Easter

Hope all of you had a great Easter. Ours was good...busy, but good. Here's the 3 H's in their Easter best...thankfully H3 didn't notice that he was the only one not wearing a tie. ;)

Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt at the church. It was fun....

H3 was proud of his loot....

...the big boys loved the bounce houses...

...and the little one did too. ;)

They got their faces painted....

....and then things took a sad turn. ;) The 1st-3rd grade egg hunt. We had a LOT of visitors at this event, which was a great thing. And there were a LOT of kids wanting to hunt eggs. Understandable. When H2 took his turn with all of these kids, he ended up without any eggs. Oh, the sadness. He ran his little heart out, but there were just too many kids in front of him. And we had a good talk about how egg hunts aren't what Easter is all about, how good it was that so many new families came that day, and maybe they'll come back to church now, how important it is to put others first, etc. etc. He got it, but....he's six. And when you're six you just really want to hunt for eggs. ;)

So in usual form, Daddy came to the rescue. :) He made a stop at the store on the way home and staged our very own egg hunt for the boys in our backyard. Happiness abounds.

Isn't he darling?

Addy watched. :)

Much better. ;)

Then we colored eggs.

It was serious business. ;)

Gorgeous.

Yesterday after church we were invited over to some friends' house. A family from church. Their girls are all about the same ages as the boys, play really well together, and it was a really great day. Missed our TX family a lot that day, but are so thankful that we have people here who care about us and make sure to include us on holidays like this. Blessed. :)

Resurrection Bread

This is a tradition that we've been doing at Easter for the past few years. We didn't do it last year...we had just moved here the week before, and it was a rough time for me. I was doing good to get them dressed and to church that day. Thankfully, I'm much better now, :) and we are back in our normal swing of things. Whew.

Since each of the boys were born it's been very important to B and me to be intentional when it comes to celebrating holidays. To make sure the boys understand the real meaning of Christmas and Easter especially, but even to make sure they understand why we have Thanksgiving and Independence Day. And we're all about doing that in a fun, kid-friendly way.

We want to make sure that the boys understand, each on their own level, why we have Good Friday, and all we get to celebrate on Easter Sunday. The resurrection bread helps them get the concept pretty well:

Ingredients: one can of Grands biscuits, marshmallows, melted butter, cinnamon and sugar

Simple. :)

Step One: Flatten out a biscuit. The biscuit represents the tomb where Jesus was placed.

Step Two: place a marshmallow in the middle, and wrap the biscuit around it. The marshmallow represents Jesus.

See? Like this. ;)

Step Three: dip the biscuit into some melted butter, then the sugar and cinnamon.

Place them on a cookie sheet, seam side down, and bake according to package directions.

After you let them cool completely, you'll see that the bread is now hollow inside.

The tomb is empty! Jesus is alive. :)

Or according to Hunter, Jesus ate the marshmallow. Symbolism is hard to understand when you're 4. ;)

Happy Easter!

Good Friday

Each year, as I get older, I tend to reflect even more on the magnitude of this day. On what my Savior did for me. What He did for all of us. And I try to express these feelings, the emotions inside in just the right way...and realize that being thankful doesn't even begin to cover it.

I don't usually have music on this blog...used to, but realized that not everyone shares my taste in music, and sometimes I think it's a distraction, so I took my playlist down. But this weekend I'm going to keep this song playing again and again. I'm a huge Chris Tomlin fan...the Lord has used his music time and time again to minister to my heart. But I had never heard this song until last week when Harrison's grade did a performance of the life of Christ at school. It blew me away. This song, "The Mighty Power of the Cross" is the last song of the three included in their performance, and the two times I've seen it, well....there is no getting away without some tears being shed. And that's okay. It's good.

