We hope you had a wonderful Easter, we know we sure did!
On Saturday, we participated in an Easter Egg hunt at church
Here is a pic of some of the kiddos from Elizabeth's class. They divided the kids up by age group to make it a little more fair on the younger kids.
As you can see from above, Liam got in the action as well. He enjoyed sitting in the grass, and inspecting the eggs he found! It was pretty stinkin' cute!
And of course, Elizabeth had a blast hunting eggs. There were so many donated (I think over a thousand) that her basket was literally overflowing! Here she is with buddy, Katherine. Prior to the egg hunt, the little kids also got to pet/hold a bunny, and then had a bit of story time and crafts.
The older kids experienced a short Passion skit. The morning of the Egg Hunt, I received an email asking if I could play Mary Magdalene. I reluctantly said yes, and fortunately was able to prop my lines up on the "tomb" so there was no memorizing required. I'm hoping they thought of me for the red hair and not some other reason--lol. J/K! (I got such a kick out of that joke--lol!) And hopefully I did an okay job. Anyway, that's me in the pink.
After the Egg Hunt, we were happy to have my Uncle Guy, Aunt Rachel, and their four kiddos stop by for a visit on their way home from vacation. Since it was late when they got to our place, we convinced them to stay over night. I'm glad we did, because celebrating Easter was lots of fun w/family around! I don't know if you can picture SIX cousins in one house (4 of whom are 3 and under), but it was quite the sight (and sound!) and lots of fun! Honestly, I don't know how Guy and Rachel manage w/four kids--but they are great kiddos, so I suppose that really helps!
Anyway, we decided to let the kids dye eggs that night. It was fun and surprisingly, no one got messy and I don't think a single egg broke!
Lucia and Cecilia (above) They are the sweetest girls! Lucia was so sweet and responsible. She helped out with the little ones and even sung a beautiful Easter prayer before dinner! Cecilia is also a sweet-heart! And always smiling and happy! She enjoyed giving me lots of tickles and played well with Elizabeth.
Constantine and Elizabeth (above). Constantine is a smart, fun boy! And he is ALL boy! I think his favorite part of the stay was playing with our dog, Bella. Elizabeth really enjoyed chasing after him as well!
Xavier and Liam (above); both are SO laid back... little Xavier was one of the most smilie babies I've ever seen!
Easter Morning Chaos. I love how even Liam is holding something up from the Easter Bunny! Not sure what was more fun... Easter morning, or playing you-know-who with my aunt and uncle the night before! Lol!
Easter Egg Hunt! Those cousins were FAST! Elizabeth will have to work on her sprinting skills for next time!
I like to call this one: "quiet determination"
As per usual my kids were SPOILED! OH, and check out the little blue "Jesus Loves Me" bunny by Liam's basket... The Easter Bunny brought the same one in pink for Elizabeth's first Easter. Mommy couldn't believe it!
OH, this year we did one new tradition... "resurrection eggs" Elizabeth is still way too little to fully comprehend Easter, but this seemed to help some. After dinner the 12 days leading up to Easter, we would read a few pages from our Easter book and then open an egg. Inside were things to symbolize things within the Passion story. Donkey fur to symbolize Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a Donkey... Soap to represent Jesus washing the disciples feet... A nail to represent Jesus' crucifixion... a stone to represent the stone that was placed in front of his tomb... and of course, the last day, was an empty egg... to represent the empty tomb. I think we will do this every year. We fell a little behind, but she really did get into it each night that we remembered!
Cousin Carousel! Here they are at the church playground after the Easter service. As you can see, we made sure they got out all their energy for their car ride home. I love how Elizabeth is refusing to pedal--lol!
Here's another pic of the whole crew. Aren't they the cutest cousins? Oh, in case you are wondering, this was right after church, so Liam was crashed out in his crib.
Happy Easter, everyone!
