Our Visit to see the Barnacles

In March Hannah, Elanor and I flew up to Lincoln, Nebraska to visit my sister and her family. Here is a smilebox of pictures from our trip and a list of my favorite memories . . . .

• Hannah and Corban running around pretending to be dinosaurs cradling their imaginary baby dinos in their arms.

• Aunt Rachel with Elanor snuggled up and falling asleep in the pouch, feeling so cozy with her Aunt.


• Corban and Hannah's giggles and squeals of glee as Uncle Bryan chased them and wrestled with them.


• Quiet evenings after the kids were in bed spent wandering the internet world of fb, or frivolously watching "Glee" reruns, or listening to Zach practice speeches for his class, or just talking and eating Rachel's delicious baked treats.


• Getting to know Zach better.


• Zach-- you actually bought the mustang!!?


• The peaceful aura of being gathered around the dining room table with friends painting Corban's name for his room.


• Hannah sweet little voice singing along to her daddy's music while resting during nap time.


• Going out to eat and going out to eat and going out to eat again. (Rachel and I love eating out.) :)


• Our chilly evening walk looking at the fascinating 100 year old houses in Rachel's neighborhood, making up stories about how Shawn and I were "going to buy this one, no wait that one looks even better . . . ." and move just down the block from the Barnacles.


• Hannah and Corban's wonder and amazement and curiosity (and our own) at the incredible Lincoln Children's Museum. It was so fun to watch them play and explore there.


• Parenting alongside my best friend and mothering kindred spirit--wow is it so much easier to be a mom in a "village"!


• My truly brilliant nephew incorporating words like "affiliated" into his pretend play. One "good guy" figure proudly announces to the "bad guy" "I am NOT affiliated with you!"


• On that note--witnessing Hannah and Corban's very different pretend play styles was so much fun. Typical living room scene: Hannah watches in wonder? shock? disgust? as Corban's pretend figures undergo one natural and not so natural disaster after another-- they hang on in terror as their house is almost blown over in a storm or burnt up in fire, they escape great winds, fight one "bad guy" after another, . . . . and all of this is proclaimed into being in Corban's very expressive voice at a volume that is definitely not the normal decibel level of the Brown's home. (Very LOUD). :) After watching incredulous for a few minutes Hannah returns to her toy house and people: "It's time to eat dinner!" the mommy says quietly to her children. Hannah arranges her little people around the table where they decorously eat their supper, after which they retire peacefully to bed. Upon awakening they drive off in their bus to the grocery store with the only disaster being one of the children almost gets left at home . . . .


• Hannah becoming petrified in a tunnel at the indoor playground only to be rescued by an older girl who brought her safely out to me. When we thanked the girl we found out her name was Hannah too! It was so cute how the girls interacted and thought it was special that their names were the same.

• Corban and Hannah holding hands in the back seat singing along to their favorite songs.


• Favorite Corban quote: Rachel finally got Corban to use the bathroom after he had said several times that he needed to go but then refused because he was having too much fun on the playground. After he went this was the conversation:

Corban-- "Oh, I guess I wasn't kidding when I said I had to go!"

Rachel-"Yes. See, it's not healthy to keep your pee-pee inside you when you need to go, so Mommy wanted you to use the bathroom to help keep you healthy. Mommy is just trying to do what is best for you."

Corban--"Oh. I hadn't noticed that!"

What! I guess three year olds really do think their mommies don't have a purpose for their requests other than to spoil all their little kid's fun. :)

• Uncle Bryan's beautiful guitar playing wafting out of the sun room early in the morning and Hannah dancing along.
• Shopping for jeans.
• Heartlands Ladies Breakfast at The Grotto
• Just being with my sweet sister no matter what-- though the grief, through the laughter, through the exasperating parenting moments, through the exhaustion, through the rain, through the tantrums, through the delightful moments of watching our children play, interact and learn together, through the few moments of escape we carved out for ourselves . . . . just experiencing life together for two short weeks.

I love you Rachel! I love you Corban! I love you Bryan! Thanks for taking me and my children into your home during such an emotionally heavy time for all of you. I am so grateful that you are all a part of my family and I love being with you no matter what moods you are in, or what you are going through. May God continue to bless you with comfort and love and support.

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Jesus got holes in His hands but now they are all better!

Upon spontaneously reading Hannah the story of Jesus' death and resurrection from one of her children's Bibles, trying to share with her the real meaning of Easter, I realized I'd gotten myself in way over my head. I definitely should have thought ahead on this one, but she so sweetly brought me her Bible and asked to be read to so I chose the Easter story. She became obsessed with a picture of Jesus with holes in his hands. "Why does he have holes in his hands?" "Why is his mommy crying?" "Why did he die?" "Why does he have holes in his hands?" "Why, Mommy, why?"

I'm not sure I really want my three year old to know yet that people kill each other and do terrible things like nail someone to a cross. I stumbled over some answers and tried to skirt around her questions by focusing on the fact that Jesus is no longer dead, God made him alive again, but she kept flipping back to that page. Finally I told her I'd explain more when she got older and we moved on. Thankfully in the picture of Jesus ascending the illustrators left out the holes in his hands so she was satisfied that his hands healed! So, I guess Hannah now thinks we celebrate Easter because Jesus got holes in his hands but now they are all better!

So, how do you tell a three year old the real meaning of Easter???? Christmas is so much easier! I'd love some input!