Sunday was a perfectly glorious day to celebrate Easter. It's almost like God makes sure we have beautiful weather to celebrate the resurrection of His Son. And He certainly delivered this Easter.
The boys woke up to find their Easter baskets and the goodies therein. 
We didn't hide the dyed eggs this year because I was afraid that Bennett would pick them up and squish them in his hands. But next year, the tradition continues - first find your basket, then find your eggs, then you can go through the loot.
We didn't hide the dyed eggs this year because I was afraid that Bennett would pick them up and squish them in his hands. But next year, the tradition continues - first find your basket, then find your eggs, then you can go through the loot.
This was the only halfway decent picture I could get of the boys together all day. Good thing I took it early as both outfits ended up with various bodily stains on them. Thank heavens for OxiClean!We went to the 9:00 service. I tried to have both boys with us in church, but Bennett just isn't quite ready to sit still and quiet for an hour or so. And since without Reeves, the nursery would be miserable for Ben, I trotted both boys off after the readings. I love the Easter service. It is so meaningful, and I always find myself fighting back tears during the hymns. This Easter was no exception.
After church we headed to Gammy and Pops' for a little down time before the big family feast at Big Laura's. Reeves pulled out the carrot bat and ball that the Easter Bunny had given him. 
We were all pretty impressed. He hit it way better than I could, but like his momma, he tended to pull it right down the third base line.
It wasn't long before he was going all Babe Ruth on us and calling his shots. We may have to skip T-ball altogether and go straight to coach's pitch!After a quick nap for Benny, the caravan moved over to Mt.P to hang with the whole Anderson clan. Gammy and Pops scored the biggest hit of the day when they gave the boys their big dump trucks. 
I can't believe these two can even stand up now as they were hunched over these things all day, pushing them not only around the yard but even through the whole neighborhood. Thanks so much, G and P, for the awesome gifts!! 
Benny discovered his could also double as a self propelled stroller given any slight decline in terrain.
I can't believe these two can even stand up now as they were hunched over these things all day, pushing them not only around the yard but even through the whole neighborhood. Thanks so much, G and P, for the awesome gifts!! Benny discovered his could also double as a self propelled stroller given any slight decline in terrain.Each year we have an Easter egg hunt. Despite this picture, Reeves was actually excited about it. I think he is just determined to appear as bored as possible in some pictures. I guess he's just practicing for those teenage years.
Leeze and Reeves both found silver eggs this year, and they were super excited to open them up and find a dollar bill inside.
(You might be a redneck if the Super Special Silver Egg at your family Easter egg hunt is actually just a big plastic egg covered in aluminum foil.)
After the children hunted their eggs, we all gathered around Laura's wonderfully decorated tables and enjoyed a delightful meal of ham, mac and cheese, squash casserole, asparagus, red rice, and corn pie. It was truly such a blessing to be around so many special family members. Reagan and Marianne were both able to be there. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures with them! We missed Sarah but hope to see her soon. 
Miller was, as usual, a dream. He played with Reeves pretty much the whole day. I hope his girlfriend didn’t mind, but he certainly made our day easier.
Miller was, as usual, a dream. He played with Reeves pretty much the whole day. I hope his girlfriend didn’t mind, but he certainly made our day easier.Happy Easter everyone. Hope yours was as meaningful as ours was
Again, following in last year's footsteps, it took a while for Reeves to warm up to the whole idea of being social and friendly. He worked through those issues this year by "vogueing" with his Easter basket. 
Luckily, like all children, mine soon warmed up when they realized they would be let loose in a field full of little candy treasures. 
Reeves was a super egg hunter this year. Bennett quickly realized that the things inside the eggs were sugary and yummy, so he would open his each time he found one.
We put out about 2500 eggs, and after about 57 seconds the hunt was over.... and the begotiations began. 
I found this group already trading goodies. "I have two jelly beans. I give them to you for your one malt ball." Look out, Wall Street, these ones are growing up really fast!
This party was a wonderful success and I love that my family is a part of it with all of your's.
Not wanting to do anything too involved before I had to leave to handle my part of hostess duties for the big hunt, Bryant and I decided to take the boys down to the park on the Old Navy Base. The boys absolutely adore this place, and unfortunately, Bryant hasn't had too many opportunities to join us there, so this was a special day. 
Of course, R and B were ecstatic to have their daddy joining us on an "adventure", and we made the most of our limited time there. First we visited The Big Blue Playground. (I capitalize it because it is THAT important around our house.) The boys showed Daddy all the wonderful things about one of their favorite playgrounds. 
Bennett even took a twirl in the spinning seat, and Reeves climbed higher than he ever has on the rope structure. 
I think they were both showing off.
