Friday, April 5

:: March Madness, Part 2::

Easter was also in March this year and we were excited to get more Easter chicks for my "chicks". Between us and our nephews we had 6 chicks to love on! Parrish named them Otter jr., bunny and peep and enjoyed playing with them while his cousins were in town.




I don't think Knox knew quite what to think about the chicks! He just watched them calmly most of the time (there was that once he reached out, grabbed one and squeezed...ahhhhhh....the trauma!).





I love this picture of two little chicks.  His twirly toes remind me so much of his sister.

Later this week we'll take the chicks to live at a friends house. She keeps chickens and says she'll even share some of their eggs with us. Yum!  It will be so much fun to show Parrish what they look like all grown up.

The Saturday before Easter our neighborhood does a big egg hunt and this year we REALLY hunted in style. 4,000 eggs were dropped from a HELICOPTER for the kids to hunt! The picture above is Parrish staring at it taking off.  It was a surprise and the kids were all amazed. I can't say that I ever went to an egg hunt that involved a helicopter growing up! Where will we go from here?! Don't think the neighborhood will be able to top that next year!


Knox met the Easter bunny for the first time at the hunt and his daddy even helped him hunt eggs. In his words..."babies like to hunt eggs, too!" Ha! He'd hold him up to a egg and Knox would grab onto it with a precious, chubby little fist. The problem was getting him to let it go in the Easter basket!


Easter Sunday Cannon surprised me with an Easter dress! Can you believe that? It was so sweet I almost cried! I had been complaining the day before that I hadn't given any thought to what I was going to wear, so he took it upon himself to go buy me something new. I just love that man. He was even smart enough to buy it in two sizes! He really brought a smile to my face. What girl wouldn't like a new dress?

Another very special part of my ensemble was the beautiful, old-fashioned Easter corsage that Cannons sister Christy brought me to wear in memory of our precious Olivia. I loved wearing the dainty, pink flowers all day because they reminded me so much of the bouquet she carried at her dedication. It was a small but special way to help us feel like she was with us.



Here's a family shot from the egg hunt.  Parrish ADORES his cousins and it is fun to watch a house full of boys when they are all in town.  As you can imagine, there is lots of energy and never enough food to fill them up!


And of course the bunny made his appearance on Easter eve and left baskets for the boys to find in the morning. He brought Knox some super cool baby shades pictured below.  I couldn't believe they lasted 5 seconds on his little face, much less 5 minutes, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much he liked them!


The boys got matching shark bathing suits from the bunny.  I am dressing them alike as much as I can this year because I have a feeling that Parrish wanting to dress like Knox will be short lived.  I must take advantage of it while it lasts!

Knox's favorite part about his Easter basket was trying to eat the grass, of course.  Parrish's was his book of paper airplanes and of course all the candy!


Here they are in their coordinating Easter "finery."  Aren't they cute??


March was also a busy month for Olivia Charles Antiques!  As I mentioned in a previous post, we are partnering with Southern Stationery (SouthernDipity gifts) to offer engraved gifts like the cross above.  The back of the cross has the family name and each member's name engraved as well.  These have been selling really well (they are $30 + engraving cost and can be purchased here) in addition to the double cross (shown below in natural and red barn wood).


These crosses are $50 and can also be engraved.  You can purchase one here.  Please specify if you would like a red cross.  We only have one left.


Mary Catherine of Cotton + Quill has been engraving up a storm for us and here is a bathroom caddy engraved with the old fashioned word for out house, "Privy".  Clever, huh?  Mary Catherine has her own line of hand-drawn and custom fabric available to the trade.  Check it out here!


I promised a picture of the bedside table/bookcase that we did for a client and here it is!  The grass green interior is such an unexpected pop of color in an otherwise all natural barn wood piece.  I am in love with it and can't wait to see it in the room.  

These tables are a steal at $150 and I happen to have one more in turquoise.  If you are interested email me at info@oliviacharlesantiques.com and I can email you a picture of that color way and give you measurements.  It will also be for sale with our other items at the Mt Laurel Spring Festival which is next Saturday, April 13th!  I hope to see you there.


I want to close with a prayer request and some words from my heart.  I have been struggling this last week emotionally.  When you loose a child, every day has it hard parts and lately there have been more of these moments.  I mourn our little girl, and the loss of normalcy for us.  It is tiring going out into the world, living a daily, normal life, but always anxious because you don't know when you're going to be put in a situation where you are expected to talk about our loss, especially with people you don't know well.  It's like having a wound that has scabbed over, but suddenly is ripped off.  Emotionally and mentally I don't feel strong enough to talk about this personal, deep loss with people I have just met.  And that makes me want to isolate myself from situations where this might occur.  Please pray for courage, strength, and endurance for me in these situations, in addition to Cannon and Parrish as it is just as hard for them, but in different ways.

We took Parrish to visit Olivia's gravesite for the first time on Easter and it was a bitter sweet time, but he was ready.  He had asked several times to go and see it so he could bring her the minnie mouse ears that we bought for her birthday while at Disney.  And he really, really wanted to take his new paper airplane book there so we could fly airplanes "with" her.  And so we did.  At first it almost felt disrespectful to fly airplanes with him there, but gradually I felt a peace that she would want to see him happy there.  What a study of opposites.  I place full of sorrow suddenly filled with the joy of a little boy flying paper airplanes.  

What broke my heart the most was him asking for some privacy to go and talk to her.  As I walked toward the car he was sitting on her bench and all I could see was his swinging little feet as he spoke to her.  He is so young to have endured so much and I am so proud of his sweet, tender, and strong little spirit.  

Last week I learned that some old family friends lost their second child.  Their first son in a pool accident at least 20 years ago and their second son, a college student, just last week in a car accident.  Please keep this family in your prayers.  It is unfathomable to me how a family could endure the loss of a child for the second time, yet I know they will have no choice but to do just that.  You don't ever think that lightning is going to strike in the same place twice and hearing that it has has been a hard reality for me to take in.  My heart aches for them, but the only thing I know to do for them right now is to pray, so I would ask that you please remember them in your prayers as well.  

"Now you don't need to be afraid of the dark anymore, nor fear the dangers of the day; nor dread the plagues of darkness, nor disasters in the morning." Psalm 91:5-6






No comments:

Post a Comment