Easter

Elaina picked out her own Easter dress this year which was a good thing since I laid out the same dress as she wore last year unbeknownst to me. I only figured it out after I looked back at my blog from Easter 2014. 

Getting a picture of all of the kids together was a total chore this year. If three of them were being awesome, one of the wasn't. And of course it would be the one that should be old enough to know better...

Finally a decent one! 

As is yearly tradition, we had our cousins over for an egg hunt and a big lunch after church. 

Gone are cute baskets and walking with your kids as they hunt for little eggs. That's all now replaced with whatever kind of bag we can find and then it's sprinting through the yard. I was lucky enough to catch one decent picture of Grant hustling through the grass bagging eggs.

It seems every year we have less and less candy eggs and more and more money eggs. This year's ten dollar egg winner was Cade. 

Everyone sat around and totaled out their findings. Grant had over thirty bucks but the high winner was Isaac with $42!!

One pic of Nana and Papa with their grandkids:

And, Grandpa and Grandma with theirs:

 It was great to spend another year with family celebrating how great God's love for us is! So thankful we serve a RISEN SAVIOR!

Celebrating Easter!

I love Easter celebration. Along with the joy we have knowing that we serve a risen Savior there is also the promise of spring sunshine and warmer temps. Easter means summer is even closer...and I LOOOVE summer:) The kiddos posed for our yearly Easter photo after church. I used to get all fancy-like with their clothes when they were babes but now...eh. Let's dress up in what we've got and roll on. They're handsome/beautiful either way! 

Elaina did our church's yearly egg hunt and she let Pastor Bunny hold her for a picture. We've come a long way since it wasn't too long ago that PB made her cry:)

Elaina met up with one of her bffs, Garrison. 

And, off to hunt! 

Sunday after church is always our cousin egg hunt. This year it was warm enough for Elaina to change out of her church dress right into her swim suit! 

I never have gotten into the tradition of doing easter baskets from the bunny. I think it probably stems back to me forgetting one year and no one made a fuss so I figured from then on I'd just make my life a little less complicated and not even fool with that. What we do do is hide a bunch of money eggs and the kids go nuts about that. 

Rhett made off with the $10 egg this year! 

This is probably one of my most favorite pictures of all time. Look at little Sugar Sweetness in her suit with all of those colorful eggs!  I just think she's beautiful:)

G counted up all of his money. I think he ended up with around 30 bucks when all was said and done! I think that's pretty good for an egg hunt! 

And, here's my Cader Tater. He's growing up...sigh. 

His stash wasn't too shabby! Pile o' money, pile o' rolos. What more could you ask for? 

Another wonderful Easter celebration in the books. I'm thankful for these kids of mine that run amuck and hunt eggs, for sunny days of spring, and for my Jesus that loved me enough to die for me but could not be contained by the grave! 

Easter

Easter kind of snuck up on me this year for some reason. I didn't go out and buy the kiddos all new outfits (Elaina, of course, had to have something a little new....she wore a "new to her" little cutie from a pal). Cade has been anti-jean or khaki since he started 5th grade so he didn't even have a pair of dress pants to wear. One of these days he'll realize that girls don't go for the guy that's always in wind pants. Anyhoo, he still looked handsome on Easter morning!

Grant looked dapper as usual. He still lets me dress him without complaint. 

You can tell just by looking at this picture that this curly headed kid wakes up and eats self confidence for breakfast. He carries enough for all three boys combined and makes for lots of laughs for Bobby and me. 

And sister, cute as a button but she is sassy.....oooooo is she sassy! 

My handsome hubby and me on Easter morn. Note to self: buy yourself a springy dress for Easter. Oh well. 

I really would like this picture if A) Rhett's glasses weren't below his eyeballs and B) if Elaina looked like she even half way enjoyed being there. It was spritzing rain and I was out of time. Whaddayado?

I had to include this shot of Elaina. This is her new "camera smile". I have to make it stop. I need her natural smile. I know all kids go through this phase though. I hope it's short lived! 

The cousins came over to the house for lunch and the annual egg hunt. Weather forced us inside this year and that was a bummer. 

I love these next two shots of Lanie with her Easter basket.

She got to head downstairs first to start the hunt. Once she realized the first egg she found had a starburst in it she was finished. I think she finally ended up collecting only about 8 eggs but she was as happy as a lark!

Grant found the prize egg with $10 inside. I think after all of his money eggs were counted he ended up with over $30!! Not bad! 

I am so thankful that our family serves a risen Savior! Going to church and celebrating this day is always humbling. Salvation is a gift I am eternally (literally) grateful for! Happy Easter!

Easter!

We had our usual get together with family on Easter. I always love Easter...the day to celebrate the fact that my Savior still lives! I like that it means that spring is on the cusp of being full blown and usually the kiddos have on some new(er) digs:) Here's my crew:

One quick pic with an uncooperative Little Miss.

A Daddy pic:

And individuals for the blog book (and so I can be reminded how handsome my fellas were when they were just wee lads)!

And one beautiful Princessa...

We hid eggs in the yard. Some candy, some money. (And since I'm journaling this day nearly a year later...gasp!...I can tell you that as of about  4 months ago we were still finding money eggs in the yard!) Elaina has her "don't you even think about touchin' this egg" look on her face. 

This is the one running boy that I actually got to stop for a second to let me snap a picture. All the others were in too much of a rush and their pics are nothing but blurs. 

Rhett thought that hiding underneath of the basketball goal stand would be a great place to count his treasures and to sneak too many pieces of candy. Little does he know that I'm on to pretty much all of his tricks.

We end up with quite a bit of loot. I can't remember who got the $10 egg this year....I think it was one of the cousins.

And to prove there were cousins there, here is a pic of sweet Amelia. She was kind enough to stop for a pic. 

Mom and dad and Bob and Elizabeth were present for the celebration too.

Easter 2012 in the books.....albeit really, really late! Better late than never though!