Before we knew it, Bennett was soaked too. Once he's halfway there, why not let him go all the way. He would be warmer running around in it than with me holding him.
Oh well. At least we had brought a blanket so we could wrap them up. They loved it! And stayed in it, running back and forth, batting at the streams of water, and covering up the jets with their crocs much longer than Bryant or I would have guessed. 
Reeves did eventually admit that he was getting cold, so we headed back to the golf cart, stripped them both down and wrapped them up in the blanket - and Daddy's undershirt which he removed to at least partially clothe a naked Benny Boy. It was a pretty classy scene.
I can't wait till the weather warms up for good (although I definitely will miss a few cool days here and there). In this coastal town, it opens up a whole new wealth of fun possibilities when your plans for the day can include, "Bring bathing suit."
Then we parked and the mask came off. Reeves started screaming that he didn't want me to take his seatbelt off!! He wanted to go home!! He wanted to stay in the car!! Fine. I got Bennett and our lunch out, locked the doors, and headed to the playground. After depositing lunch and the younger child with friends and waiting what would be a more than sufficient time for the older one to calm down, I went back to get him. I swear to you, at this point I was thinking that Rosemary had a better baby than I did. I could hear him as I was approaching the car. Seriously. Who did he think was listening? So I got him out, threw him over my shoulder and carried him inside the fence. I promptly laid him down in his unmitigated wailing state to join more pleasant people. I figured he would get over it soon enough. Well, "soon enough" ended up being a good 15 or 20 minutes. I had no idea he could possibly hold out so long. But, once he decided he was over it, he proceeded to have a wonderful time playing with all his friends, and blessedly wearing himself out in the process. Although there was one point where something happened to make him mad and he told me that he just wanted to go home and be a baby. Whatever, dude.
For the rest of the day, he returned to his old congenial self. On Wednesdays, he has choir and then he spends that night with the Bairs. Benny and I usually eat dinner out there and head home around 7:00. And here's where this precious angel totally (almost) made up for his horrendous behavior earlier in the day. Benny has his blue blankets that he adores. He must have at least one to go to sleep. (We have four identical ones.) Anyway, Judy called me around 8:30 to tell me that Reeves had told her she had to call Mommy because he had found Bennett's blue blanket and he needed it to go to sleep. She said he was very worried about it. He got on the phone and told me, "Mommy, you bogot Bennett's boo bwanket." I assured him that it was ok because I had an extra one at home, and he was already asleep with it. 
"But Reeves, Bennett is very lucky to have a big brother like you who looks out for him like that."
Of course, there is also the obsession he has with other people's shoes. He loves, loves, loves to walk around the house in Daddy's shoes. Occasionally he'll put on mine, but he usually goes only for Daddy's. 
Maybe he likes that they're roomier. Then there are the ties. 
When Bryant walks in the door, that is the first thing to go, thanks to Bennett's Tie Removal Service. This used to be Reeves' job, but I guess by the time you're three, you're way too old for silly things like that.
Of course, we worked our way through the ball room to the water room, still my least favorite room in the place, but other than Bennett and Pinckney dumping a couple of boatfuls of water on themselves, the boys and their clothes all remained happily unsoaked. 
In natural progression, we moved on to the shrimp boat, my favorite room. It is incredibly fun for the children and requires the least amount of parental supervision. Love it! 
B and P gave it the old college try and then decided they would rather grocery shop. So CFS stayed with the older ones, and I followed the littles into the Publix. And herein lies the key to having a truly enjoyable experience at the CML. You MUST go with another adult if you are bringing a number of children who fall into different age ranges. 
Inevitably, your four year old is not going to want to do the same things your 18 month old is, and unless you have the freedom to leave one or the other with someone else, you are certainly going to make at least one, if not both, of your children extremely unhappy.
Although, you could have a day like Bennett where you pretty much just wanted to sample each room for six minutes before either moving on or going back. Needless to say, while P was shopping, I was playing Pong with B and his shopping carts. At one point, being now fully discouraged that he could not simply bowl me over with his miniature cart laden with plastic fruit and loaves of bread, my brilliant child decided to crawl under my legs and try to drag his cart through. One of these days, Alice! Anyway, the Toddler Room thankfully solved pretty much all his problems. Caroline shortly arrived to tend to Soup, while the oldest two continued to man the shrimp ship. This is where I am so proud of the way we have all raised and trained our children thus far in their short little lives. 
At this point, Bennett was DUN. When I went to check on R and F, I could hear him crying. They still wanted to play on the boat (I think the wellies they put on really drew them in), and they had done so well all day and have proved themselves worthy of relatively unsupervised play in the past, that I left them to play while I dealt with Bennett. I was so proud of both of them. There was not one scuffle, not one cross word. 
