Easter 2016

It seems like every year Easter sneaks up on us, and yet somehow we manage to squeeze as many memories as we can into the week before. We always say we should give it more emphasis, since it is such an important holiday as Christians, and yet somehow it passes so quickly every time!

We had a crazy little Easter egg hunt at home the week before Easter, since there's never time for one on Easter Sunday. The kids didn't even care there was no candy inside! They wanted to all take turns hiding them.

Brett and the kids went and decorated eggs one day at a friend's house and they used some sort of cool dye that involved a flame and a hair dryer-- I still don't understand the process, but they looked super cool. But we still did our usual egg-dying day as well. I ended up getting a different kind where you put the egg in a plastic baggie and drop in the dye and swirl it around. Seemed like an easier method. I also read that brown eggs make for prettier, bolder colors. Apparently not as much with the kind of dye I bought. They were kinda boring looking, but we had fun anyway! Even Jacob got in on the fun with his plastic egg. 

We made & decorated cupcakes, too.

Since Easter Sunday is always so busy, we decided to take some formal portraits of the kids in their Easter attire on the day before. We put up a sheet in the dining room and- voila! instant photo shoot. It was a great time of day and we were so pleased with how they turned out. And just how old does Leah look in these pictures? She got a fresh haircut that day, which makes her at least 12!

Even Jacob cooperated for a little while. I was able to get behind the sheet and hold him up in the chair just like the rest of the kids.

I can't even pick my favorite of all these!!

Sunday morning the Easter bunny had come so the kids checked out their baskets before we headed out for church. They each got one toy, one coloring book, and one book to read, plus some candy and bubbles.

The silly bunny brought Jacob a bunch of toys that looked JUST LIKE toys we already had put away in storage. Can you believe it?

The egg hunt at church is held after the service. This year was tons better than last year because it was so much warmer outside, and because Abi was much more independent. She actually did really well. Even though they usually hide for big kids on one side of the lawn & little kids on the other, they all kind of hunted together and the big kids really looked out for the little ones so everyone got a ton of candy! 

And we even managed to get in a great family shot in the sanctuary before we headed home. Everyone looking and smiling!