Easter Festivities 2016

This year our Easter celebration looked a little different than most years, but it was still a special time of remembering what The Lord did for us on the Cross, and what happened 3 days later when he rose from the grave.

 

We started the celebrations with an Easter egg hunt at Hannah's school.  I went up early and hid the eggs with some of the other moms.  It definitely took them half the time to find them.  It was great to see their sweet smiling faces as they found each special egg.

 

 

We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go camping with our dear friends, The Hendersons!  Of course it was a great weekend, full of fun times, and some Easter traditions, too.

 

Egg dying!

 

It was a fun time watching their different ways of decorating and dying their eggs.  Each child is unique!

 

Later that day we decided to have an easter egg hunt!  We were scared it might rain on Easter Sunday, so we did it Saturday instead.

 

Campsites offer many great places for hiding eggs!  It was a race to find each one.

 

Hammock time is always a hit!

 

We also celebrated our favorite little 4 year olds!  This trip fell right in between their birthdays, so it worked out perfectly.  Happy Birthday sweet girls!

 

The "big" kids!

 

Our fun group of sweet kiddos!

 

Our Tex, he's not feeling great, but he still enjoys camping more than anything!

 

The week before Easter our great town had an Easter egg hunt.  I had to train that morning at CG, so Carl took the kids to the pankcake breakfast and then I made it just in time for the hunt. 

 

Found one!

 

Even the Easter bunny came out for the fun, and all of the kids happily sat with him!  Hannah said that his fur was very very soft.

 

Hannah and Mia with the bunny!

 

I am so thankful the sweet memories we made this Easter, but even more I am thankful for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Hannah is 4!

We decided not to have a big party for Hannah's birthday this year, instead we had a small tea party with a few of her closest friends!

 

 

 All dressed up and ready for her tea party.

 

 

Spin, spin, spin!

 

Hannah, Elaine, and Claire (our CG buddies)

 

Makeover time!  First...hair!

 

Make up...

 

...lipstick...

 

She was on cloud 9!

 

She did an Elsa braid!

 

The pretty princesses all looking for accessories.

 

Everyone fixed up and ready for tea.

Claire, Hannah, Mia (neighbor), and Alana (neighbor)

 

...putting in the sugar cube...

 

She was in awe of the whole party, and the pink tea was a hit!

 

 

Cupcakes!  Hannah chose chocolate, yummy!

 

Present time!

 

I love her excitement and joy over every aspect of the party!

 

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet girl!

 

Daddy got her a special donut for her birthday breakfast.

 

PRESENTS!

 

Silly girl!

 

Her favorite gift, a baby doll named Lucas.

 

Cake and birthday candle at home, after a day of fun!  We started the day at the trampoline park, 2 hours of jumping fun!  Then we had to go to the doctor for her 4 year old check up, which was great!  She got two shots, which was not fun, but she did not even shed a tear!  She weighed in at 31.2 lbs, and 3'2" (only 16%, she's not a tall girl).

 

Our Hannah, she loves to draw, write, and do anything creative.  Here's a picture of her self portrait, with her name above it, and a 4...she did it all and she's proud of it!

Hannah is still our social butterfly...not only is she not shy, she feels like she needs to talk to everyone she sees, everywhere we go.  We spend many hours a week at the gym for their gymnastics practices, and Hannah has been named the gym mascot.  She talks to everyone, plays with any little kids that are there and willing, and just loves to be there.  She gets seriously upset, full on crying, if I try to go to the gym without her.  Hannah really loves school, she gives me a full run down of her day on the way home, this includes many details about social things, not just what they did during the day.  Silly girl!  I have started subbing at her school and she gets to go to another class at the school on her non school days, she doesn't even hesitate, she goes right in and just joins in like she's always been in that class.  I love her go with the flow attitude!  Hannah enjoys being outside, playing in the dirt, swinging, and riding her bike.  She recently learned how to get started on her own on her bike, so she's now biking all over, even at the campgrounds.  Speaking of camping, that's one of her favorite things...again it goes with her love of outdoors!  Her absolute favorite thing is princess related anything!  She absolutely loves to dress up in her princess costumes, paint her nails, and wear anything sparkly.  She is a true girly girl.  When asked who her favorite princess is, she says, "Ummm, ALL OF THEM!"  And her favorite color, "Pink, purple, yellow, blue...all of them!"  She still says that she will marry her brother Isaac one day, she absolutely adores him.  But she also loves her brother Luke, those two can play so nicely together, but they also fight hard, so look out.  Haha!  She is my sidekick, we go everywhere together...CG work outs, CG meetings, shopping trips, volunteering at the boys' school, and the list goes on!  I love our special time together!

 

Our Hannah is such a precious blessing...she's sassy, smart, kind, loving, social, tomboy, and so girly all wrapped into one cute little 4 year old girl.  I'm so incredibly grateful that God chose us to be her parents.