The meaning of Easter

Today was the annual Easter basket hunt downtown. Tessa thought that meant it was Easter. As we walked hand in hand downtown I thought we'd take a moment to discuss Easter.

"Tessa, do you know what Easter is about?"

"Huh hu! The Easter bunny hides a purple jump rope and we find it."

"No, it's about Jesus..."

Tessa inturupts, "Jesus likes purple jump ropes?!"

"Maybe. Easter is about Jesus dieing and comging back to life."

"Cause he LIKES to die and come back to life?"

"Not exactly." Mama goes on to explain the Easter story as they walk. Mama waits for questions.

"Mama, can I have a purple jump rope?

Feeling defeated mama sighs, "We'll see."

Twenty minutes later we waiting in line with 400 other children waiting for the basket hunt to begin. Tessa picks up two sticks on the ground, crosses them and holds them up exclaiming, "MAMA LOOK!"

Mama smiles. Maybe she DOES understand the real meaning of Easter after all!

"Look. It's a t...like Tessa!"

"sigh"

On the flight home from Denver Tessa decided to have a fit. As the pilot was coming into O'Hare Tessa kept taking her seat belt off and hitting mama with the strap. When mama made it perfectly clear what consequenses Tessa would encounter upon landing she got very quiet and still. A few moments later mama points to the window, "Look we're about to land."

Tessa mumbles with clenched teeth, "Don't talk to me right now. I'm in a LOT of trouble."

Unstable Rock Formations for unstable kids.

Tessa went to Colorado to visit her friend Quinn. They climbed everything in sight. You can view the slideshow here.

Love Your Neighbor

Tessa is ripping at her doll's hair with a comb as she's quoting scripture verses:

"Come near to God and he will come near to us."

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

"MAMA! When we see our neighbor we have to tell him. KNOW DAT!"

Listening

"Tessa put the scissors away."

"Tessa....put the scissors away."

"Tessa PUT the scissors away."

"I SAID PUT the scissors away."

"TESSA!"

"Look mama. I put the scissors away. I'm such a good listener."

Turn the Other Cheek

Mama's sick. Every joint, bone and muscle hurts. "Even my butt hurts," she tells her friend who's come to care for the girls.

The next day mama is standing at the sink washing baby bottles. Tessa comes up from behind and kisses her on each butt cheek. "There, now your butt don't hurt no more."