The joy of a fort

Here is a great photo of Bridger sleeping in his "fort". Ryan built it for him a couple of weeks ago and it's been a constant playmate since then. It's also a pretty good hiding spot when he doesn't want to obey as well, so mom and dad have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the fort. Ryan let Bridger nap in there last week and this might give you a small taste of Bridger's sleeping habits. He has every blanket possible around him, stuffed animals underneath and around, and to top things off many animal figurines set up next to him (he plays with them until he falls asleep). Usually he's sleeping on four or five books as well.

He is Risen!

We had a great Easter this year with beautiful weather. After an early-morning pajama egg hunt through the house (which included wrapped candy that we didn't notice Bridger could open until he was well into his third chocolate egg), we got in our Easter finest and headed to church. Being 7 months pregnant, my Easter finest is pretty much whatever still fits that looks remotely festive, but Bridger had a brand-new outfit and was looking especially cute. New Life had an uplifting and enjoyable service during which we were tangibly aware that our church-plant probably won't have a brass band for upcoming Easter services any time soon. Bridger has begun to understand the true Easter story this year as we've been reading books about it and talking. We tried to bring it up a lot yesterday so as not to have him think Easter was completely about chocolate and bunnies. After a long nap for everyone, we headed to a friend's house for a lovely Easter dinner and the kids played and ate themselves silly. I hope you enjoy these photos from our day. I'm just thrilled that there's a few decent ones of me and Bridger. I normally go months without appearing in a single shot, but this Easter I have proven I exist for posterity.

The Tempest

Ryan and I enjoyed The Tempest this weekend, which is part of the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. The tickets and babysitting were courtesy of some friends for my birthday. It was great to have a night out. The Tempest is one of my favorite Shakespearian plays and the acting on this one was superb. Ryan counts it as one of the top plays he's ever seen, and he actually has seen quite a few for those of you that might think this is a shallow complement.

Picky eater?

We've been making a bit of progress with Bridger's eating habits. He became a picky eater sometime last year when instead of adding new foods, he decreased the food he would eat dramatically. Breakfast has never been a problem--he's had sausage every morning of his life since he turned one (see photo). Although he's always eaten a variety of food groups, it was getting on my nerves having to always make something different for him for dinner than what Ryan and I were eating. So, last month we started making him eat some of what we eat. First we started with making him take a bite and if he didn't like it he could spit it out (he always spit it out). Then, he had to take one bite and swallow it. Now, he has to eat a few bites of everything. It's such a beautiful thing to actually see progress in him. A few weeks ago every dinnertime lead to tears, tantrums, prayers, and usually spankings, but now he is consistently eating more and more bites, though there's still some occasional tears (and sometimes he asks us to hold his hand like he's going through a medical procedure or something). The Lord is faithful!