Easter Memories / Part 3

"He is risen.  He is risen indeed!"

God blessed us with a beautiful Sunday to celebrate Easter.  We had an early but smooth morning at home.  We had breakfast, did Easter baskets, and even had time to curl us girls' hair before we were out the door a few minutes after 8 to make 9:00 church with my family in Allison.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and I enjoyed an entire cup of hot coffee on the way.  It was my own Easter miracle. :)   

I snapped some of my favorite pictures of these two lovers on Sunday.  They were cooperative as long as I kept a blanket over their Easter baskets!
 

I had to recreate one of my very favorite pictures from last year.  They have grown!

Easter 2016...

Easter 2017...

Favorites in Easter baskets were easy to identify this year.  Cruz loved his new set of Pokemon cards, the Rogue One DVD, and his first Beanie Boo stuffie that he affectionately named Sparkles.  He's been asking for a Beanie Boo for awhile and said all the kids have them. ;)

Mila also loved her Beanie Boo, affectionately naming her Amazing Sparkles, much to Cruz's objection!

These pictures melt me.  They have the sweetest bond, these two. 

We spent the day in Allison with my family.  While I miss Orchard Hill any Sunday we're not there, it is fun to take up three pews at the church I spent a good part of my growing up years in.  Although, it made me thankful to have a children's "church" during the same time as our church.  I am a much better listener when I'm not opening fourteen bags of fruit snacks and keeping the kids from not sitting on a pencil stuck in the pew seat!

The soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. :)  These two tie the knot in three weeks! 

The kids' favorite part of the day had to have been Grandma's egg hunt.  Instead of the throw-a-million-eggs-on-the-yard type of egg hunt the kids had taken part in prior to this, these eggs were actually hidden around the perimeter of my grandparents' house.  They each had to find 11, including one golden egg per cousin.  And the kids quickly discovered that Grandma puts dollar bills in her eggs! 

That's a wrap!  Thankful for sunshine, spring, empty tomb, and a risen Savior.

Easter Memories / Part 2

We had a clean slate Saturday and had no plans other than to be with Cruz and Mila.  Our morning started with coffee and pancakes, but not just any pancakes.  Bunny pancakes that looked a lot more like overgrown rabbit pancakes.  Which paired quite well with Mila's snowman pajamas.  In April.
 

Some Texas pecan coffee and Sally Lloyd Jones' children's Bible made up for the Pinterest-failed pancakes.  

And as if my bunny pancakes weren't enough of a fail, we had an egg dyeing fail of epic proportions Saturday morning.  Look, we've water colored eggs.  Done food color and kool-aid eggs.  Even done the all-natural egg dye with beets and cabbage and such.  All quite successful.  This year, Pinterest raved about shaving cream dyed Easter eggs.  Never again will shaving cream and Easter eggs be used in the same sentence on this blog.  Mark my words!  Several failed attempts to keep latex gloves on our hands while smothering eggs with food colored shaving cream later, Mila's hands looked as if she was wearing red gloves.  I won't even tell you how I got the food coloring off her skin.  As for the eggs, well, they didn't even deserve a photo this year.  Maybe next year I'll buy the box dye from Target. ;)        

Done with pancake and shaving cream messes, we had a quick lunch and headed west to Arnka Farms for their annual spring open house.  We discovered this sweet little place two years ago when Mila was just a year old.  Few things say springtime like a sunny afternoon, fresh air, and lots of adorable baby animals. 

We were surprised at how busy this event had become since the first year we discovered it when we were one of just a few families there.  Fortunately, there were enough baby chicks, plastic eggs, and chocolate chip cookies to go around, and everyone seemed to be in the spring spirit.  Especially the hungry goats and the endless supply of solo cups of feed.  

Our two city kids impressed Beau and I with their liking to the animals.  The goats were much more leery of Mila, especially when she screamed in delight every time they got a little too close.  

Mommy wanted to bring home a goat.  If we didn't live in a neighborhood that forbid it, I would have brought one home in a heartbeat.    

Mila wanted to hold a baby chick so bad, but did not want to have a our-pets-heads-are-falling-off moment.  She named this one "Amazing Sparkles."  I could have brought her home, too.  

This chick fell asleep in the palm of Cruz's hand.  He looks pretty stiff, but I assured him he has the touch!  

After yet another Easter egg hunt, this one including Mila scoring one of the big plastic eggs and Cruz colliding with another little boy in the big kid hunt, we headed home for a relaxing afternoon.  I rocked with Mila on the front porch, made sidewalk chalk rainbows, and watched an aggressive soccer ball match while a storm brewed off in the distance.  

One of my favorite parts of day came just as the rain started and we found shelter under our big covered deck.  I had prepared one of our favorite Easter traditions of an egg carton dinner for the kids and sat and enjoyed a glass of pinot grigio while the rain fell around us.  On our favorite patchwork quilt, we drank in the smells, sounds, and colors of springtime, bodies tired and refreshed at the same time.   

After dinner, it was time to wind down before an early morning Easter morning.  The kids took bubble baths, Beau and Cruz played a little Wii, and Mila and I had a little dance party in the living room with a new bunny friend and a new pair of pjs.