Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a busy day for my little family.

I intended to sleep-in on this morning because we had a long day planned, but woke up to Evan coughing. The high pollen count has taken its toll of the littles this year.

It probably was a good thing though, because there was lots to do on this joyous morning.

The littles were anxious to dig in to their Easter baskets that I had set out the night before after they had gone to bed.

Chloe's Basket- This year, I decided to get more practical items (that I wouldn't be sneaking into our trashcan after a few days). Chloe received a spring outfit with two coordinating outfits for her AG dolls. I'm convinced that Chloe will lose her first tooth in the next few months and I want to be prepared, so I decided to include a tooth fairy pillow and a book about the tooth fairy. I also included bubble bath, Disney Princess band-aids, frilly socks, pink sunglasses, and a Pinkalicious Easter book. Since I knew that Chloe and Evan would be getting plenty of candy,  the only candy item that they each received was a chocolate Easter bunny.

Evan's Basket- I tried to be as fair as possible with the baskets. Since Chloe received outfits for herself and her dolls, Evan received Under Armour shirts and shorts. He seems to be more of a t-shirt and shorts boy this year. I killed two birds with one stone by ordering him a tooth fairy pillow in Auburn colors. You can never be too prepared, right?! He has been begging for a watch for months, so I got him a Spiderman watch. He was excited for all of 2 days and I haven't seen the watch since. In addition, he received bubble bath, Cars band-aids (the littles can't get enough of the character band-aids), red sunglasses, a Lego Easter book, and a chocolate bunny.

This may seem weird, but I didn't realize until a few years ago that the Easter Bunny was responsible for bringing children their Easter baskets. I never really understood its significance. I guess I thought of the Easter Bunny as a glorified mascot for the holiday. I always knew that my parents bought our baskets. In fact, I have memories of my brothers and I going to the store with my parents the night before Easter to pick out our pre-made Easter baskets. The littles know that their Easter baskets are filled with gifts from Momma and Daddy, so I guess that that is our family's Easter tradition.

The littles with a few of their Easter basket goodies

(Evan usually has a mohawk when he wakes up in the morning now that we are having it cut shorter. Chloe, on the other hand, does not usually wake up with curly hair.) 

Our "recycled" bunny ears - It may be time to upgrade them. Evan's are starting to get a little floppy...

Since I woke up early, I had time to make a little Easter morning breakfast, which I had no intention of doing had I slept-in.  We ate in our breakfast nook since I had set a clean tablecloth on dining room table for the guests that we were expecting for lunch.

I made this breakfast a couple of years ago on Easter morning and I couldn't for the life of me remember what I had used to make the bunny's eyes...until Chris made the statement, " At least we don't have to eat frozen peas this year." Aha! Mystery solved! Ha!

Afterwards, we donned our Easter morning best and took a few photos!

This one cracks me up. Don't mess with the cool kids!

Daddy and his littles

Momma and her littles - Please ignore the weird crease in my blouse.

We completed our final lesson with our Resurrection Gardens and rolled away our stones.

After church, we made a quick appearance at Shakespeare Festival to visit with Nana and some of Chris's extended family.

She brought her own Easter goodies for her babies.

We rushed home to get ready for Easter lunch.

Lola, Jerry, and my brothers arrived with more Easter treats.

Yes, Chloe and Evan had a wardrobe change in between church and lunch. They were excited to try on the new clothes that they received that morning. I couldn't resist taking a few photos of Chloe with her dolls.

Lola invited one of her coworkers and her coworker's daughter to lunch. The littles loved having a someone closer to their age as their special lunch guest.

They made some sidewalk art with the chalks that they received from Nana earlier that day.

We also had a little backyard Easter egg hunt with our new friend, Charice.

As you can see, we had an eventful and joyous day celebrating our Risen Lord and Savior! I hope that everyone had a Happy Easter!

Easter Blessings

I was so excited when I found out that the littles would be making Resurrection Gardens in Sunday school on Palm Sunday. I have "pinned" countless versions of it to my pinterest page with the objective of actually making it. I've told myself,  " This year will be the year!" Well, this would have been the third Easter in a row that I had not made it...

