Sunday Fishin'

 Sunday afternoon, after church, we headed less than five minutes from our home, to possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen in East Texas.

Some friends invited us for a picnic on their ranch - private lakes down dirt roads, surrounded by hills, wildflowers, and towering trees.

As we drove to the lake, I felt as though I was in Colorado again (minus the mountains, of course.)

We stayed ahead of the brewing storm and had a blast fishing for rainbow trout, sunfish, and bass.

 Will is a true fisherman, I do believe.

The boy simply dropped his line in the water and in no time, was calling out he had one & reeling it in!

 He even managed to catch one without any bait!

 Sister was so curious about the fish and liked reaching for them although she didn't care for the slime.

 I managed to sneak some therapy in on the dock.

(It's always better to do therapy in a pretty setting.)

 The cutest fish he caught all day:

 R worked on his fly fishing...

& managed to catch 2.

I do believe that the spring score so far is:

Daddy: 2

Will: 8

 Ellie has never cared for a bottle or a pacifier.  so she soothes herself by gently tugging her hair.  It's how we know she is ready for sleep.

Sweet love was very relaxed on the lake, in her Lovie's arms as they rocked and the tugging began

 In all of his four year old wisdom and experience, Will finally set down his rod and announced to those of us on the dock,

"I'm going to go give my Daddy some hints."

And off he marched...

 Because there's nothing so humbling as your four year old telling you how to catch a fish.

a perfect way to spend a Sunday 

Dedicated

 Saturday afternoon, some of our family joined us as we dedicated our children to God at our church.  R and I firmly believe that a dedication is not significant of salvation or a baptism.  Rather, it is a time to publicly commit to raising our children in the church.  We completed some simple homework prior to this time and invited our parents and grandparents to participate.

I loved preparing our home.  I cut my first roses of the year 

and my azaleas were in full bloom and made a huge splash of color on my kitchen table

 I love setting a formal table...

 as party favors, the kids painted little pots with their handprints.  I wrote the word "remember" on each pot along with the date.

 We planted rosemary in the pots because rosemary signifies remembrance.

I tied a note to each plant with Philippians 1:3 on it:

"I thank my God upon ever remembrance of you."

 The other side of the tag asked the recipient to please "remember" Will and Ellie in their prayers.

 My hydrangeas are not in bloom yet but I couldn't resist these antique ones for the dining room table

 At the ceremony, Ellie & her Honey

 Will & G-Dad

 Will, Mimi, & Great Aunt Lili

 While R shared a verse I have prayed over each of my children (Colossians 1:9-14) and our goals for them, Will provided entertainment with my sunglasses

  I had not told the directors that I was going with the theme of "remember" and using rosemary, so when I saw these on each table, I was thrilled!  I do love a theme!

 Will enjoyed serving each of his guests their cupcake

 The tables were beautiful - antique tablecloths, vases filled with antique baby booties, silver forks, etc.

 We are so thankful that so many from our family from all over Texas could be here for the dedication.

 Will and his Sunday School director.  We adore Mrs. Bolin.

She has him memorizing new verses every week and he knows details from some really obscure Bible stories... and I love how she has taught him to apply the truths and he weaves it into events of his week.

Will & Ellie with Cookie & Lovie

(my parents)

 Will & Ellie with Honey & G-Dad (R's parents)

Afterwards, everyone joined us at our home for dinner.

Will & Cookie played some sort of football game

 G-Dad & Ellie took time to smell the azaleas

 Aunt Lili really wore Will out (or maybe he wore her out!)  She played pretty hard with him while we were busy setting out dinner

 Great Grandmother with Ellie & Will

 My girl and I.

I wore that dress when I was 6 months old for my christening.

It brings me indescribable joy that my daughter can wear it for her baby dedication.

My mom has a picture of her holding me in front of a tree as I wore the dress so we attempted to copy that.

 Enjoying appetizers

(homemade hummus and veggies along with "mango madness")

I kept the menu very simple.  I have learned a lot as I've watched my mom entertain for years.  Both my mom and my mother in law frequently have homes full of friends and family and I've noticed that they don't (typically) try new recipes out on large groups.  They stick with what they are comfortable with and what they know will taste great.  And then they can relax and enjoy themselves at their own parties. So I did this too.  I made several parts of the menu in advance, I chopped my veggies in advance, etc.  This made for a fun Friday afternoon nap time for me.  I love to cook so I put on some music when the kids went down, kicked off my birkenstocks, & got busy chopping.  Because I was doing things I was comfortable with, I wasn't constantly looking at recipes or nervous about the outcome - I enjoyed the cooking part and the entertaining part.

 Great Grandmother brought the kids fun gifts.  She is a very intentional, thoughtful gift giver.  She seems to know exactly what my kids are into and finds them perfect gifts!

Will gave her a hug after every single item he opened.  (She commented she would have given him more had she known he would hug her after each thing!)

 Ellie got a new baby doll - with hair!

 Honey & G-Dad enjoying the spring weather

 Mimi (Great-Grammy) with her two oldest great grandchildren

 Mimi playing baseball with Will.  Mimi loves to play with Will & he adores her for it.

 Cookie & Lovie & Will

 Dinner consisted of steak kabobs with all sorts of yummy veggies, salad, and cous cous.

(Will thinks cous cous comes from 2 animals called "couses.")

R & I gave the kids necklaces to help them remember the day...

Will's is on brown leather and is a silver pendant that says "Yes I can."  The back has Phil. 4:13 on it 

("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.")

 Ellie's has an "E" on one side and the other side has Isaiah 43:1 on it,

"I have called you by name and you are mine."

 The girl loves jewelry - she was already wearing a cross necklace I had saved for her and her favorite pink pearl bracelet (thanks to Crystal!) along with a new silver butterfly bracelet from her Cookie & Lovie.

 It was such a special evening and we were so thankful to share it with our family.