Easter Events

 Easter is always one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. We were able to do several special activities together as a family surrounding the holiday. On the Saturday before Easter, we attended an "Easter Shell-ebration" event at a nearby church. The kids enjoyed playing some carnival games (and earning free prizes or candy!) prior to the egg hunts.

The teen helper decided to make this sucker pull a little more active for Jaden and Cody by having them run as fast as they could to grab the sucker.

Adley and I stood in line for face painting, and she was well-rewarded with a fancy, sparkly unicorn to match her shirt!

All three kids especially loved all the bounce houses and slides.

Our family picked up some free snacks inside (cotton candy and popcorn), and Adley found this egg headband to color.

Before long, it was time for the egg hunts! Adley's age group was very well-attended, but she wasn't intimidated by the crowds. She had a clear plan for where to run as soon as the barrier was dropped. Can you spot her racing determinedly in the middle back of this photo?

She wisely found an open spot in the back and filled her bucket quickly. The boys loved cheering her on from the sidelines!

What a good stash, Adley!

When it was time for Jaden and Cody's age group, they, too, plotted exactly where to run first.

Cody sprinted off to the back end of the field...

...where he was basically on his own for a while!

Jaden found a great spot on the edge with a few larger piles of eggs.

All three kids ended with overflowing buckets and some good candy to boot!

That afternoon at home, we tried out our new contraption for egg decorating-- the "Egg-Mazing" spinning machine! This machine was very easy to use, and we loved the fancy way our eggs turned out.

We also made some resurrection rolls together. These are such delicious treats, and we love the visual they create, reminding us of Jesus' empty tomb.

On Easter Sunday, we celebrated in the most important way by attending church. We love the festive celebratory service, the special music, the beautiful lilies, and of course, the remarkable message about Jesus, Our Redeemer, and His victory over sin and death! Grammy and Papa purchased some sharp outfits for all three of our kiddos, so they looked very fancy that morning. Adley even let me curl her hair for the first time.

After a bit of downtime at home, we met up with our extended family at Grammy and Papa's house. The kids requested playing a game of kids vs. adults kickball at the park. Not surprisingly, the kids won, though we all had a good time.

We also did some REAL egg hunting, not just egg gathering. ;) All of the kids' eggs were color coded, so the adults knew how difficult to hide each set of eggs. Each year, Uncle Andrew and Uncle Matt pride themselves in hiding the older boys' eggs and making the hunt extra challenging. These poor boys are always the very last to finish and often need to elicit adult help to find all 12 of their eggs!

Once the kids have found their sets of eggs, they opened each egg and completed the tasks inside with an adult. The short tasks consisted of things like "Do 5 donkey kicks" or "Give three adults a hug" or "Sing Jesus Loves Me." Once all of these tasks were completed, the kids got their Easter goodies from Grammy and Papa.

As usual, Grammy and Papa oudid themselves by making an absolutely delicious turkey dinner. Yum, yum, yum!

We sure treasure this time with family and, most of all, give thanks to our Savior for conquering sin, death and the devil on Easter for us!