Easter 2013 & a Birthday!

I love Easter! It's my favorite holiday of the entire year, yes even over Christmas. I love the fact that we can celebrate the reason for our eternity. Yes, we put a bit of the 'pagan' rituals in there but we try very hard to focus on Christ and His resurrection.



But first we must start with Chelsea's 19th birthday! It was on Easter eve so we celebrated on Thursday evening. We drove to Tyler to eat at Fuzzy Taco's, her favorite Mexican food restaurant. After that we had "cake" (shakes) at Brahm's. We figured she would like that better than a cake! We all ate until we couldn't move!

We started off the weekend with a neighborhood party. This was a first year to do this. We've always wanted to do this and my neighbor Debbie said I never would. Well, Ms. Debbie, I hope you were looking down from Heaven because we did it! We had several kids join us for the party.

We iced cookies, 

decorated some pictures,

 and created chalk art!

 Then we told the story of the Resurrection through Resurrection eggs. It was phenomenal to see the kids faces.

They seemed to be really into it.

 After that we hunted Easter eggs and everyone went home! We had a great time with some old friends and new friends! We hope to do this more often. Thanks Cornett's and Wooden's for joining in the fun! I love this neighbor!

 Our Saturday morning was spent cleaning and cooking and then we headed to Nini and Papa's house for out Easter celebration. This was Peter's first egg hunt to participate in. To say he was excited does not describe it. When he ran outside to get the eggs, he screamed, "I'm Spiderman!!!" So funny! There were 236 eggs and my kids were the only hunters! Eeks! That's a lot of candy but a lot of fun!

I bet you can't guess who found the most eggs! ;-) The adults then participate in a fun game and I lost. :-( I need to read my Bible more!  Before eating a delicious dinner, we told the story of the Resurrection through Nini's eggs, which are different than mine.

Sunday morning we woke up, read the story of the Empty Tomb (!) then headed to church.

We were a little confused about services but we made it to a service so that is what counts!

After that, we headed to my mom's for our celebration there. The celebration also included Pop's birthday! We ate a delicious lunch, played outside, told the story through eggs again, (I loved their faces!) made resurrection rolls, then hunted eggs inside due to some very wet grass. We missed you Aunt Jessi and family!

Thank you Lord for Your promises! Thank you for carrying the burden of my sin on your shoulders, shoulders that were whipped. Your body was broken for my sin then You redeemed us through Your rising! Praise You Lord!!!! What a gift!!