Celebratin' Easter

Grateful that Christ arose from the dead! Grateful that I'm saved! Grateful that we're free to celebrate Jesus' resurrection! Grateful for family with whom to celebrate.

The older girlies had a great time decorating some hard boiled eggs with a kit from "Auntie Cheryl". In the picture below you see them adding some gold glitter to each egg. ☺

Quick tip: My mom suggested the BEST way to boil eggs for yummy taste and bright yellow (not gray) yolks: Put eggs and water in pot (duh!), put on med. heat and bring to boil. When the water is boiling rapidly, turn off heat, cover pot with lid and set timer for 20 minutes. Rinse with cool water and you've got yerself some mighty fine hard boiled eggs.

I do not know why I constantly resort to talking (or um... writing?) with a southern accent. I'm a Californian living in New York. This ought not be.

Easter morning, the girls woke up to Easter baskets and cinnamon rolls! By 8am, they had consumed an entire year's worth of sugar.

Too bad this pic is so blurry... =(

The girls got all fancied up for church... Maddie of course did not want to get into her brand new beautiful Easter dress. When I found it on a clearance rack for $12 (marked down from $65) she told me then that it was too fancy for her. Most of the time, I consent to Maddie's simpler tom boy preferences. But on Easter... everyone is fancy and that is that!! Sadly, I did not get a picture. But you'll have to believe me when I say they were adorable. I found cute Easter hats in Target's dollar bins to top off their pastel frocks.

Maddie and Eden joined their daddy on the bus route while Leila and I finished lunch prep and headed to church. Instead of Sunday School, we had a special Easter themed edition of "Bible Quiz", the choir sang about the cross and Pastor read the account of Christ's resurrection from the Bible. Then we assembled in our fellowship area for muffins and fruit. I'm told that the Sunday morning service was very special but... I spent it in the nursery. Where we had a special time too. ☺If you consider diapers, time outs and story book reading special. Which I do.

After church, some of our family, and some friends from church, came to our home for a big ham dinner.

I'm in the habit of making simple place cards for our extended family meals. Not because I'm formal. Not because they are cute. But because it drives me CRAZY to be asked 100 times "Where should I sit?" or worse, people just mill around. Just. Sit. Down. already and eat!

I'm such a gracious hostess, you can tell, can't you?

And for dessert, my mom made a beautiful angel food cake, and I made a pound cake and turned it into this bunny rabbit.

Just look at that face! Poor thing has no idea that in just moments, we will drown him with strawberries and whipped cream and shove him into our mouths.

Lest you think I'm a pagan for having a bunny cake, here is the cake I sent to school for the students and staff:

After dessert, a Easter egg hunt!

I borrowed this idea for Resurrection Eggs. As the kiddos opened their eggs and found something special (and so un-candy-ish) they would bring their little symbol to me and try to tell me what it had to do with Jesus' Crucifixion or resurrection. When they did, I replaced the token with candy. (Of course the wee ones had extra help figuring out what nails had to do with Easter...)

I absolutely loved all the children at church being dressed in their best. Every single one looked adorable. My nephew Eli looked great in his suit. But the hat really completes the ensemble, don't you think?

And this little man, my nephew Noah, is ALL business.

Personally, I would have done without the meal and the candy and the hunt and even church and just taken pictures of my cuties all fancy and cute all day long. But in reality, this is the only picture I got of a dressed up princess. The older too were way too busy having fun to sit still long enough for me to capture their Easter elegance.

It was a really pleasant holiday for us. Hope you enjoy the day as well!

Love,