Dear Friends and Family,
We were lucky enough to have Chris' parents come to visit us this weekend! The visit had two purposes: 1) to celebrate Chris' birthday, and 2) to celebrate the life of Mom's aunt Marjorie Hisken Evans at an Arlington memorial service.
Mom and Dad arrived on Thursday afternoon and both of the kids were SO excited to see them. Mimi and Poppy brought lots of toys and Easter gifts for the kids. Claire and I both Ooo'd and Aww'd over all of the goodies.
 |
| Mom and Dad played with the kids while I got a shower on Friday morning, when I came downstairs I saw them all gathered around the kitchen island chowing down on some breakfast! |
 |
| Everyone was curious about what Will would think about Mimi bread, the verdict? More, please! |
Will is eating a lot of food these days in quantity and variety! He eats 2-3 servings of Gerber baby food and then eats some of our dinner on top of it, i.e. tuna, salmon, chicken, turkey, black beans, or pizza.
 |
| Not only is he a hungry guy, but he says, "Mmmmm, Yummm, Mmmm..." the whole time he eats! |
 |
| Playing with Poppy! |
 |
| Poppy gives Claire her first golf lesson. |
 |
| Reading with Mimi! |
On Friday, we headed down to Arlington Cemetery for a memorial service to celebrate the life of Mom's aunt Marjorie. I felt honored to be invited to attend a memorial on nationally hallowed ground. I just prayed that my kids would cooperate and abide by the cemetery rules of, "No yelling during a ceremony." The kids were great, and we ended up spending most of the day at Arlington touring the cemetery and visiting with family. I never knew aunt Marjorie, but she had some terrific children and grandchildren who were a pleasure to meet. Will even made friends with a distant cousin who is only a month older!
 |
| Such a cute sight! |
 |
| The service was held just down the hill from the grave site. |
 |
| The Chaplin lead a brief but personal service that included a eulogy, Psalm 23, and the Lord's Prayer. He concluded by saying what an honor it is to perform services for World War II era individuals because they truly were the greatest generation. |
 |
| We arrived at the tomb of the unknown soldier just in time to see the changing of the guard! |
 |
| We also got to do a brief tour of Arlington House, formerly General Robert E. Lee's home before the Civil War. When the Northern army kept Lee's wife (Mary Anna Custis Lee) from paying taxes on her property, the government came and seized the land. Brig. Gen. Meigs wanted to make sure that Lee could never come back to live at Arlington so he turned his property into the cemetery, burying the first of the Union dead in Mary Anna's prized rose garden. |
On Saturday we celebrated Chris' birthday by doing some serious yard work. Mom and Dad bought us some azaleas, nandina bushes, and pansies for our front garden bed. I'm so excited to see theses amazing new shrubberies grow and bloom.
 |
| Claire advises Mimi on where to place the pansies. |
 |
| Mom and Dad also helped us clear out our other beds so they would be read for mulching. As you can see from the pile in the driveway, we were busy! |
 |
| Will enjoyed a tour of the garden with Poppy! |
They continued to work with us right up until dinner by organizing the garage and helping Chris load some boxes in the attic for storage. Luckily dinner was a rotisserie sirloin roast! Needless to say, we devoured it!
After dinner and the kids' bedtime, we all settled down with some ice cream and watched the Wildcats play Wisconsin in the Final Four! It was such an exciting game! Unfortunately the CATS lost the championship game to UConn, but it was a great game and such a fun group of players to watch!
 |
| I was hoping for a new National Champion shirt, but I guess I'll have to settle on a final four shirt instead! Go CATS! |
I'll close with a sweet photo I got of Will and I holding hands while he nursed this week. Only a few more months of nursing and the baby days will be over. It will be incredibly bittersweet.
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Bethie
No comments:
Post a Comment