Easter

 I loved Easter this year.  First of all, my parents came to visit, which makes any weekend awesome! We had a sweet, relaxing time with lots of books, sandbox time, tricycle rides and snuggling.  Perfect. 

 
 Three out of four smiles is not bad.

On Sunday, our church did things a little differently this Easter - we met at a local children's amusement park, opening it up to the surrounding neighbors, sharing breakfast tacos and the Good News.

There was no scurry to get all done up in Easter finest or to hurry and get the Easter eggs hidden; instead, there was an eagerness to be amidst our brothers and sisters, serving in joy!  Children shouting "Jesus is alive"; families connecting to the body of Christ; and at least two prayers for salvation as a result of Easter Sunday.  What an awesome God we serve!

Sunday was also a special day in our family, as Elli expressed a desire to have Jesus living in her heart, and acknowledged Him as her Lord and Savior to the best of her three-year-old ability.  Truly a day to celebrate and remember.

See that grass growing?  I got the idea from Pinterest, and absolutely loved how it turned out!  No annoying easter grass making a huge mess and showing up for weeks on end!  Elli enjoyed helping me plant and water it!  We had a little Easter egg hunt when we got home from church. 

Elli would have done it over and over again all day long.

When she had found all of them, she lined them up and counted them in true Elli fashion... "one, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, two, three, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve".

Despite a low-grade fever (due to teething, I think), Caroline joined in the fun a bit.

I'm not sure she got what all the hype was about, though.  Maybe next year.