Happy Easter!

We started Easter weekend's celebrations with the coloring of the eggs.Could Easter be complete without them?Probably. But they are just so fun to do! Even when the little ones just drop them in to the color cups, no real harm is done.I love to see their faces when they put the white egg in and pull a colored one out.And they turn out so pretty!!! When I was growing up, my Easter Bunny was really good about hiding the colored eggs along with the filled ones. The current Easter Bunny has not gone that route just yet so the eggs really just beautify the inside of the fridge until they become egg salad later in the week. Yum.Easter morning.We found these cute has for the boys. Unfortunately, they preferred to wear them like hobos. It was all good, though. Everyone "Awww"'ed them where ever they went. We saved the Easter baskets until after lunch. The biggest hit, by far, was the bug nets. Or "necks" as Abby likes to call them.
Noah got "Tangled". He has been talking about this movie nonstop for months. He was pretty excited.The nets were such a hit, in fact, that they decided to use them in place of the baskets for the big hunt.Some general guidelines were set down before they started out.Each child was assigned a specific egg - Noah-dinosaurs, Benj-fish, Abby-lady bugs.They understood this right from the get-go and went right after their own eggs.Even Noah did a good job of pointing the eggs out to the right person. Unheard of...
Now, here is where it gets interesting. The Easter Bunny included some generic eggs that we free for anyone and joined the bigger cousins to join in the fun. Do you want to guess who had trouble following the directions? I'll give you a hint - they were all over the age of 6. And not only did they pick up the little one's eggs, they cleaned them out as they went! So daddy had to sneak the eggs inside, refill them, and bring them back out before the little ones noticed. Silly big kids...Our best attempt at a group shot with the filled baskets. Good, isn't it? Uh, no.Sweet BumBum and his goods.Abs couldn't wait to get inside to feed her face. Have I mentioned how good she is at tearing open candy wrappers?Attempt no. 2 at a group shot.

As you can see from the pictures, it was a beautiful day. We had a great time together with the whole family and really enjoyed each others' company. And on top of that, we got to celebrate God's ultimate gift to each and everyone of us. I have been anticipating this Easter for a number of reasons - not the least of which is the reminder that, as Pastor Adam likes to say, "The worst thing is never the last thing." I always love the spring - the colors, the warmer temps, the sun, and, especially, the promise of new life. While we were not celebrating the way we might have hoped, we were indeed celebrating that promise.