Easter Festivities

   

      I know, Easter was almost two weeks ago, but I've been behind in everything lately, especially blogging. But the boys were so cute that I couldn't let the holiday pass without a few pictures of them.

 
    Before Easter weekend we had a little play group egg hunt at one of the mommy's houses. It was a good warm up.

    Later Cooper filled some Easter eggs for the church egg hunt. I think he enjoyed filling them just as much as hunting them.

    Ah, my handsome Easter boys. The shirts had their initials monogrammed on them, to match their Daddy's, courtesy of GG and Papa. They also got cute little lunch totes filled with goodies. I'm so thankful that Mom sent them new Easter clothes….I'm so bad about stuff like that. Thanks to her they had handsome complete outfits!

    Mere Mere and Popsey got the boys goodies too, Cooper's favorite was the bubble gun. Less messy and more bubbles, it's a win win!

    Easter morning we hunted eggs after breakfast, at the church. Cooper hasn't quite gotten the 'get as many as you can' concept. He prefers to find one, open it, see what's inside, possibly go ahead and eat it, and then move on. Ace just wandered around and picked up and dropped eggs.

     After church we headed to Aunt Ellen and Uncle Charles's house. Delicious lunch, good company and another egg hunt. It was fast and fierce with all the cousins involved.

"Ummm, what's going on here?"

 Cooper's hunting while Ace is visiting

 Showing off his prize

    Then it was time for confetti eggs! This was the highlight of Cooper's day….he was thrilled and ran around squealing and smashing eggs on people until there were none left. It was pretty fun, even for the adults.

Loves those confetti eggs!

Ace…not so much

Got Popsey on the leg

     Finally we left there, headed to Mere Mere and Popsey's and enjoyed quality time with everyone. Love those relaxing afternoons outside just watching the kids play and visiting. It was very very nice.

Happy Easter!!

"He is not here; He has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" Luke 24:6-7

Birthday Boy!

     It's been a whirlwind of a past couple of weeks, and Ace turned one right in the middle of it. He's one, I can't believe it!
    Mom came up to visit and spend a few days on Wednesday before Ace's birthday. We really enjoyed  her visit. Thursday we went to Graham to pick up a few things and stopped at Whataburger for lunch. Cooper was pretty excited about his burger.

     While Mom was visiting we found out that Paw wasn't doing very well, so Friday we went to Fort Worth to spend the day at the hospital with the family. Even though the circumstances weren't so great, we enjoyed having the day to be with family, especially Nana. Mom stayed home and watched the kids.

     Sadly, Paw passed away the day before Ace's birthday. It was a big loss because he was such a loving, caring and important man, besides being the center of the Pitcock family. I  was so very blessed to get to know him like I did. Due to the circumstances we cancelled Ace's party and just celebrated with the 4 of us and Mom. It was the total opposite of Cooper's first birthday…..second children.

Birthday breakfast pancake.

 Ready to party!

     Dalton visited his family most of the day while Mom and I played with the birthday boy and got 'party ready.' It was a little comical because knowing there were no extra guests made it a little awkward to figure out how much to decorate. But we knew we'd have cameras so we put up a few things and dressed pretty. When Dalton got home we grilled hamburgers and ate a quick dinner.

 Talking things over with GG

   Then it was time for the highlight of the day; the cake, of course. After Cooper's amazing display at his 1st birthday we just really didn't know what to expect. 

 Cooper thought he could attack the big cake…

Going in

 Cooper's helping him get started

Now he has the hang of it!

     Ace was more tentative than Cooper was. And really Cooper helped him at first. Then he started to get into the smashing and finally demolished the cake totally, by raking his hand back and forth across his tray. Unlike Cooper, he ate very little of the cake. He was more interested in squishing and dropping it.

 He's had enough!

Right after this, Ace got both Cooper and me with his cake hands

     Finally he'd had enough. We took the cake away and he wanted more food, so we ate another helping of hamburger and baked beans. Apparently he's the meat and potatoes type. After the cake smash we pulled out the gifts. GG and Papa got him a fun water station with a tunnel for balls to roll down. I think it'll be a hit this summer.

     We got him a ball pit and balls and Cooper was really excited to try it out. They rolled around and played together for a while as we watched and videoed. Overall, it was a low key but nice birthday for the little guy. I think he all of a sudden looks older too.

      Later in the week Ace got to open boots from Mere Mere and Popsey, which will be very handy this summer.

"Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 2 Thess 5:17

Rest in Peace Peter Rabbit

    You know that our life is full of little adventures, most of them involving animals. We had a bit of an adventure today…but one of the sad kind for us….tragic for Peter Rabbit. Yesterday Dalton mowed the pasture beside our house. The kids and I were in the back yard playing and when I saw him jump out of the tractor, grab something and motion for me I knew it had to mean one thing….he had a baby animal for me!! For some reason I have never left the stage of being excited about orphaned and baby animals. I just adore the little things, even if the story doesn't end so well. I remember being little and being the same way…but I also remember having many little animal funerals, one in particular that was caught on video where I was singing a song at a frog's service. What can I say, God's given me a love for His creatures…which gets me into trouble.

