Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday morning was a good one at our house - we leisurely woke up with no rush (um...did you hear the hallelujah chorus because I did) because we went to church the night before and it was really nice. Typically I either work on Saturday AM or Tim goes to men's breakfast at church so Saturdays are seldom laid back sleep in kind of days and with church on Sundays we just don't often get that kind of opportunity and it was awesome. I woke up with the girls and made muffins for breakfast. Kennedy was busting at the seems because she could see from the kitchen into the playroom on the hearth that the Easter bunny had been to our house overnight. I had to remind her three times that we'd not be getting into our Easter buckets until Avery was awake and we had all eaten breakfast. Finally Daddy woke up and we all had eaten our breakfast, but before it was time to see what surprises awaited them we decided to read the Easter story out of Kennedy's Bible. I LOVE her little Bible...the illustrations, the wording, EVERYTHING about it is so perfect for her stage:  

Chelsea gave her a devotional book for Christmas and we've been pretty good about doing it daily and she loves it. It truthfully wasn't until we got into that devotional that I realized how ready she was for time in the word and time discussing Jesus ~ everything about Jesus. It makes me so happy to have something that I can do with her that's easy to do and creates talking points for us to really strengthen her faith and understanding of why we believe what we believe. Anyhow - I'm just thankful for these two books and thankful for those sweet opportunities where we can talk to our little ones about such important things. They really help break things like crucifixion and raising from the dead down enough for kids to "get it" (thank you and Amen says this Mama).

On to the Easter basket fun:

Kennedy was tearing into her Easter bucket and Avery was just kind of watching at first but then she caught on and dug into hers too:

I got these headbands in the Target one spot and they were worth the $2 just for the photo opportunities they created:

Don't think for a second that this isn't going to pop up one of their wedding slide shows years from now! Ha!

Oh...my sweet little flower:

After our Easter bucket hurrah, I finished up lunch preparation responsibilities and we began the process of getting ready for the day. We had lunch plans with Derek, Billie, Jonathan, Abby, The Ellingers (love them to pieces) and all our kiddos and the weather was PERFECT for the lunch we had planned to occur on the Motsch's deck! I'm so thankful they volunteered to host because their yard was perfect for the kids to run around and play and the weather was simply amazing for an outdoor lunch.

Eli took Kennedy for a little gator ride:

Avery decided she wanted in on it too:

Eli had a little balancing bike that Avery wanted to try and clearly she enjoyed it:

The kids had one heck of an Easter Egg hunt - Kennedy even had her own special section of hidden eggs to challenge her and of course keep her from swiping all the little kids eggs. Sometimes it's crazy to sit back and realize she's the "older one"! Older though she may be - she's still a kid and enjoyed every second of that Easter egg hunt:

~pure joy~

Look Mommy!

Avery didn't really participate in the egg hunt, but she did play with a couple eggs and scored some animal crackers out of them.

again with the perfect toe point to avoid leg touching grass sensation: ha!

Family photo - seriously it's like we were at a photo shoot locale: their yard = gorgeous!

My how our priorities have changed - we remembered to get a picture of all the kids together but failed to get one of all the adults! I'm so impressed they all had their eyes open. It's also impressive that Adalyn is almost smiling in this picture because folks - it's hard to squeeze one out of her on command...she's the most content and easy going child ever but she doesn't just hand her smiles out for free left and right ;).

Eli decided to take the photo opportunity to grab a smooch!

That's my girl - brush that shoulder off ;)! I love his look of determination..haha!

I was in charge of bringing dessert and I thought what springier of a dish than dirt cake (easy and so super yummy) :

I took a bunch of pictures of the kids with my favo lens and for whatever reason I'm completely in love with this picture of Eli. I don't know if it's so much the picture or just how stinkin' cute he is - his little Easter outfit seriously excites me about the options for boy clothes out there and dressing my little man Greyson up soon:

I got one that I love of Adalyn too - her eyes are so incredibly blue and this picture shows them off:

We really had a great time - I love watching all our kids running around together having fun and just knowing we are growing "the party". Next year Cayden and Greyson will be joining the party - going to be exciting and busy and even more fun!