Easter Sunday

This is the final post of our Easter weekend.

After an uplifting and thought-provoking service on Sunday, we headed to a family egg hunt at the home of one of Chris's relatives. The littles and I have celebrated Easter with this side of the family since Chloe's second Easter. However, since Chris worked nights and/or weekends, this was the first time that he was able to attend with us. In fact, this was the first year that he was able to watch the littles Easter egg hunt!

As soon as we got there, Chloe and Evan spotted a puppy.

They were especially excited about seeing their Nana and playing on the swing set!

While the adults without kids hid Easter eggs, I took the opportunity to take a few pictures with the littles.

And then it was time for the egg hunt. I helped Evan hunt, but in true Chloe form, she struck out on her own. I was only able to get a few shots of her...running in the other direction:)

Nana brought the littles surprise Easter baskets! Can you tell how much Evan wants to take pictures? He usually has a quota and I think our Easter weekend was maxed out! Ha!

We played for a little while longer!

And Chloe caught up with her gal pal, Cheyenne! (I have a photo from the previous Easter of the girls on this swing, so I had to get one this year.)

It was such a fun weekend celebrating the eternal salavation that God gave us by sacrificing his only Son! I hope that everyone enjoyed their Easter Sunday!

Easter Baskets

On Easter Sunday, we woke up bright and early (at least by our standards). We usually go the contemporary service at our church which is at 11 a.m., but since we had an out-of-town family get-together around that same time, we decided to go to the traditional 9 a.m. service.
 
We had a lot to squeeze in before nine, including Easter baskets. I was most excited about giving the littles the "Jesus Storybook Bible." Originally, I had planned to get a Bible for Chloe this Easter and was looking for a kid-friendly Bible. I purchased this one based on reviews and a sales associate's suggestion. However, after talking with a few Mommy friends, I've decided to get Chloe a "big girl" Bible  for her 5th birthday, and gave this to the littles as a joint gift this Easter.
 

 

Chloe's Easter Basket- Disney just re-released Peter Pan from the Disney Vault, so this was the main gift that I included in Chloe's basket. In addition, I included some cute chunky jewelry that seems to be popular with little girls. (You may recognize one of the necklaces from the egg hunt that we attended the day before. I couldn't help myself and I gave it to her a day early because it complimented her outfit so well:)) Many of the other items were dollar items from Target and the Dollar Tree.

 

 

Evan's Easter Basket- Evan's main gift was the Cars 2 blu-ray. He has a slight obsession with cars! Another item that I was glad that I included was Spiderman bubble bath. The littles have literally been begging to be bathed! Wow! Who knew all it took was some bubbles? :) 

 

 
It was so sweet to watch the littles go through their baskets. FYI, Chloe's hair is a little crazy because we set it with sponge curlers during the night.

These were wind-up toys that Chloe and Evan spotted at the Dollar Tree a few weeks before Easter. I went back the following day to pick up a couple before they sold out.

I thought that these bunny sunglasses were a good alternative to the bunny ears that I've re-gifted over the last few years;)

It was still a little too early for a little someone.

It was such a fun morning celebrating God's ultimate sacrifice and gift to us. Hallelujah! He is risen!  



Easter Egg Hunt and an Improptu Family Photo Session

On Saturday, we attended our church's Easter Egg Hunt!
 
Get ready for cuteness overload!!!
 
My friend, Tenesha, and her son, Greyson, joined us! I was excited because it had been a while since we had seen them.
 
Chloe and Greyson:) (My camera and I have been having flash issues lately, so some of these photos didn't turn out that great.)
 

 
The littles waiting for their turn on the inflatables.
 

 
Chloe and Evan had a ball on the inflatables!
 

 

I love these next few because you can see genuine smiles from Evan and his adorable dimples!

 

 

I found them waiting hand in hand.

 

 

Then it was time for the egg hunt! The egg hunt field was broken into age group sections. Evan and Greyson were in the 0 to 3 year old section and Chloe was in the 4 to 6 year old section.

Tenesha and Greyson

Guess who found the Golden Egg!?!!

It was a lot of fun and I was so glad to catch up with a couple of friends:) Hopefully, it won't be so long before our next rendezvous;)

After the hunt, I took a picture of the littles in front of the azalea bushes that were blooming in our neighbors' yard.  Don't azaleas just scream spring!?!

We had a wedding reception to go to for a family member and her new hubby that were visiting from out of town, so we missed an egg hunt that afternoon. However, we decided to stop by and say "hi" after the reception, since we were in the same neighborhood. The hunt had died down, but we stayed and chatted for a while.

Our friend Ashleigh of Ashleigh Schlemmer Photography took some beautiful photos of us while we were there!

Tyleigh (Ashleigh's daughter), Chloe, and Evan

 

And last, but not least, a family photo:)

 



It was such a beautiful spring day and we could not have enjoyed it any more, celebrating life the way it was meant to be with family and friends in God's splendor! 

A Week Full of Blessings

I have desperately wanted to write a detailed post over these past couple of weeks, but most of my energy has been poured into work, and what little I left has gone to my family. (Although I do consider blogging a form a relaxation, I do need some brain function to create a blog post.)

God's blessings in my life are abundant and I've been wanting to share a few of them.

My in-laws were sweet enough to keep the littles a couple weekends ago, so that Chris and I could enjoy a weekend together. We enjoyed a night out and an Elton John concert! On Sunday, we picked up the littles and I had an outing planned at Bass Pro for the littles and I, while Chris studied and caught up on homework. Evan was pretty worn out from his weekend with Nana and Granddaddy, so he decided to stay home and it was just us girls.

I was totally off on timing and we had enough time to make a bunny craft, but missed the Easter Bunny:(

   
Chloe didn't mind though. She enjoyed looking around the store.

In work news, these last few weeks at work have kicked off what I like to call the "busy season," and when work gets out of control, so does the stress at the office. However, this past week has reminded me of what kind, generous, and caring people that I work with, from the chocolate bunny that greeted me on Monday morning to the lunches, breakfasts, and even treats for the littles that my co-workers blessed me with during this busy time.

My sweet co-worker, Carlene, picked up these cute carrot bubbles for Chloe and Evan!:)

The littles really enjoyed playing with them that afternoon!

On Good Friday, I got off a little early and spent the afternoon with the fam!

We played for a little while. Evan took his sissy for a ride!

Evan's expression in this photo was priceless. He's bad to the bone! Ha!

Also, Chris took the training wheels off of Chloe's bike and gave her a little bike-riding lesson. (She looks scared.)

Afterwards, we dyed Easter eggs!!

At this moment, my camera decided to go crazy, so a lot of the images were throw-aways:(

But, I still managed to get a few...

 

Our eggs

And then we made "bunnies in a jar," an idea that I got from my favorite Mommy blogger!

 

I'm not worthy of His love or His blessings, but I receive them! This past week was such a good reminder of His unconditional love for us, and the ultimate sacrifice that He made for us!