Happy Easter!

We had a fun-filled Easter weekend complete with egg hunts, Mimi's visit, and celebration.  On Saturday, our church held its annual Easter Egg Hunt, and several friends joined us this year, which made it special.  Here are Leah and her buddy William posing before the preschool aged hunt:

Peanut was quite successful at finding eggs, and noticed that some of the younger children didn't have as many.  She walked around the playground, giving her eggs away to many of the little guys.  This sweet girl has such a kind, loving heart:

Luke friend, Scott (who played baseball with him last spring), joined Luke for the elementary aged hunt, and these teammates also found lots of eggs:

There were craft and game stations set up, and lunch for everyone, which made for a full morning of Easter fun!

On Sunday morning, the kids came downstairs to find that the Easter Bunny came!  In the interest of full disclosure, Leah informed us that she woke up at 4:41 a.m., snuck downstairs "just to check", and then stayed awake in her room looking at books until the clock said "7:00".  We're not sure if that's 100% true, but starting our day at 7 a.m. seemed like a treat after that information! 

The kids also opened Easter presents from Mimi, and loved their new books, toys, and clothes:

We did a lavender and navy theme for Easter this year, and I was able to pull it off with only minimal grumbling from Luke about "not liking purple".  When he saw that Daddy also had a purple shirt and navy tie, all was right with the world again.  I loved the coordinating dresses that Leah and I wore.  Leah melted my heart when I showed her, as she exclaimed, "Mommy, that's perfect because you are my best friend!"   (I am bottling this memory to save for a few years from now when I'm sure she'll roll her eyes at my attempt to coordinate our family Easter outfits...)

I even got a picture with each of my babies...

We went to an Easter breakfast at church before the service and had a relaxing afternoon at home (complete with an indoor coin/dollar filled egg hunt sponsored by Mimi) before eating Easter dinner.  What a wonderful Easter celebration!

Easter Eggs!

We dyed Easter Eggs this week, and it is one of those activities that is more fun each year as the kids get older.  Luke and Leah wrote with their "magic crayons" on each egg, and it was truly a breeze to color the eggs with children at this age (vs. the years of 1:1 supervision that toddlers + colored dye requires).  As I edited these pictures, I was struck by how much my children look like such "big kids" now.  I don't realize this on a daily or weekly basis, but my babies are growing up.  Almost every time someone sees Luke, they ask if he has gotten taller (he's inherited this curse from his Daddy), and Leah no longer looks like a preschooler.  It was this same K-4 year that Luke lost the last trace of his baby fat, too... and I can't believe that my baby girl is going to be in kindergarten in just a few months.  

Anyway, here are some pictures of L&L, who will always be my sweet babies, and their Easter eggs this week:

Writing their secret messages...

Another bright spot to the children getting older is that capturing pictures of them smiling is MUCH easier.  There are years where I had to beg, bribe, and threaten to get a picture of them sitting still with smiles on their faces.  Mark told me at one point when the kids were little that sometimes taking a picture was like a root canal...  Humph! 

Yes, life is sweet right now.  How we love and cherish these two precious children, and watching them grow and thrive is one of our greatest blessings!