“Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself, because I love you, yes I do.” ~ James Taylor

I love Easter.  It is my favorite holiday for many reasons.  I am not sure who does not love a holiday where you receive baskets of candy and goodies.  If you do not, please stop reading this blog, it is not for you.  Easter symbolizes a lot of things to me, such as the rebirth of Jesus, the arrival of spring, the end of the cold and winter and snow.  For me, it is among the most hopeful, “looking forward” time of the year.

When I was young, it was one of the few times in the year that we got something new, new shoes and often a new Easter dress and hat.  Even, recycled or hand me down, they seemed new.

When my children were little I loved finding the right thing for their Easter basket (I mean the Easter bunny found the perfect item for their basket) to see the smile on their faces.  I still do.

A couple of years ago we had a wonderful celebration with family and friends celebrating Becca’s birthday, Skip’s birthday, Easter, and the gender reveal of baby Carter.

We had a good Easter again this year.  When you are a little older you don’t take life for granted as you might have in the past.  My father turned ninety this year.  Dan and Ann Taylor and Carter moved to North Carolina in May of last year, and Becca sold her condo and lives in North Carolina when she is not traveling for work.  Kristen is busy with work and traveling to dance events.  The children are all busy with lives of their own and the fact that they could all be together to celebrate Easter was a huge win for me.  No matter where or when, when we can all be together it is my happiest of times.

“Home is where love resides, memories are made, friends are always welcome and family is forever.” ~ Unknown author

Having a baby in the condo, despite my two insane not to be trusted dogs in residence, added a new level of happiness to the holiday.  If I haven’t mentioned it before, Carter is the smartest, happiest and most beautiful child.  When you are with him, you just smile.  It brings me back to when my children were younger.  If I could have had one wish this holiday, it would have been to have my mom here with me.  She ALWAYS enjoyed my children,  in her eyes they could do no wrong.  I often, always miss her, but for some reason I missed her more this Easter.  My second wish, which was granted, was to take some family pictures.

Even though Skip’s having a bit of a bad hair moment, this is among one of my favorites.

I love that Becca and Kristen got to spend some fun time with Carter, even though he was not a fan of the windy day.

Skip and I got to spend a little alone time with our grandson as well.

We had a lovely dinner and Marybeth was able to distract Carter so he ate all his dinner!

On Sunday we worked around Carter’s nap time for making some Shaw memories.

He loves reading and snap-chat with his godmother.

“A smile is happiness you find right under your nose.” ~ Tom Wilson

“Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.” ~ Anthony J. DeAngelo

I hope that your Easter celebration brought you as many blessings and smiles as mine did for me.  Even though I am not a fan of having my picture taken and more than often I am on the other side of the camera, here are a couple of Skip and I.

“Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall.  It’s the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events.  Joy comes in sips, not gulps.”  ~ Sharon Draper