The Day After Easter

After a family-filled Easter weekend, Julia was heart-broken to say good-bye to Auntie Caitlyn and Yiayia, and predictably fell apart sobbing as their car backed out of our driveway.  "Dooooooon't goooooooo!" she wailed, reaching her arms desperately towards their departing vehicle.  Seeing as this is the third time in recent months that she has burst into tears of grief and longing for her relatives, whether it be Nana and Gramps leaving our house, us leaving Atlanta, or what not, I'm *really* looking forward to her reaction when Auntie Shannon heads back to Atlanta later this week.

Unfortunately, the fact that Auntie Shannon is staying on to attend some job interviews for the next few days was not enough to soothe Julia's despair, because: "I just want PEEEEEEEEEEEEOPLE!  I want EEEEVERYOOOOONE!"  We decided to take a family walk to lift her spirits, and wound up exchanging one sobbing child for another, as Madeleine wiped out BIG TIME just as we were about to turn back onto our street, scraping the skin on her stomach, knee and elbow.  Sigh.

Happily for Julia, she got to have a sleepover with Auntie Shannon in her bed last night.  Although Julia didn't even fall asleep until after 9pm, she apparently had a bout of wakefulness in the wee hours of the morning before catching a few more hours of sleep.

JULIA: Mama?  So, I woke up at FOUR O'CLOCK, and I went to the bathroom, and then it was, like, BABBLE BABBLE time, and then FINALLY I fell back asleep!

I bet Auntie Shannon was REALLY thrilled about Babble Babble time at 4am. 

Meanwhile, the girls are thoroughly enjoying all of their Easter loot, including the little play-things inside the eggs from the church egg hunt.  One of Madeleine's favorites has been a little stamp in the shape of a cross, which Madeleine explains as: "Mom!  I got a stamp of the cross that Jesus DIED on!"  Madeleine has also been enjoying the various stickers she finds inside her church eggs, and even decided to decorate her outfit with one today:

She clarified her choice to me as we drove home after dropping Julia at kindergarten: "Mom, if I put this sticker on my tights, everyone will know I'm the LOVE of JESUS.  Because...I know that Jesus loves ALL THE PEOPLE that...that...that live at HOUSES."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

Sorry, homeless people, you're missing out on the Jesus love. 

At any rate, I'm off to enjoy the love of Jesus in my red house.