how to celebrate easter in remembrance

my sister-in-law had this link on her blog, and i couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it.

part of the reason we love the name pace is because it means "passover" in hebrew. we discovered we were pregnant while teaching the old testament in gospel doctrine at our church. we had become emotionally linked to this particular "holiday" after teaching the passover lesson and its beautiful imagery and symbolism. the first passover occurred when moses was trying to convince pharaoh to allow the israelites a 3-days' journey into the wilderness to make sacrifices to their God (exodus 3:18)--this eventually escalated to a request to free the israelites completely. having been in captivity for hundreds of years within the egyptian culture, it was moses' job to remind the israelites of their sacred heritage through the covenant of the fathers (otherwise known as the abrahamic covenant); performing the sacred ordinances and sacrifices were part of that covenant. pharaoh refused, and the "10 plagues" began.

the final, and worst, plague was the death of every firstborn in all the land (exodus 11:3-6). to protect the israelites (whom the Lord interestingly called His firstborn), the Lord instructed them to sacrifice a lamb without blemish and to take the blood and mark the doorway of their houses. the blood would be a token to the destroying angel to pass over that particular house, and the firstborn within would live (exodus 12:12-14). the whole purpose of the old testament is to look forward to Christ. the sacrificial blood on the doorways wasn't merely a token to escape mortal death, it was a token of the liberty, redemption, and sanctification we would receive through Christ's sacrificial and atoning blood. here was a promise to escape separation from God.

Christ could have dismissed the destroying angel, He could have chosen a "passing over". He instead chose to cover our doorways with His life.

it is not His sacrificial death we celebrate, but His atoning life--3 days after hanging on the cross, Christ rose from the cold, stone tomb, and walked. His resurrection draws all men to Him (3 Nephi 27:14), brings about the conditions of repentance (Helaman 14:18), allows mercy to claim the penitent (Alma 42:23), loosens the bands of death and sin that bind us down to destruction (Alma 7:11-15), ransoms mankind from the effects of the fall (2 Nephi 9), makes intercession for all the children of men (2 Nephi 2:6-9).

how to celebrate easter dapper-style

owls in season

we were going to do pace's room in noah's ark style, but then we couldn't find any crib sets we liked. david found a super cute owl bedding set from dwell studios at a great price, so we are now doing owls. i am finally getting to some artwork for the walls. going along with the owl theme, i'm painting winter/spring/summer/fall with a little owl hanging out in his tree. summer is done, and winter is almost finished.

little bear, little shrimp

pace had his 6 month appointment yesterday and the poor kid went from shrimp to shrimpier. he weighed in at a whopping 15lbs 10oz, which places him in the 15th percentile. he's finally made it to the 50th in one area: he's 26.5 inches long. the dr. isn't worried at all because he is bright, healthy, strong, developing just fine physically/mentally/etc., and he is putting on weight, just slowly.

in his defense, he does have a little buddha belly, cute little snuggle cheeks, and chubs on his little legs--they are all very well proportioned, is all--no outlandish muffin top, thunder thighs, or double chin for this kid. we were calling pace our little bear, but now we're thinking of calling him little shrimp...

and his personality is hilarious. he is so curious, social and timid at the same time, vocal, snuggly--all good baby things rolled into one.

we have started purees! pace loved the novelty of the spoon. the first few feedings were fun for about 4 or 5 spoonfuls of rice cereal, and then the novelty wore off and he wanted to eat the way he was used to eating.

pace was much more excited to wear the cereal then to eat it...

so then we tried butternut squash--instant hit. that's a happy face, trust me.

on sunday, i spent an hour and a half steaming, roasting, and pureeing zucchini, peas, sweet potato, butternut squash, apple, and pear. i had all the ingredients on hand, used one pot, one baking pan, one mini food processor, and about 5-6 oz of breastmilk. fast, nutritious, inexpensive, homemade, not full of preservatives, dyes, processed junk...remind me--why are the grocery stores stocked with purees for babies?...

this is where pace burns off the calories he consumes. try asking this kid to be still...not a chance. i'm in trouble when we starts crawling, toddling, walking, running...it's never going to stop!

phew--some down time--i love chillin with my little man. and finally some sun! i think i can count on one hand the number of warm, sunny days we've had this spring. the rest have been cloudy, cold, rainy, and or snowy. if we see sun outside, pace and i are on the front porch watching the cars go by.

warm enough for a picnic lunch with dada. pace loves being outside, touching the grass, leaves, flowers, etc.

when pace first discovered his voice, he gave tarzan calls all day long. tarzan quickly developed into full-out screeches/squeals. he sounds like a mix between a hungry pig and a barn owl. there are times he lets out blood-curdling screams that i am sure would make the neighbors call dcfs if the windows were open. here he is in his new toy letting out a squeal of delight at the top of his lungs.

pace loves: being outside, his dad, his mom, waking up in the morning, his ladybug toy, his hippo stuffed animal, jumping, singing "i'm a little teapot" with the motions, watching his "baby can read" videos (in particular, loves to see this one boy in the video named graham), playing peek-a-boo, swings at the park, kicking in the pool, reading night-night books with dada

pace dislikes: loud, sudden noises (hair dryer, kitchen appliances, etc), strangers, getting ready for bed (although he goes down really well!), dr. visits/shots, waking up from naps

25-31

i know you're all dying to hear how we finished out the meatless month of march, so here it is:

25: i remember that day was a cold, blustery, snowy day, so i thought soup would be great for david when he'd walk in from work. so i made vegetable soup and was about to throw some biscuits in the oven when david walked in carrying fancy bread and cheese, so we made gourmet grilled cheeses to accompany the soup. david also brought the sunshine with him!--the minute he walked in, the snow stopped, and the clouds parted just enough the let the sunshine in.

26-27, the usual leftovers...

28: you can never have too much chips + salsa. or enchiladas. or poblanos enrolados. or tamales. that night was cheese and chili tamales with salsa and cottage cheese, a steamed veg/bean packet, and citrus on the side. mexican food would definitely be my last meal request.

29: i know this looks like we cheated, but it isn't a real burger. a boca burger is basically a bunch of soy product pressed together, colored and flavored to look like a burger. that process makes it sound worse than it actually was--they weren't that bad.

30: potato parmesan gnocchi with a steamed veg pack, salad, and garlic bread. hello, dinner!

31: for our last meal i decided to re-make huevos rancheros. this time we had the right ingredients on top!

what did we have for dinner the next night? i think i made meatball subs, a pizza with chicken sausage, and then (forget leftovers!) my favorite sunday meal: roast chicken with roast potatoes/carrots, grilled asparagus, steamed broccoli/cauliflower with cheese sauce, and gravy...mmmmm.