Easter Sunday

I have a new appreciation for Easter after being a parent. It has always been overwhelming to me that God would send his only son to die not only for the sins of the world, but for the sins of each of us. To think that he would have done it all even if it was just for me. Wow. Now that I'm a parent, I have an even deeper appreciation as I cannot even begin to fathom seeing Madison Claire go through such suffering and pain. What an amazing God we serve...and what an incredible gift of salvation. We had a great series at church the past 2 weeks about the cross and resurrection. If you have time, you should check them out (titled The Final Hours & Easter Celebration on the website):

http://www.cumberlandonline.org/listen.asp

Mom, Meredith, Ben & the McSwains joined us for church this morning and then we had a nice lunch at Bonefish Grill. Afterwards we had our first Easter Egg hunt in the front yard...she wanted to eat the eggs more than anything else. Precious.

Look at the difference between Easter last year and Easter this year...what a big girl!

Here is a video of our Easter Egg Hunt:

First Birthday Party!

Today was Madison Claire's first birthday party! We got everything ready this morning and the party started at noon. We had planned on a low key day with pizza & cupcakes. We invited a few of our friends with kids & from our small group (past and present) and had a lot of fun celebrating Miss Madison Claire. My family came into town - Mom, Dad, Sarah, Ryan, Meredith, Patrick, Ben & Mama Howard. Ryan's parents came too and of course we couldn't have a party for Madison Claire without Nanny Annie!!

I really wanted the party to be special, but I've been busy with work and life and just didn't feel any creative waves in my brain for this party! I had bought the cutest little paper invitations from a paper store that was going out of business here about a year ago and wanted to use them for the party. I procrastinated on getting them printed at home and when I finally decided I had to make the invitations and get them out, of course I couldn't figure out how to get the invitations to print from my house. My printer wouldn't accept the paper, I couldn't get it to line up right...basically everything that could have gone wrong, did. So - after one night with me in a very bad mood, Ryan told me just to order some online and it would be okay if they were expensive. So I did and got this cute little invitation from Shutterfly.

Once the invitations were done, I still couldn't find any creative energy, so called my friend Ashley Ethridge who is SUPER creative and asked her if she would help me with some decorations. She made the cutest little things - water bottle covers, cupcake toppers, little bags for the kids as thank yous, and a banner that says Madison Claire. She definitely exceeded my expectations!!! THANK YOU ASHLEY!!!!

This morning when we woke up it was raining but by the time noon rolled around, it was a beautiful day! We got some balloons for the mailbox and Madison Claire was mesmerized with them! We had a great time celebrating with our friends...thank you to everyone who came and made us all feel special. As Ryan said when he was asking the blessing - it was more than just a party for Madison Claire - it was a party for all of us - and we so appreciate the love and support from our friends and family! Here are some pictures from the day...enjoy!!

This is one of my favorites....love her looking up at the balloons!

She is in there somewhere!!

Her big "CUPCAKE" cake

YUM....she loved the icing!

We have such great friends & family!!

The Howards

The Howards & McSwains

So HYPED up on sugar!!

With the G-mama Howard

Sweet Annie stayed afterwards to help us clean up and Madison Claire was OVER the pictures...

And....naptime!