Easter in Aiken

We continued Matt's birthday celebration in Aiken, heading down there on Friday to spend the weekend. Matt's mom made him a pumpkin pie with "33" on it, and we had a great salmon dinner.Hudson tried some fish, too. Cheerios are still the fave, though.Lily also likes that Hudson enjoys Cheerios. I can't imagine how much time we would spend picking food up off the floor if we didn't have a dog. It always seems like our time in Aiken goes quickly. We made a couple trips to Hitchcock Woods, although one was cut a little short since we tried to take Alden. She was extra whiny.

Starting out in the backpack.That didn't last long. The cat wanted out.Easter morning, we went to church with Matt's dad, leaving Hudson back with Matt's mom since he was sick. Then, we did Easter baskets and went to brunch. Alden and Hudson really liked the Easter bunny. Alden did not like having her picture made, surprise, surprise, so there aren't a whole lot of great pics from Easter. This was especially disappointing for me after working to get their outfits done in time, envisioning the perfect Easter picture in front of the azaleas while I was sewing them. Whatever, Allison.
Alden likes the "wolves" (they are really foxes) in front of the club.Note: No Alden. She was running around trying to figure out how to highjack a golf cart.After naps, Matt and I took Lily to the woods and had a great hike without the kids. Lily LOVES the woods, and it takes us back to our pre-child days when we went out there a couple times a day to walk around.

Alden and Grandma colored eggs that night.On the way home, we stopped in Charlotte to visit with Nana. Hudson loved playing pat-a-cake with Nana, and we all enjoyed getting to visit a little bit since we missed the big family Easter get together on Sunday.

What's next...we think

Matt has been busy working part-time at On the Border, and looking into the possibility of going to seminary. He took a couple classes through Fuller when we lived in CO, and really enjoyed them. He has always said that if he could go back to school just to learn, he would love to go to seminary, but since he never wanted to be a pastor, we just never thought it was practical. However, it has always been in the back of his mind, and every time I am in church (even since Charlotte) I feel like God has been saying "Matt needs to go to seminary." I just kept telling God to be quiet; we weren't interested, thank you very much. So, here we are, completely surrendering and walking down a path we feel like God has been nudging us towards for a while.

It is scary...there is a lot of uncertainty about finances, time management, if he should try to work and do school, what I should try to do, etc. But, we are trusting that it will work out if that is what needs to happen. As far as the pastor thing goes, Matt is trusting that God will show him what he is supposed to do, even if he doesn't know now. There are other possibilities in ministry, and who knows, maybe he is supposed to be in a church in some kind of role. As for me, I don't think I EVER wanted to be a preacher's wife, but I do want to be Matt's wife, so I am believing that my heart will be changed, too, if that is where we are called.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Happy Birthdays

We had two birthdays to celebrate earlier this month. The 3rd was Auntie Ashley's, so she and Andrew came up from Charlotte for the weekend to celebrate. It had been months since we saw Ash, and Alden and Hudson were glad to have some time with her, although Alden monopolized most of it, whisking Ashley off to play upstairs for a large part of the afternoon.
The 9th was Matt's birthday and we did a party with my parents and Amber to celebrate. We grilled out and did strawberry pizza instead of cake, which was Matt's request. The Easter bunny made an early trip to Bebe and Pop pop's house, too, and Alden got the Tinkerbell tree house that she has been talking about EVERY day. She is really into fairies right now.

Alden's Easter Party

Alden's class had their Easter party on April 1st, before spring break. They had a great time, even with the egg hunt moved indoors because of the rain.

Look a' My Face

"Look a' my face!" Alden must say this almost every time she eats something and thinks she has it around her mouth. Amber brought over cupcakes for dessert tonight and Alden had pink frosting all over (she actually looked a lot like the Joker...and she does have kind of an evil, cackly laugh when she gets going). We heard "look at my face" quite a few times, and then Alden would just crack up.

Another one of her latest exclamations is "Awesome!" (except it sounds more like Aw-Hum!) We hadn't ever heard her say it before, but when she unwrapped the train set that the Easter bunny brought her, she just busts out with "Awe-hum! Cool Choo-choo train! Awe-hum!" Whenever she talk about the train to anyone it is referred to as the "Awe-hum choo-choo train!" Good job Easter bunny.

Tonight, Alden was having her snack and talking about ghosts. Matt told her that the only ghost was the holy ghost, and explained that the holy ghost was Jesus and God here on earth with us. Alden just says matter-of-factly, "I don't know about that."

NOTE:

For some reason, my latest post which I put up today has ended up before the last two. Please read it and imagine that it is under March 31st, instead of the 29th.

Trip to Aiken

One of the great things about being unemployed is that we don't have any constraints on our travel time! We were so thankful to tack on 3 extra days to our Aiken trip to visit Matt's parents! We had a great time and enjoyed Matt's mom's delicious cooking and time with Grandma and Grandpa.On the way down there, we debated about the pull-up/panty situation, and decided that pull-ups would be better for the drive, especially if Alden fell asleep. Here she is trying her potty at one of our stops.One of the pluses about going down early, was that I was hoping to catch some of the US Equestrian Team's training sessions. They were supposed to be in Aiken Wed-Fri, but when I showed up at the farm on Thursday, they had moved to Southern Pines since there was a big horse trials at the Carolina Horse Park that weekend. Definitely a bummer, since Southern Pines is only 1 1/2 from Cary, but we love coming to Aiken, so it was still a win-win!Thursday we went to the library for Alden and Grandma to get some books, and then to the park for a while. Alden enjoyed reading her "Animal Books" with Grandpa.
Friday, we went to the Odell Weeks park for a while, and that night, we ate at a great Italian Restaurant. The kids were great...it is always a gamble taking them out. It definitely helped that we were outside.

Saturday, we all went to the Steeplechase. When we moved three years ago (wow, 3 years!), it was right around this time of year, and the steeplechase was one of the first things we went to. We started the day with Matt's parents and their Sunday school class, who hosted a great tailgate. They had a spot right on the inside rail, so we got to see the horses really close as they sped by. We also got to visit with the Bagby's, who were the YL staff in Aiken when we lived there. They have since moved to Tennessee, but were back for the weekend, so it was a treat to see them.


Alden and Hudson both got new hats for the occasion.
Family pic minus Alden, who was not interested in having her picture made. Shocker.
Hudson getting some time with Grandma and meeting some new friends.Alden and her baby watching the horses getting ready to race.Potty break at the steeplechase.
We also went to feed carrots to the horses near the house. Alden ate most of the horses' carrot in the car on the way there. The brown horse was pretty bossy, and you could tell they both had gotten a lot of treats before!Our pleasant, camera-loving daughter.
And Hudson, who is just the opposite. He smiles as soon as he sees you take the camera out.