They were blissfully lost in their world of make believe adventures on the high seas, catching shrimp and taking care of sick turtles. Even when Caroline and I came out and gave them the five minute warning, they happily obliged and made the most of those last moments of play, a marked improvement to falling on the floor and crying that it is almost time to go home, wasting what little time they had left. 
And as the final cap to a great playdate, when I returned to my car, there was not a ticket on it, even though my meter had expired. Thank you, Jodie, for convincing me to get this membership, and thank you, Caroline, for joining me and mine today. 
First, I must say that you are one of the happiest children I have ever seen. You are almost always smiling or laughing. For the most part, you are instantly in love with whomever you meet, although you have recently been showing signs of shyness. Sometimes you curl yourself into me when someone new arrives, but I know this is a stage, and it doesn’t take long for you to warm right up to anyone. 
Your blue eyes shine with a perfect contentment and glee. It’s usually your eyes that draw people in. They are the first thing anyone comments on – they’re so big and so blue. And poor Reeves when it comes to this. He has made it no secret that blue is his favorite color, and while he loves your eyes, he also points out to us that his eyes are blue too. Most times we try to correct him, but sometimes it’s just not worth the meltdown. I hope you don’t use this against him later on.
Speaking of Reeves, he is by far your favorite person. Oh, you love Daddy and me, and you take a special delight in Lolly and Grandaddy, but you adore Reeves. When I come to get you up from bedtime or a nap, you are not necessarily super happy, but as soon as I say, “Let’s go find Reeves!”, you start jumping up and down in the crib, clambering at me to get you out. Heaven forbid I should have to change your diaper. Those are precious seconds where I am keeping you from your brother, not that you calm down and let me do it very quickly. I’m hoping that you really get the whole cause and effect thing down by 19 months, because it’s a little frustrating at times.
On the verbal front, you are far exceeding your brother when he was this age. Your words include, “Mama, Dada, Lala, juice, ball, book, shoes, choo-choo, ketchup (which you actually pronounce “babup”, but we know what you mean), and stop.” And I must expand a little here on your favorite word, “Stop!” I hadn’t realized what you were saying until Lolly pointed it out. It was a noise you always made when I changed your diaper or wiped your face and hands. It is more like a sing-song than actually saying the word. “Staaaaaaaaap!” How I didn’t realize that you were saying “stop” is beyond me, but I now totally hear it from you. You use it a lot during said diaper changes because you loathe having your waste cleaned off of you. You’re lucky I love you so much because honestly, I really only want to change you once or twice a day. It’s not a quick process like it was with Reeves. It is usually an all out battle involving lots of flipping you back over, lots of saving you from throwing yourself off the table, lots of using my elbow to hold you down, and occasionally hanging you upside down by your ankle when you have successfully made the dive towards the floor. “One day,” I keep telling myself, “One day you won’t fight me on this.”
Bennett, you are growing up so much faster than we could have ever imagined. On the playground, you pretty much keep up with the older boys. There is almost nothing you won’t try at least once. You climb up to the highest slides all by yourself, and come shooting down them without so much as even holding onto my finger. You take the knock downs and bumps like a man and have even started giving some of them back in kind. Just yesterday, you fell off a little structure at Moultrie. None of us saw it, but when I came running over and scooped you up, you curled yourself into me like you haven’t done since you were an infant. I just knew something was terribly wrong. But, after about 15 minutes of Mommy time, you were back down, ready to go. I checked all the obvious appendages and made sure of your balance, but you were fine. And you climbed right back on that horse and showed him who’s boss. Whoa would be so proud.
As tough as you are, I cannot overlook your sweet side. You have finally started to give real hugs. You wrap your arms around our necks and squeeze with all your might. Sometimes you grab our cheeks and pull them in close for a kiss. I randomly find you patting Reeves on the back, and I’m certain it’s “just because you love him.” You have also recently taking quite a liking to baby Campbell. Other than trying to poke his eyes out a couple of times, you are very gentle with him. (I wonder if we can convince Daddy that you need a baby brother or sister. Doubt it!) I love seeing this tender side of you while knowing that you can also take pretty much what anybody can dish out on you. It’s kind of like seeing a big football player holding his newborn after a game.
Sweet Benny, I promise to do better in writing down and sharing these memories of you so that you will have them forever. There is so much more to say even now, but I just can’t get my mind to conjure up and put into words just how gooey in love we are with you. You have brought so much happiness into all of our lives. We love you more than you’ll ever know and count our blessings that we are so lucky God gave you to us. Happy 18 months!
Gotta love the drool. (Will these molars never make their appearance?!?)
It's just Bennett rattling his cage. Apparently he's awake now and ready to get out. I think I'll toss him a metal coffee cup for effect and tell him to keep it down in there.