This year, we were so grateful to have both sets of parents and Tammy and Jonathan with us for the Easter weekend. On Friday we attended a Good Friday Service and Lord’s Supper at our church. This Lord’s Supper was the first time Jack was able to participate.
In February, Jack had a conversation with Doug about Grandpa Gran (my father’s father) and about where he was spending eternity. From this conversation we were certain Jack had a very real understanding of the gospel and his relationship to Jesus Christ. Since then, we have been talking with Jack about the Lord’s Supper and baptism. He experienced both on the same weekend.

Jack and his little cup of grape juice. When we ate the bread, he whispered, “That was delicious!”

Saturday morning was the big egg hunt at church. This is always a fun event for our church and the community. This year was a little less fun when Lucy completely disappeared for several minutes. She was found safe and sound hiding in the church playing with toys.

She’s serious about hide-and-seek AND chocolate.

We spent the rest of the day playing outside, napping, eating, and just enjoying our family.

He was getting tired.

The infamous Easter Squirrel. He chewed a hole in GramZ and Papa’s RV and then chased Papa across the roof when he tried to get rid of him. I wish I had a picture of THAT.

On Easter Sunday, our church meets in Raley Chapel on the Oklahoma Baptist University campus to have one big service instead of our usual three.

Doug leading worship

After a few songs, it was time for the baptisms.

Doug had the honor of performing Jack’s baptism.

Based on your profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I now baptize you in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirt.

Buried with him by baptism into death…

…raised to walk in newness of life.

I wonder what silliness Aunt Tammy and Uncle J are exposing my children to

After the service, we had some more family time followed by everyone’s favorite part of Easter: taking family pictures!

Aren’t they cute?

The official 2014 family Easter picture.

100% Stinker

One evening a couple of weeks ago, Lucy handed me this and told me she had drawn “Jesus on the cross.” There was so much hope in her little drawing. Hope that one day she will truly understand how much Jesus loves her. And the ultimate hope we now have because He didn’t stay on that cross. He really died. For our sin; in our place. And he really did defeat death and lives today so that in him, we also have victory and life. Thank you, Jesus.

I always tell Doug that I won the in-law lottery. I love my in-laws. And this past week, I was reminded that his extended family is pretty special too. Two weeks ago, Doug received the heart breaking news that his cousin’s son, Josh, had taken his own life. We made the trip to San Antonio and it was such a bittersweet time of grieving and fellowship. Family members who normally, for whatever reason, don’t see each other often showed up from all over the country. A gesture that said, “We may not always be together, but right now, we shouldn’t be apart. You are not alone.”  Upon observation and through conversation, I realized we all had this in common: our faith in Jesus Christ. It was a gift to hear about their churches and ministries and to share about ours.  When our hearts are broken, it is necessary to dwell on He who heals, restores, and gives true peace and hope.

The Partridge/Hurt Crew

Josh, himself, also gave the family a gift through the words he wrote for an 8th grade English assignment.  The paper was titled, “This I Believe: Jesus can give anyone a completely new identity.”

Here is a excerpt:

“As I’ve grown as a Christian, I’ve increasingly seen people more as God sees them: dearly loved, but in rebellion. The Spirit also augments my conscience: I’m still tempted, but I can no longer allow a sin to run rampant in my life. Whenever I do something that saddens God, it also offends me (why would I dare to betray my savior) and He helps me conquer the issue. I also now have a peace, an unnatural, illogical and unexplainable peace, that I can call to whenever life throws something crazy at me. Basically, I did absolutely nothing to earn salvation; I just humbled and gave myself, and asked for forgiveness.

This relationship radically changed my mindset and contrasted my self-centered and materialistic attitude of only a few years ago. This I believe: This kind of transformation exceeds the usual maturing of adolescence; testifies to my change of identity when I bowed my own will to God’s and handed over my life.”

Josh’s life was cut way too short, but our hope rests in knowing his eternity is secured and we will see him again one day.

In the past month, Doug and Jack have enjoyed a couple of “boys only” outings. The first was a double header basketball game at OBU which began with a pizza dinner. Jack was in heaven.

eating pizza

Go Bison!