   Back to the story. So I hopped out to Dalton and received a precious little baby bunny. Oh man he was cute. He was so furry and soft and had a little white spot on his forehead. Dalton said we couldn't keep it but I just rolled my eyes and took him back to the yard. I let the kids see and pet him and then tucked him away in the portable chicken coop where our, now older and not so cute, chicks live. (Even as I write this I'm chuckling at the fact that we have a coop full of adolescent chickens in our backyard…to which I added a bunny, all with three hungry cats constantly looming around).

    We watched him try to escape the coop unsuccessfully and then I fixed him up with a paper bag full of shavings and some grass and water. I also tried to give him water from a syringe but he wouldn't take it . After he was settled I did some research about baby bunnies. Once their home is destroyed the momma won't return. But it also turns out most don't survive and it isn't easy to raise one. With this knowledge I decided to listen to Dalton and release the bunny…the next day. He spent the night in his paper bag in our bathtub (where else?) with the heater going.

     Today we put him out in the chicken coop while we planted some flowers, worked in the rose bed and enjoyed the sunshine. After supper it was time for the big release. Dalton had decided it would be best to let him go by the tank so he was close to water. But when I got the little guy out he was just so cute I was tempted to lose my nerve and try to keep him. I petted him the whole way down to the tank…a good little walk down a sloping rocky hill. Dalton was ahead of me with Ace on his back, Cooper trudged along in his not-so-graceful way and I followed with my camera and precious cargo. We had another member of our party….Boots. He wasn't invited but wasn't about to let us go on an adventure without him. I was a little apprehensive to have him along but what was I to do?

 Ready for the release party

Looking back, this was not such a good idea.

     We reached the tank and walked around it searching for the perfect spot to release little Peter Rabbit. I was a little disappointed in the amount of shelter and grass, but Dalton said it was good to have him near water. We decided to let him go in the middle of some green grass, just a short hop away from the woods. I said my goodbyes and, ironically, a little prayer of safety for the little guy (I know, reverted back to my 9 year old self). Dalton held him to the ground and let him go. I told Dalton that if he came back to me we would take him home. Meanwhile Ace was playing with Boots….who I had told Cooper to hold.

    With my camera in hand, on sports setting for the hop I waited for him to make his move. Finally he did and he was so cute hopping for the woods. I was so happy for him and snapping pictures until……..

 What a cutie….come to mama

You can see his little white tail as he hopped away

    I saw Boots out of the corner of my eye, unrestrained, just as he saw the bunny on the move. Before I could get to him he lunged and pounced and grabbed the bunny. I yelled "No No No No!!" and tried to chase him. I decided after a few seconds that we should probably just let Boots run off with him since he probably wouldn't live, but Dalton grabbed him before I could verbalize it. When he took the rabbit out of his mouth we saw that the damage had been done. He looked fine externally but internally he was not. Cooper looked on but I left and started crying.

    I cried for a little while, with my back to the mess of a situation. Why had we let him go? Why didn't we hold Boots? Why did we let him go in the open? I stood there crying and watching Ace play with a stick. Then I turned around and saw Dalton with Cooper pointing to something in the woods. Apparently Dalton had put Peter Rabbit under a tree to "rest" for a little while. Then other issues took over with Cooper, of the restroom nature, and he forgot about the bunny for a little while. Dalton came over and hugged me and said we can't blame ourselves. Cooper came up to and said "It be ok Mommy!' and started tickling my leg saying "Tickle, tickle, tickle." I had to smile at that and then started to find the situation tragically funny.

They are thrilled to have their picture taken

    We moved toward the water and took a couple of pictures. While the boys were occupied I asked Dalton about the bunny. He said he was pretty sure he was dead, and we wondered if we should let Boots have him (after all we were out of cat food at the house). Dalton decided in favor of it…I think he wanted to reward the hunter. I warned him that Boots might bring it home, but he doubted that.

    I kept the boys occupied and then we headed home. Moments later I looked back to see Boots behind us…with his prize in his mouth. Great…now it was a race against the cat. "Dalton…look behind us!" He smirked, and called to Cooper so he didn't look back.  We kept Cooper moving as fast as a distracted, clumsy 2 year old can move, but kept catching glimpses of Boots through the trees with his prize. I started laughing at this point at the bizarre nature of it all. In our attempt to do what was best for the little bunny we instead sent him to his death, and were now trying to outrun his captor to prevent even more awkwardness….. only us. I finally put Cooper on my back after some struggle, to move us up the rockiest part of the hill, and Dalton threw a few rocks at Boots to slow him down.

    We reached the open pasture and were almost home. I threw a couple more rocks at Boots and he stopped at the tree line. Our plan was to get the boys in the house as quickly as possible so they didn't have to witness the aftermath of Boot's attack. Cooper was sidetracked at the garden though and stopped to sing us a song, using a garden tool for a mic. Just as he started singing I saw Boots coming through the grass….but his mouth was empty. He was licking his lips happily, like a lion after a hunt.
      So rest in peace Peter Rabbit. We are so sorry.

     So that this isn't a totally depressing post, I'm including a couple of pics from our fun outdoor activities.

 Cooper was ready to plant some flowers!

 Ace just wanted to get to the dirt

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die." Ecclesiastes 3:1-2