Easter 2013

What an Easter weekend we had!

On Saturday 15 people at our house!  Grandma and Grandpa James came, along with the Houston crew (Uncle Phil, Aunt Alicia, Michael, and Christopher), the NJ gang (Uncle Reid, Aunt Jana, Kate, Ben, and Jane)!  What a party!  Oh, and Uncle Phil brought their dog Scout, which Eve was thrilled about!  They taught her how to ask mom and dad for a puppy, which we were not thrilled about ;).

After some visiting and catching up, we got right down to business - time to hunt for eggs!

Eve wasn't as fast as the big kids, but she sure enjoyed finding those eggs, especially once she realized what was inside!

Halle got a firm grip on her basket and even 'helped' me find an egg!  

Eggs in the front yard, too?!  Cool!

Halle had plenty of hands willing to hold her!  

I'd say the hunt was a success!  

I have to laugh that in every group picture we took, Ben's arm was covering Eve's face :)

Time to count the loot!

Kate is getting so grown up!  She was just barely six years old when I lived with them!

And Jane was born while I was living there!  Now she's big and a great helper!

How many kids does it take to feed Halle a bottle?  Lots!  She needs all the help she can get!

We had such a blast having everyone over and enjoying a pre-Easter dinner together!

That night before bed, Eve and Halle made sure to set out their baskets for the Easter bunny!

Easter morning got off to a rough start.  Halle woke up too early, so I fed her and by the time she was getting ready to fall back asleep, Eve also woke up.  So the three of us bundled up on the couch and tried to get a little more sleep before we had to get up 'for reals'.  

Once fully awake, Eve was quick to check the top of the stairs where she'd left her basket.  It was gone!  The Easter bunny HAD come!  

She started her search and rather quickly found her basket in the kitchen!

When I asked her to show me what she got, she proceeded to take out each piece of candy, one at a time....

When she remembered that Dad and Halle also had baskets, she was eager to help them search!  With some help from Dad, she found Halle's basket in the living room and helped her admire her take.

That left Dad and his basket.  He actually had to search for a while before he found it in the coat closet.

Yum!

Thanks, Easter bunny!

Then it was time to get ready for church!  Andrew and I were speaking in Sacrament Meeting, so we had to be extra-ready! (?)

Our cute girls in their Easter dresses!

We enjoyed wonderful church meetings and were so grateful for the opportunity to speak about our Savior on this special day.

When we got home, we had just enough time to color some eggs!  Eve did a great job helping and there was only one minor incident with the green dye (just like Reagy!).

After that, we went over to some friends from church's house for dinner, then back home to skype with family before bed.

We're so thankful for this joyous time of year and for our Savior's Atonement and Resurrection!  We love knowing that because of Him, we can be a family forever.  Happy Easter!