Easter 2013

I was about to start our Spring Break pics but realized I haven't posted Easter yet...so here ya' go...

The Easter Bunny came bringing hula hoops, kites and bubble guns!  For some reason, the children had some hard questions about the "Easter Bunny" this year, trying to make sense of what bunnies, dying eggs and Jesus dying on the cross all have in common.  I must confess, I didn't have good answers.  So this is the last year the Easter Bunny comes and we'll move on to Easter baskets somewhat like this and this.  I might do my own version but I like the idea of the Baskets linked to redemption and God's great love for us.  But that's next year...let's focus on this year.

Not much candy because Timo doesn't like chocolate, but he does love Resses and was so excited to get a whole bag of them.

The hula hoops were the biggest hit.  I got the cheap ones at the Dollar Store to see if they would really enjoy them, thinking I would invest the $4 in real plastic ones if so.  I think I need to get the plastic ones now.  Non stop hours of fun!  This is just the beginning...it's been weeks of rolling them down the hall, having animals jump through them, setting up stunt cars to fly through, the possibilities are endless!

We celebrated our Risen Lord at an amazing Easter service and then headed over the the Lantow's for lunch and an egg hunt.  I just have to say how grateful I am that the Lantows invited and accommodated us last minute.  We had originally planned to go see the Easter parade and festival on Union Street but it was raining all weekend.  I saw Marcia at Good Friday service and she insisted we come over and join their family since our plans were going to be rained out.  Even though they already had about 20 people coming over, she happily accommodated our family seeming with ease.  So I made a tasty strawberry shortcake, gathered our eggs we had stuffed for the egg hunt and headed over to the party.  About 10 min after we arrived there was a quick break in the weather to do the hunt and all the kids were so excited!

All the kiddos at the lunch!  Hard to believe I've know most of the older kids since they were Timo and Cameron's age...

Lunch was so yummy and all the kids played so well together.  Timo loved playing nerf guns and video games with the older boys...I didn't hear a peep out of him the whole time.  It was nice to be able to sit and chat with all the adults and just enjoy our community of friends, not to mention enjoy a huge yummy lunch!

Once we got home it was time to open the eggs and check out the loot.  Our children are so different...Timo opens and closes each one, looking for instant gratification, putting them all back in the bag and moving on quickly.  Cameron carefully spreads her out, opens one by one, separating each item into like piles and assessing her goods.  She then gives away the things she might not like or might have too many of.  Two completely different children.

We finished our day by testing out the bubble guns.  It had been raining and cold most of the day, so it was a quick but fun test.  We'll be getting more us out of these this summer. Our lazy Easter Day I had envisioned turned out to be a whirlwind of activities, we didn't even get a family photo...oh well, it turned out to be just perfect.