Easter 2013

We have had the BEST Easter weekend.  We started the weekend off Friday night with a quick early dinner and then Next Level had a Good Friday service.  It was awesome!!  It just set the tone of the weekend for me.  It is also incredibly exciting this year with Clare being a little older and somewhat understanding the reason we celebrate Easter.  We were able to have a lot of fun conversations with her about how much Jesus loves her!

Saturday we went to the Stallings Egg Hunt and spent the afternoon playing at home and getting ready for Easter.  Saturday night LD and I watched The Passion of the Christ and I had not seen the movie since it came out in the theater.  I really felt like I needed a gut wrenching reminder of how much Jesus sacrificed for me.  I feel like its always hard and uncomfortable to watch...you just want to turn your head because the gore and mockery is so bad.  But there comes a day when I need to remember, I need to feel uncomfortable about how much was paid for my sins so that it is not taken for granted.  It is so much easier to read it in the Bible than to imagine him as a human being feeling the thorns on his head, and the hammering of the nails into his hands and feet.  But sometimes...I need to remember.

Sunday I could not have been more ready to head to church and celebrate that He had risen!  But, not before the Easter bunny came and left some goodies :)

 

Then everyone got on their Sunday best to head to church!  

 

A coworker for LD's came with us to church and also took us out to a delicious brunch afterwards!

This is our first holiday as a family of 5!!

Then after naps we had our friends the Monza's over for an Easter egg hunt and dinner.

 

 

The girls loved finding their eggs and we have a great yard for hiding them.

Elle and Maddy are best little buddies and we just love them!  Thankful to have such sweet friends!

 

More fun adventures to come as we have family coming in tonight!!

 

Our Easter Prep & Egg Hunt

I haven't been the greatest blogger in the last few weeks and I think its just because we are settling into normal.  I am not feeling a great need to document every time I leave the house with all three children along because it is finally becoming just another daily task. 

 

With that said, we have been busy getting ready for Easter!!

 

The girls made these cute egg bouquets and I made a larger one for centerpieces on our table.  It was a super easy and fun craft.

 

And we colored Easter eggs.  I am learning everything is done easier on the floor than at the table.

 

Coloring eggs is one of those tasks, much like carving a pumpkin that daddy has no desire to participate in...so we do them while he is at work.  He is not the craft type!

Then we had a fun day planned Saturday and went to the Stallings Easter Egg Hunt.  The rained threatened our fun, but thankfully the sun came out.

Cole was a trooper and just hung out with daddy.  I think LD is loving carrying around a boy that can support his favorite team :)

I love this sweet picture.  Every time they hold hands on their own I am reaching for my camera.  I feel like I need documentation that they love each other on days when they are not getting along so well.  They really are sweet friends.

 

 

Before the egg hunt there was a craft table, a few little games where you could win candy, and a bounce house that got a little crazy, so we decided to steer clear of that!

We also could meet the Easter bunny, which Elle did not like.  This picture doesn't have sound, so it doesn't look as bad as it actually was.  I will admit this is a slightly scary bunny, but Elle was so freaked out.  She watched to see where he was the entire time we were outside.  She was gripping my shirt so hard.  I'm slightly worried as to what will come when we go to Disney World in October.

 

I didn't get any pictures of the actual hunt, which is a bummer because it was a sight to see.  There were baseball diamonds taped off that had hundreds of eggs laid out. When they said go all of the kids ran and filled their buckets.  I was feeding Cole and LD went in with the girls and it was chaos of course.  Next thing you know poor Clare is standing in the middle of the ball field sobbing.  She came walking out and said she did not want any eggs. I don't think she was prepared to fight for her eggs.  But after you picked up all your (empty) eggs (yes, they were empty), you traded them in for a huge lollipop.  The girls of course were thrilled.

 

 



Elle's first haircut

 

A friend of mine asked the other day if my girls have had hair cuts.  I started thinking, Man Elle could REALLY use a haircut.  She has very short hair and its really thin, but it was getting pretty straggly.

 

 

So we made a morning of it and went tot he cutest little barber shop in town and Elle was very excited!

Clare told her all about it.  You get to sit in a car, watch tv, and have a lollipop when you are done.  I think they would go once a week if their hair grew fast enough!

 

 

And since we were already going, Clare was WAY overdue for a trim.  She actually got 1 1/2 inches off and you can barely tell!

Elle's hair has this crazy wave in it that will drive her crazy when she's older, but I love that the little ends are all even now.

 

And Cole was a trooper and slept the whole time!

We decided to finish off our fun day at Chick-fil-A for lunch.  This is the ONLY restaurant I would ever take all three kiddos to by myself.  And the reason is because they have mom's valet, where you go through the drive thru, order and pay...and then go in and they have your meal on a table for you.  Plus this chick fil a is across the street from our house and has an indoor play place.  I think we frequent this place once a week and the sweet ladies that walk around refill our drinks and bring us kids ice creams after the girls eat.  It is the BEST!!!!