Easter, Shoes and Sweet Moments

Stella yesterday staring at the cow print on her bouncy seat.

The future of the Boston Red Sox right in our back yard!

Our Easter belle:)

Will and Stella dressed in their Easter best

Visiting our Easter angel...

Will's Easter basket

Stella's Easter basket

Napping after a busy Saturday (refused to nap in the afternoon so look what happens!)

Sylvia's Easter basket

Our family Easter eggs

Daddy and his princess napping on her boppy pillow on the floor (also on Saturday)

Will and mom coloring Easter eggs
First of all, thank you to all of you that sported turquoise for our special angel on March 31. Second, we hope you all had a blessed Easter. We did. It was a nice extended weekend at home here in Dubuque. It was nice to have Andy for a full three days (though he did put in a couple hours on Easter Sunday, but was able to work from home)! He's been working lots of extra hours lately. We hope this "every five year" project ends April 30th! On Friday, I took Will to "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It was a morning movie that was run as a fundraiser for The Children's Miracle Network. He was great for the entire thing even though they didn't get it started until almost a half hour past when it was supposed to begin. Our big afternoon activity was coloring Easter eggs. When you only do a dozen, it goes rather quickly. It took longer to clean up than it did to color the eggs. Saturday was full of activity. Andy walked a 5K while strolling Will first thing in the morning. The 5K benefited Andy's Alma mater--Hempstead H.S. After that, we all went to an Easter egg hunt with some friends. That was kind of a bust, but Will really enjoyed playing with his buddy Max at the park for about an hour after the hunt. Then Max, his mom and brother came to our house for an impromptu lunch. We ordered pizza for supper. After the kids went to bed, Andy and I started "Couple's Retreat," a funny in parts, but kinda boring flick... On Sunday we woke to Will jumping into our bed whispering, "Mommy, did the Rabbit come?" So we went downstairs and checked. Indeed he did come and was good to us. Will found all the Easter eggs that were hidden. We went to 8:30am Mass. Then in the afternoon headed to Andy's grandma's for Easter dinner and another Easter egg hunt. The kids also played outside with some of their new toys. Will especially loves his whiffle baseballs and baseball tee. Stella looked sooooooo cute in her Easter dress and bonnet. I had a mini meltdown the night before at about 8:00pm. I wanted Stella to wear Sylvia's shoes. Something kept me from going down to get them all week. I'd get all ready to go down to get them, then something would come up or I'd just put it off until "later." Anyhow, I got the shoes out. In getting the shoes out, I came across so many other special things of Sylvia's--the pink/butterfly angel wings we bought her in Iowa City, the special baby blankie Great Aunt Patti made her, the outfit she wore from Iowa City to Dubuque--the smell of her... I did find her shoes after some tears. I brought them upstairs and it dawned on me that these are the only things I have that ever touched her feet. I don't know if I can explain this very well, but I just didn't want anyone to wear those shoes. For in wearing the shoes, I feel like that would erase Sylvia's footprints in them in a way... I don't think Sylvia would mind, but I think I would have regretted having Stella wear them. Stella is wearing almost everything that was brand new that I had for Sylvia. This is the only time in her life she'll ever be able to wear Sylvia's clothes. So I'm gonna let the sisters share as much as they can, but not this one pair of shoes. Sylvia does deserve to have one piece of something that is just hers. I do have some special outfits Sylvia wore that I will keep forever in her box also. So, I had to make a mad dash to the mall. I bought Stella some cute white dress shoes--a 0 and a 1. It ends up she wore the size 1 so Sylvia's shoes wouldn't have fit anyhow! So, I would have had my answer anyhow, but good thing I ran out the night before as stores wouldn't have been open on Easter morning by the time we went to Mass. Oh, after Mass, we went to visit Sylvia. Will seems to know right where she is now. He kisses her picture each time we leave and tells her he loves her. It melts my heart. I wish he didn't have to visit his sister "in the grass." That's where he thinks she is sometimes although he says she's "in the garden" referring to my Sylvi garden and "in Heaven." He has no concept of heaven though he does refer to Sylvia as his angel sister or simply an angel. I don't remember telling him about angels, but we must have at some point...
I am LOVING this time with the kiddos. This is my heaven on earth. Will says something cute each day. Today it was about Grandma Haag. Stella was crying in the living room. He went in and talked to her in his sing-songy voice.."It's okay, Stella. Grandma is gonna be here soon. She's at the farm now, but she'll be coming." How precious! He also thinks he's going to Gramma and Papa Houselog's lake house each morning so that presents its challenges. He is soooooo excited to go there. Tonight Andy and Will are over at Gramma and Papa's delivering some toys to go up and stay at the lake house. I think Will thinks he's going tonight so we'll see how he did when he gets home. Stella--well Stella is a dream. She is so alert, so beautiful. I have this feeling that she is what they call "an old soul." She looks at me like she can see my soul---the connection with her is intense. Even the girl's cry is sweet. She loves being held. It is her preference to be held all the time. Stella received a special book for Easter. It's called "Over the Rainbow." Basically it is the song put in a book form with beautiful artwork. There's also a CD we play with it as I sing it to her. There is a verse in there I'd never heard before. It isn't in the "Wizard of Oz" version.
Here is the verse:
When all the world is a hopeless jumble and the raindrops tumble all around.
Heaven opens a magic lane.
When all the clouds darken up the sky way,
there's a rainbow highway to be found,
Leading from your window pane to a place behind the sun,
just a step beyond the rain,
Somewhere over the rainbow (you know the rest)...
That was my life just before Stella. I was a hopeless jumble looking for life's meaning again.. I think my little girl that will always be over the rainbow sent me this special little rainbow. Stella came to me when heaven opened a magic lane via the rainbow highway. Hope you enjoyed the pictures of my sweet peas. I already almost have a photo album filled for Stella that holds 200 prints! They will appreciate these photos someday and I do already so it's a win win to fill up the house with photo albums and memories of course! Well, I gotta run. My boys have returned. I do have to share that while I've been typing, Stella woke up and actually laughed! I know it was real because I looked at her and was able to get her to replicate it. She has a BEAUTIFUL very big smile! I love the open mouth smiles of infants!