It was a helpful  reminder to talk to Chloe and Evan about the Resurrection. For seven days, I read a suggested Bible passage to the littles. After reading it, I would explain to them what it meant and we would say a quick prayer relevant to the passage. Then, we would water our gardens. The littles really enjoyed this routine. Even though they may not have understood the whole story, I do believe they understood the basic meaning.

I'm certainly not known for my green thumb, and was excited when we finally saw sprouts on Saturday. I had seen several church members posting pictures of theirs, most of which, began sprouting on day three. 

On Easter Sunday, we rolled away our stones. " He's not in there. Jesus is Alive!"

On Good Friday, I got off work a little early. It was a rainy and miserable afternoon, so instead of running errands to prepare for Easter, I figured that the littles and I could dye Easter eggs.

Since it was so messy outside, I decided that the play room would be the best place to dye eggs. (Please ignore the mess in the background. I'm so jealous of people with clean and organized playrooms. Even when our playroom is "clean", it still looks cluttered.)

We painted "candy" eggs. FYI Although they looked very pretty, they didn't dry well.

 

    
And, we used the good ole dye tablets.

On Saturday, Chloe's t-ball game was moved from the morning to the afternoon at the last minute, which meant that we could attend our church's egg hunt as a family.

We were met by my friend, Tenesha, and her son, Greyson.

I was able to capture a couple of sweet pictures.

Chloe wore her rain boots since the ground was still wet from the day before. I tried to convince Evan to wear his, but he refused, so we compromised with flip flops. Evan has been a very picky dresser since about age 2. 

Somehow, Evan ended up in the older age category, so he was on the same field hunting for eggs as Chloe. In this age group, the kids hunted by themselves, so these were the best photos that I was able to get from afar.

Do you notice anything odd about this photo?...like Chloe running past perfectly good eggs...

Apparently, this little girl had a strategy... 

Find the golden egg!!!

It looks like her plan worked. Chloe found two golden eggs, but I made her give one to Evan.

Their rewards for the golden eggs were Easter baskets filled with goodies.

What luck?! First, her game is rescheduled, which frees her up to go to the egg hunt. Then, she finds, not one, but two golden eggs!

If that weren't enough. Guess who else found a golden egg?

They are such sweet and lucky littles.

It was so good being able to spend some time with Tenesha and Greyson. We all live such busy lives, so these meetings mean the world to us.

So much goes on in the week leading to Easter that it's really hard to appreciate what is going on as we're experiencing it. One of the reasons that I really enjoy blogging is that it allows me to reflect on recent experiences. You know, all the little things that happen that I probably wouldn't think twice about if not for the blog, but for which, I am truly grateful. Our family is blessed in so many ways by Him and the people that surround us.

My Date with a Pirate and a Princess!

I'm going to take us back in time to a place that has been long forgotten... 

Was that dramatic enough for you?:)

This post is a little out of order and takes us back to the end of March.

I mentioned in my March Happenings post that the littles and I recently watched "Disney Junior Live: Pirate & Princess Adventure" at a local theater. Since I had taken so many pictures, I thought that I would write about it in one post rather than try to jam it in at the end of an already long post.

The littles didn't do much during the week of Chloe's spring break. I was very busy at work and Chris was busy studying since he had had his spring break a few weeks earlier. It was also unusually cold for a "spring" break week. However, we did manage to squeeze in a much anticipated Disney show. Since I knew that Chris wouldn't be thrilled about attending and I wasn't thrilled about paying the cost for an extra ticket, I decided that the littles and I could have a mommy-daughter-son date.

I asked Chris to take a few photos before our outing. This was my favorite of the bunch.

I snapped this one of the littles before the show started.

They were so excited when they saw Doc McStuffins on stage.

Of course, Mickey and Minnie were there too.

First up was the the "Princess Adventure".

Cinderella made an appearance.

The littles were amazed by Sofia's growing gown.

They loved the bubbles that blew everywhere as Sofia's performance was ending.

That smile makes everything worth it.

During intermission , the littles met a pirate! He complimented their outfits, so I immediately liked him!;)

After intermission was the "Pirate Adventure".

 

Peter Pan showed up to help Jake and the Neverland Pirates battle Hook.

The grand finale did not disappoint. All the characters made it back on stage for a final number.

I enjoyed my date with my littles and they enjoyed every bit of the show. It's nice to be able to treat them, and myself, to something fun like this every once while.