Growing up, and after I accepted Jesus as my Savior and asked him to be Lord of my life, I had a hard time understanding why today is called "Good Friday." Thinking about the gravity of what this day entailed for Jesus, how He had to suffer for us, so that we wouldn't have to...well, it's just more than my brain can handle, and there didn't seem to be anything but horrible and sad about it. But the older I get, the more I understand that Jesus did this for the greater "good," knowing full well what was going to happen on the third day, the day we celebrate His resurrection, and the promise that He will come back for us some day.

And so we honor this day, thanking Him for what He did for us....knowing that being thankful is never going to be enough, but because of God's great love for us, it somehow still is.

Impromptu Egg Hunt

This morning I told H3 that we were going to his brothers' school for the Easter service, and then we would go to their parties and egg hunts. Which led to this question:

"When is my class party, Mommy?" :(

I explained to him that we were going to a fun Easter egg hunt celebration at church on Saturday, and that NEXT year when he's in preschool he would have a party too.

That was good news, but there was still some sadness. ;) So we had our own little egg hunt this morning, in our family room. It stormed hard all night last night, so things are pretty soggy outside today.

He was a great egg finder, and of course I had to snap a few pics of our fun.

And then, in true Hunter form, he insisted that I have a turn. With pictures too. :)

A little blurry, maybe, but not bad for a 4 year old. :)

And then it was his turn again, and then mine, and then his, and then...well, you get the idea. ;)

I love this kid. Hard.

The boys are out of school tomorrow for Good Friday, and we will turn our attention off of egg hunts and such (as fun as that is!) and turn it instead to the reason we have so much to think about tomorrow, and so much to celebrate on Sunday! I will share our "Resurrection Bread" recipe, why we make this each year.

He is risen! He is risen indeed. :)

Our Week in Pictures

It's been a little crazy here these days.

But honestly, it's pretty much always crazy here, so that's really no excuse. ;) The littles and I just got back from a week in Texas visiting family and friends, relaxing, and enjoying a break from the crazy. Not that we mind the crazy....it keeps things fun and interesting. But a break here and there is good. :)

Before we left, Hud lost his first tooth. I pulled it out at dinner, at church on a Wednesday night. It was hanging on by a thread (or two), and was making it hard for him to eat. I decided it was time to get it out...so we did. Right there in the middle of the dining hall. I'm afraid that I might have scarred him for life. ;) Thankfully the $5 the tooth fairy left for him healed the hurt and lessened the trauma. ;) And since then he's lost the one next to it, and it was a much easier experience. Whew.

While taking Hud's toothless pic, Hunter asked me to take one of him. I happily obliged...why not? He's super cute. Can't have enough pics of these kiddos. :)

Two weeks ago marked the first anniversary of the boys and I joining Brian here in our new home. It was a weekend of mixed emotions for me. I'm thankful for how far God has brought us, for how He has taken care of all the details. And really, I love this beautiful place. :)

The Chattahoochie River...Brian's favorite fishing spot. :)

Hunter and I planted some new flowers in some pots...there is lots of yardwork to be done this spring, and I am so ready! Love it.

This tree is in my next door neighbor's backyard, and it's my absolute favorite. I do love a cherry blossom tree. We're planning to plant on in our yard this Spring too.

Then we headed to Texas. Here's a pic with my mom and sisters...love them so very much. Missing them already. We had SO much fun together. So much fun.

The boys spent lots of time playing outside, helping Papa at the farm, playing at the farm too. Here's Harrison driving the RTV. He drove me around in it for awhile...crazy having your 10-year-old drive you around.

Two cool guys hanging out. ;)

Hud is growing up so much....he did great driving the RTV too.

And he decided he was brave enough to drive the razor car. Papa taught him what to do, jogging along beside him ....until the daredevil sped off at full speed. ;)

There he goes!

And....the cows. Who are cute...but dont' get too attached. They'll be dinner soon. ;)

And in true Jaclyn form, I didn't take nearly enough pictures. I am determined to do better when we come back this summer. Everyone is going to be sick of that camera, I promise. ;)