We made Jack’s OBU shirt for $3.27. Hey, we still support Doug’s alma mater. We bought the tickets, right?

those are some good lookin’ boys right there

He kept daddy on his toes all night with embarassing (and too loud) conversations on subjects that are usually inappropriate in public settings. Good times.

And last week, our homeschool group took a trip to the Oklahoma State Capitol building. Lucy had her 3 year wellness visit that morning, so us girls were on our own that day. (Our pediatrician told me that Lucy was very smart, but had control issues.  Doc, I KNOW that. And it didn’t take me 9 years of school to figure it out).

A very nice man in the building gave Jack a Jr. State Trooper badge/sticker. Jack told me he wanted to “keep it forever.”

the dome

Doug enjoyed taking pictures of the huge paintings and making up ridiculous back stories to go with them. If you love Parks and Recreation as much as we do, you will understand this.

And what boys only trip would be complete without a trip to Bass Pro Shop to do important things like look at guns and bows and buy old man candy?

Now for some recent Jack humor:

The other day, I walked into Jack’s room to find Spider Man like this.

Me: Jack…what exactly happened to Spider Man?
Jack: He looks funny this way

Child, “funny” isn’t the word I had in mind.

When I first glanced at this, I didn’t see anything unusual. However, my second glance gave me pause and I decided that snail looked awfully familiar…

…and thats why.

And we had this conversation about going to the dentist last week:
Me: Jack, you and Lucy are going to the dentist on Monday.
Jack: will he break all my bones?
Me: Um. No.

Jack and Lucy both did well and had no cavities. And nobody got their bones broken. So that was good.

Jack continues to be  (for the most part) a sensitive, compassionate big brother.  Whether it be defending her honor in the Chick-fil-A play place or playing “ice powers” upon her command request, he proves his love for his little sister daily. Of course there are sibling disputes, but these two really do like each other. He actually volunteered to put Lucy to bed tonight and brushed her teeth for me without me even knowing.

Sibling Love

Recently, when I was drying him off after a bath he declared, “It is SO cold! It’s like HISTORICALLY cold!”

Doug and I of course have added this declaration into our normal conversations. For example, it was so windy yesterday, Doug exclaimed, “It is historically windy today!” Or when we eat something really good: “This is historically good!”

I sure do love this kid.

I  jokingly tweeted a month ago about my excitement at church being cancelled the week I had nursery duty. Now I feel a little sheepish because yet again, church was cancelled due to inclement weather. On the week I was assigned nursery duty. I don’t like missing church. I think we should have make up church snow days. I propose that we add 10 minutes to the Pastor’s sermons for the month of March OR have a make up day on Easter Sunday and make Easter service 4 hours long. I am fine with both options.

Anyways, in lieu of going to church, we had family worship time at home. In our pajamas. Praise Jesus! And, I’m not going to lie, having family worship time at home is pretty awesome when you’re married to the worship leader.

I just HAD to take a couple pics. When do we ever get to do this on a Sunday morning?

LOVE

Personally, I felt like the percussion section could’ve been better prepared. But, church isn’t about MY preferences. Hashtag IBCmember.

Later, Jack snuggled with Daddy and read to us from Captain Underpants. We had read from the Bible first, so it was OK.

I wish I could say it was nice enough to go out and play, but it was not a play-outside kind of snow day. It was more of a Daddy-cleaned-the-dishes-in-the-bathtub-because-mommy-was-freaking-out-that-the-kitchen-pipes-were-frozen-all-day snow day. At one point there was snow falling and thunder clapping at the same time.

So, here are some pics from a snow day from last winter to make me feel better.

thats how we roll

snow angel: you’re doing it wrong

Maroon Out 2002 Gig ‘Em!

And yes, now I am singing, “Do you want to build a snowman?”

All throughout our home and all throughout my days, the evidence that I have been blessed with the most precocious, beautiful, inquisitive, and adventurous little girl ever is overwhelming. She leaves her unique little mark wherever she goes. It is not a trail of destruction, but rather a reminder of how blessed I am to be her mommy. Also, choosing to laugh and take pictures has been very beneficial to my sanity.

