Happy Easter!

 One of the best parts of Mommy-ing is that when I focus on the real meaning for a holiday for my kids, it benefits me as well!  Summer and I spent a lot of time reading various accounts of the Easter story, talking through her her Resurrection Eggs, and preparing through conversation for all that Easter is.  We purposely rarely discussed the concepts of the Easter bunny, Easter baskets, or Easter candy (not that there is anything wrong with any of those things, but I just really wanted to focus on the real meaning this year.)  I love Summer's excitement for ANYTHING celebratory and she counted down the days :).  According to Summer, we started celebrating Easter on Thursday and Sunday was "the last day of Easter"! 

Here are a few pics of us coloring eggs on Thursday night...

On Friday night we went to church.   Summer requested to go to the Good Friday service with us this year instead of the childcare program.  Paul and I discussed with her that it was a sad service, talking about when Jesus' died, and that we weren't sure if she would go this year or when she was a little older.  Paul discussed the service with our Pastor that evening, and there were no violent portions acted out this year in service, so we let her come.  It turned out to be the perfect service for her to attend.  The chairs were set up in a U-shape around several tables that held props pertaining to various times in the Bible where the coming of a Savior had been predicted.  As our pastor walked among the tables and discussed each story foreshadowing Christ, Summer followed along with the stories, whispering to me about how she knew that story :).  I was glad she was there for the "sad" service as it makes Easter that much more exciting! 

On Saturday evening we celebrated Easter with the Kirkwoods/Bjorklunds, followed by a game of family Dominoes after the kiddos went to bed :).

Cute pic of Summer and Grandma Kirkwood (who happened to match!)

Auntie Kristin and Uncle Eric gave Colton his belated birthday present, a hockey stick.  Not sure who had more fun playing with it...Uncle Eric or Colton ;)

 On "actual" Easter, we had brunch at church.  Then our family greeted, and Summer and Colton did a great job of (literally) exclaiming "Happy Easter!" to the people that came in the door.  Summer is a natural at greeting, and Colton follows his big sisters' lead :).  After church, we grilled out BBQ chicken (it was SOO nice out today!!) and while dinner cooked we did our annual egg hunt.  The kids love looking for eggs, and after the hunt was done, they took their eggs and hid them again for their sibling to find--cute to watch :).  Here are a few pics of the egg hunt, followed by a little video.  Each year they get older is more fun!

After lunch and naps, we played at the park, played outside, rode bikes, drew with sidewalk chalk, and basically "lived" outside enjoying one of our first really nice spring days.  So much fun!

As Summer learned to say today...
"He is RISEN! He is risen INDEED!"
Amen.