Easter Celebration

Easter is a holiday that I have always loved.  Celebrating Christ's resurrection and victory over death is something I pray I never take for granted.  Since the death of my friend Leigh Ann Easter continues to bring new feelings and emotions.  Singing, hearing and reading about Christ's victory over death and heaven penetrates my heart at a deeper level. I can't help but think how amazing the Easter celebration she is experience in heaven is. 

This year Easter also was a celebration of new life in our family.  We have been blessed with the sweetest little boy from China.  Through our journey to him and back home God has taught me so much.  One of those things is how much love my heavenly father has for me.  He sacrificed his only son in order to give me life.  He loves me like his own and has adopted me into his family.  The depth of this love didn't resonate to the depths of me until I held Max in my arms and felt this overwhelming love for him.  What a love ... what a gift. 

Alexa Grace - 8

Emma Faith - 7

Shane - 5

Max - 20 months

Sweet Sisters!

A proud big brother!

This is one of my favorite shots of the day.  Cousin Bailey helping Max up!

After a yummy lunch the kids changed out of their Sunday best and were ready for some backyard fun! The first stop was the sun room to see what treats grammy and papa put in their Easter baskets.  Our line of little ones with baskets just keeps growing.

It is always exciting to see what treats grammy finds for the baskets. After the baskets were emptied it was time for Easter Egg Hunt.

It took very little time for Max to catch on to this fun game.

The kids were off, quickly covering every inch of the yard in search of the Easter eggs.

And of course an Easter is not complete without the appearance of the Easter pig.

Max wasn't one bit scared and was ready to share his eggs with him.

When Max discovered there were treats in the eggs this is what he thought "oooooooo"

The eggs were emptied and everyone filled a bag with yummy treats to take home.

It was a picture perfect day! We had so much fun just sitting around, chatting and watching the kids play.

Papa is always up for some fun.  

We broke out the bubble guns from the Easter baskets.  The kids had fun chasing the bubbles around the yard.  There were a lot of smiles and giggles. 

The kids decorated the cookies we had cut out and cooked the day before.  They thought it was great to pile it high with frosting and sprinkles.

In the afternoon we headed over to Eric's sisters house to finish off the day.  The kids were excited to see and hold their neighbors baby kittens. 

Alexa loves animals so she was in her glory! 

Max was trying to figure out what "gentle" meant! It was his first interaction with an animal. 

We finished off the evening with a yummy dinner and another Easter egg hunt. 

The kids loved spending time with their cousins. 

We are blessed!

Easter Cookies

The kids love making cut out cookies.  Thanks to my friend Kathy she has blessed me with a wonderful cookie and frosting recipe.  I would call her and her friend Shannon the cookie and cake queens.  I met them through my blog and would love to fly and meet them in person and also take some cookie and cake decorating classes from them.  Kathy helped with some tips so the rolling and cutting and cookie process isn't so frustrating and we come out with yummy, not burnt or broken cookies.  So now I can get as excited as the kids for our cookie cutting and cooking fun! 

The girls rolled out the dough and were ready to get to work!

This is serious business!

Shane joined in on the fun too!

Then it was Max's turn to join in for some fun! Of course he had more than enough hands wanting to help him cut out cookies for the first time.

He was so fun to watch!

He decided to taste a little flour ....

then decided to share some with Emma!

A big smile for Alexa.  This boy loves life!

When we weren't looking he put a big ball of dough in his mouth.  We head a lot of "mmmmmmm's" after that.  Notice the ball in his cheek.

It has been so fun for the kids to experience all these firsts for Max with him.  They love his reactions and to see what he does.  I love taking it all in.  There is new excitement in the things we do as we experience them through Max's eyes.

Easter Fun

In the afternoon we headed over to my parents. Grammy gave them their Easter baskets of goodies.

They were excited about new books, Zhu Zhu pets ....

lip gloss and of course new spring pj's!

I love this picture of Alexa and her cousin Bailey!

The kids then had an Easter Egg Hunt! It was so fun watching them run through the yard with big smiles in search of those little plastic eggs.

Of course when Uncle Justin is around there is always some type of fun going on!

The kids anxiously opened their eggs to see what kind of treats were inside.

The of course there was the 2nd appearance of the "Easter Pig!"The Easter Pig made his first appearance last year. The kids have been talking about it ever since. So once again he decided to make an appearance.

Shane didn't waste any time taking him down and trying to figure out who was inside!

There is nothing like finishing the day with a little Chocolate!

Easter

Easter was the first holiday that I walked through on this journey. It was a tough morning. As I woke up and got ready and then got my little ones up and ready our friend Greg and his 3 kids were never far from our minds. Before church I couldn't help but think about how different their Easter morning looked with out their mom. The tears had started early and continued to fall during Church. As we sang songs about Christ's victory over death and the promise of new life the tears flowed. These words I have sung over and over again Easter after Easter and yet this year these words felt so different. They were so real if that even makes sense. There is something about worshiping and singing about heaven when someone you love is there. I just kept thinking about my friend and wondered what kind of celebration was going on in Heaven on Easter. I just can't quite imagine what worship is like in heaven especially on Easter. I can tell you this. I can't wait until I can really sing my heart out in heaven and it actually will be in tune and sound beautiful!

I usually love finding the kids Easter outfits and this year it just wasn't a priority. So a couple days before Easter I pulled out the girls dresses from the year before and low and behold they fit! The sweater sleeves were a little short but we just pulled them up! I hope I can find the balance of finding joy and having energy to pour into things that I enjoy doing but still able to let go of some things and not stress myself out with details that don't really matter.

How can these 3 little blessings not make your day a little brighter!

I just can't say enough how much Eric's love and support has carried me. In this difficult time God has truly blessed our marriage with an amazing strength. I pray we can continue to grow in the months to come.

After church we headed to Eric's sister's house for lunch. The weather was actually beautiful. You just never know what kind of weather Easter will bring in the Midwest. It could be sun, wind, rain or even snow! I was very thankful for beautiful spring day. The kids had tons of fun playing with their cousins. Here is Emma and cousin Callie!

We also had an Easter Egg Hunt! The kids were so excited.

I love this picture even though heads are chopped a little. I love their little faces and moving in every direction.

It was a nice relaxing day with family. There is always so much joy in watching the kids and their love for life!