, people do.
So, when all that's left of me is love,
give me away as best you can.

~ Author unknown

ooooh

found a great quote today.
"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." ~Anais Nin,

Marc always asks why I blog. This is a great explanation...retasting life

for Jenpop

‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance, pray you, love, remember’-- Ophelia in Hamlet