I’ll bet George Foreman never intended for those little plastic trays to do anything else but catch fat drippings. He was too busy selling the grill to talk about the versatility of the accessories. Hey George, not only can it catch fat, but you can use it to hold office supplies as well! Its like two products in one!

he’s all tied up

Power Rangers look a little less intimidating when their weapons are adorned with neon hair ties.

When Jack runs into my room yelling, “Lucy’s doing something bad!,” it usually doesn’t bode well. I found Lucy in the middle of my kitchen with a plate of raw chicken I had been thawing in the fridge. Upon placing the plate onto the floor, she had preceded to pour the remaining contents of a canister of parmesan cheese onto one of the  breasts.  Yes, there is a second piece of chicken under the mound of cheese. She was also licking her fingers when I scooped this away from her.  Only 2 and already perfecting her Chicken Parm recipe. She’s so advanced.

I think every mom of little girls has clusters of small stickers resting on every surface of their home. I have so many pictures like this.

I couldn’t figure out how she was able to reach the candy until I saw this. Subtlety hasn’t been mastered yet. Thank goodness.

The best part of waking up…is mopping all this up!

I am always finding random objects inside books. This day it was letter tiles. Sometimes its coins, crayons, or small toys. Or stickers. Lots of stickers.

I figured out why her bedroom smelled overwhelmingly of peanut butter.

Apparently, the back of the couch is a great place to hide the culprit spoons.

What a great drawing, Lucy! I just have one small request for next time…

…could you use paper instead of the TV screen?

We refer to this as the Great Cinnamon Incident of 2013. I don’t like talking about it.

She loves helping her big brother finish his schoolwork.

Only those with discerning palates can tell you how good a package of Ramen tastes after it has spent some time in a boot prior to cooking.

Where I found the birthday candles.

it puts the cheese on its skin

Why you can’t let Lucy eat in the van.

I wonder who has been using these crayons?

Pumpkin decorating… She’s doing it right.

Eye shadow from brow to hairline really makes your eye look bigger.

I’m just happy for the help

Why my dishes are clean, but my floor is soaked.

Lucy taught herself how to draw hearts. So on every chalkboard, loose piece of paper, and dry erase board around the house, I have been finding her art. This stuff never gets old.

Our little one is three! I am so very grateful to my friend, Tasha, who took some amazing pictures of our family for Lucy’s birthday. Due to the inclement weather that always seems to come with her birthday, we decided not to have a party this week. It was just the four of us at home, keeping warm, and reflecting on how blessed our family is to have her.

even her fake smile is cute

melt.my.heart.

first family pics since November 2012. Love.

she steals a lot of attention around here

Disney, you’re killing me

Since she saw Frozen, Lucy has been asking for “a blue dress like Elsa.” Thank you Aunt Tammy for the book. She will ask me to read it and when we get to a scene where a song should be, we have to sing the entire song with the correct lyrics. If I sing the wrong words, we have to start over.  She is serious about her musicals.

Our daughter in a nutshell: a pink princess dress playing her new drums. Her Gramzy and Papa know her all too well.

Anna and Elsa love icing

A rare real smile from Lucy. Then again, turning three is a very happy occasion.

Jack declared this week that his favorite subject in school is grammar. I am also a fan of grammar. Especially the correct variety. Even though I’m not perfect. And I like sentence fragments. A lot.

This year, he has been memorizing, reciting, copying, and illustrating poems and he keeps track of new nouns, pronouns and adverbs by adding them to cumulative lists.

poem copywork

our textbook this year 

For this assignment, the instructions were to add the word “we” to his pronoun list.

Hmmm…I wonder what Jack is thinking about during school. Wii clearly have focus issues.

And then there’s this gem. In this activity, we read a story with a picture and then answered some follow up questions.

This picture portrays an idyllic multigenerational family baking session. The toddler is obviously not Lucy and is calmly sitting on her father’s lap immune to the allure of the copious amounts of sugar within her reach. Lets take a closer look of this charming scene, shall we?

I have my own follow up question: WHY IS HE EATING HIS MOTHER’S ARM???!!!

No, really. WHY?!

And don’t get me started on teaching commas. Doug and I argue over the use of the Oxford comma. He has stopped using it completely and believes it to be archaic. I find it is necessary and when he doesn’t use one, I literally go insane.

But seriously.

I rest my case.