Kari's Visit

So I'm kind of behind.  Sometime between Easter and the start of May, Kari came to visit us!  Her annual visit is something we look forward to every Spring.  This year she came on the first week of official nice weather here in upstate NY.  It was great.

Kari kind of treats the few days with us as a mini-vacation..which means she doesn't mind sleeping in and watching a show in the evening.  She's also a really great aunt who doesn't mind doing things like going to the zoo on her so-called vacation.  Our time with her was fairly uneventful but we made it to Trader Joe's and our second-annual tradition of dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Unfortunately, we couldn't play any spy games this year because of Crew's small size and Clay having to work more.

The elephants were our first point of interest!  Levi was thrilled!

One of the first outings with the double stroller..a beast to push uphill!

Although hard to tell, I'm not sure Levi knew the difference between the statues and the real animals.

Aside from our outings, Levi loved getting to have a different playmate than who he normally has.  Even just taking a walk is different when a visitor is in town.  And I of course loved having someone to talk with during the day and getting to have an extra set of hands around.  Thanks Kari for giving of your time and energy to come visit us!  Visitors are one of the greatest encouragements when living far from home..we loved having you!

Easter

Easter weekend was spent down in Delaware this year with Clay's family.  It was a fairly relaxing weekend (except for Crew not sleeping well).  Up in New York, we still had snow on the ground, so the more mild temperatures were very welcome.

Aside from celebrating Easter, we got to meet our new nephew, and of course spend time with family.  Between being pregnant, having a baby, and starting a new job, our trips down to Delaware have been fewer over the past 6 to 9 months than what they had been previously.  Having a low-key weekend of seeing family and friends was really nice.

I had fun making matching bow ties for the boys and getting them all dressed up.  I know Easter isn't about matching church outfits, but they sure are cute.  When I was packing up the bow ties to take with us, Levi made clear he knew the bigger bow tie was for him and the little bow tie was for Crew.  He's very assertive like that.

I have to be honest, even on Easter morning, in this season of life, its tough to get much out of a Sunday morning church service.  Although corporate worship and fellowship with other Believers is important, knowing that Christ meets us in the every day mundane activities of life is so very sweet.  How thankful I am to have a Savior who sees me in the small moments of life as well as the big moments.