Here is my little boy, giddy at everyone singing to him. We were worried we were going to have to have his birthday party indoors, which would have been a tight squeeze. But the rain clouds broke in the early afternoon, so we raced over to the local park and set up his birthday party. It was hard to decorate in the wind gusts (especially since I was trying to decorate with crepe paper and balloons) but I was thrilled to be outdoors, so it didn't matter. After presents and lunch, it was time for cake!

For more pictures, see the Flickr sidebar after May 1st (I have uploaded too many pictures this month!).

Easter was a low key event in our home. No gorging ourselves on a wonderful ham dinner with enough leftovers for a week, no baskets filled with Easter grass and chocolate bunnies. But still, Easter was a celebration in our home.
We went to an Easter Vigil at St Mark Catholic Church and enjoyed the symbolism of worshipping in the dark for the first half hour of the service, followed by joyful halleluahs and the ringing of bells. I woke with the sun (and Harper) and enjoyed a peaceful half hour on the porch at the break of dawn, pondering the wonder of the resurrection. We let Harper play with the eggs from his Gumbo and Poppy while the rest of us dressed in our new $5 polos (hurrah for Old Navy giftcards). We went to church, where I was disappointed that we didn't sing my favorite Easter song:

But then the sermon sort of addressed it - Christ doesn't just live within our hearts, or is with us "in spirit." He truly ROSE FROM THE DEAD! Why else would the disciples, hiding and in fear after his death, become so enthusiastic they were willing to risk imprisionment and death? Certainly not because Christ was "with them in spirit" (though He was) but because He was with them in BODY.

Afterwards, we went to the beach and enjoyed the sea, sand, breeze and weather. Tom grilled pork, which was tender and amazing, and we had a wonderful Easter celebration after all.