Happy Easter!

What a fabulous day we had today.  The Easter Bunny did not disappoint, and neither did Makenna & Sage with their infectious enthusiasm!  They were more than excited to hunt for their eggs and kept that happy attitude all day.  It was so fun watching them squeal as they found the “tricky” eggs and even more fun watching their excitement as they opened them.  The Easter Bunny put candy in most of the eggs, but filled quite a few with money as well.  To our surprise, after Makenna realized there was money in some of the eggs, she seemed rather disappointed in the candy eggs and would get super excited to find one filled with coins.  What kind of 3 year-old does that?  Actually she was mostly excited about it so that she could put all the money in our “Disneyland Jar”, which means a trip when it gets all filled up. :) 

We also started a fun tradition this year of doing the “12 Eggs of Easter”.  I put together 12 eggs with small trinkets representing some part of the true Easter story (Christ’s last days, crucifixion and resurrection).  We hid those eggs in a separate room and after the “Bunny eggs” were all done, we started over on a hunt for the other eggs and then sat down and talked about Christ’s sacrifice for us, opening each egg in order.  I had several pictures to help tell the story as well, but little did we know the effects the crucifixion would have on a 2 year-old.  Sage is still a little traumatized and I think the only thing she learned from that entire lesson is that Jesus got a nail through is hands and feet.  (The small nail in one of the eggs and the picture of Christ on the cross didn’t help!)  We kept reassuring her that that would never happen to her (she kept saying “I don’t want a sharp thing in my hands!), and that Jesus was okay because even after he died he was resurrected and got his body back.  But it was to no avail…that’s all she talked about all day!  Maybe we’ll censor the story a little bit in future years! 

Afterward we went to church and then had a fabulous night together as a family.  Spending time together made me so grateful for Christ’s sacrifice and the knowledge that we can be together forever as a family because of it.  There is no greater gift on earth!  I’m also grateful for the Easter holiday to remind us of that special gift and that it gives us a special opportunity to teach our children about it.  What a special day!

My Beautiful Easter Girls!

(Did I mention that it is extremely hard to get these girls to sit still & smile for a picture?  These took some serious time, effort & bribery to get...and they still are a little goofy! But I love 'em anyway!)

 I'm sure it didn't help that it was super sunny outside!

On the hunt!