Easter Sunday

Yesterday started out a bit rough.... While I was in the kitchen, and Jacob in the shower, Faith crawled into our bed. And threw up.... Nothing says "Our Lord has Risen!" quite like the smell of vomit.... 

But Faith seemed to be feeling fine, so we let the kids get dressed and headed downstairs to hunt for baskets before church. 

The kids, especially Nathan, think that "finding something" means standing in one spot and calling out, "basket, where are you??"  They both stood frozen for a little while until I could convince them to look for their baskets. In fact, in that above photo you can SEE Faith's basket. She just had to LOOK for it.

They're not in the kitchen set...

Or in the coat closet...

Oh! Faith spotted her's in a cubbie! 

Nathan started to get discouraged that he couldn't spot his basket. So I subtly opened the sliding glass blinds. And within a minute, he spotted his basket! Mommy had been tricky :)

Nathan was excited to see his basket - and of all the things in there (candy, hot wheels, coloring book, playdoh), I think he was most excited about the PINK chocolate bunny!

Nathan went shopping with me the day I bought stuff for everyone's baskets. He pointed out the pink chocolate bunnies and told me, "Daddy need one this!" That's "nathan-code" for "I really want that, and if  you give it to Daddy, I know he'll let me have it" ha ha  So, of course, we got "daddy" a pink bunny that evening and I put it in Nathan's basket ;)

Ruth's basket was hidden under her favorite toy - the bouncy horse.

Where she was sure to spot it once she came in the room.

Getting her to come in the play room was the hard part....

She just wanted to lay down in the middle of the living room and enjoy people staring at her.

(yes, she lays like that often.... usually she sleeping that position, feet by her ears)

Soon Ruth came in the playroom and quickly spotted her basket!

The first thing she saw, and grabbed, were the peeps. 

She LOVES those fluffy marshmallow bunnies :)

She grabbed them and gave the sweetest little squeal of joy!

Next was Daddy's turn to hunt. Where could his basket be??

Everyone was more than happy to help Daddy dig through his basket of goodies

And Ruth? She was just happy with 2 of her favorite things in the world:

Daddy & Peeps (which she carried around proudly all morning).

Before Nathan, Ruth & Daddy headed off to church, we took a group picture.

Then Mommy stayed home with our sink little Faith. By 11am, she was all done with the short lived, nasty, virus. And had (unknowingly to us) passed it on to baby sis.... but I didn't discover that till morning. yippee

After church and lunch, we let the kids have some candy. 

Ruth had her eyes on that bunny!

There were too many cute expressions not to post...

Ruth LOVED her bunny. At least his ears. Monday she had the stomach bug, so maybe Tuesday she'll move on to bunny's head. Poor little bunny. But what a brave guy to sacrifice himself for the enjoyment of a cute little girl :)

In some ways, that's what Easter is all about. Celebrating Christ's power over death after He sacrificed Himself for us, so that we wouldn't have to pay the punishment for sin: death. He paid it for us, and offers forgiveness to us, hope, mercy, patience, comfort, peace, etc - all just because He loves us and wants us to know true joy. 

While I sit in a house that still smells of vomit, even after laundry & steam cleaning.... I thank God for His promise of salvation and that one day, all those who believe and trust in Him will be in heaven with Him. In new bodies. That never get sick. And get to praise His name forever.

Happy (day after) Easter

Easter Egg Dying

Earlier this week, we dyed Easter Eggs. We used a dye kit this year - last year we tried kool-aid, it worked well - but a dye kit is just as cheap and a tad bit easier :) 

I remember dying Easter Eggs 2 years ago when Faith was 18 months old. Remember that blue belly? 

Faith was pretty into it. So I wasn't sure what to expect from Ruth, since she's 15 months old now. But Ruth really didn't have much interest. She's a people person - she'd rather watch other people do it! She still had fun, though. I think.

Faith, on the other hand, has always been the one unafraid to get her hands (and face and legs and belly) dirty if fun is involved :)  This year, she was considerably less messy though ;)

And big brother, always the great helper, was eager to help his baby sis out, too.

Hmmm.... what do you make of that, Ruth??

I wonder if she was thinking, "whoa... I wanted to put that in my mouth... now what?!?"

Well.... you gotta admit, it was inevitable ;)

The big kids went crazy dying the rest of the eggs.

Some one color, and then they learned they could double & triple dunk. What fun!

After the eggs dried, it was time to decorate them. 

And, we found fun decorations this year!

So while Ruth reclined and ate cheese doodles, the kids put stickers, hair & arms on their eggs (with a little gluing help from mommy)

Ahhh! What silly monsters!

And a few crazy ones, too!

I Want to Bottle Her Laugh

We're alive over here! I've been a terrible blogger, but I do have intentions of catching up soon. I hope.

Here's a little something I thought I'd share today. Ruth's laugh. She has a great one! And it's always easiest to get her laughing just before bedtime - though she'll give a great laugh anytime you toss her in the air, or tickle her side! I've never heard of a baby being as ticklish as her - Ruth started to get ticklish well before age 6 months. Just the thought of being tickled sends her into laughter now!

I keep thinking about how I want to save her laugh. Bottle it up for the future. But then I don't even have the chance to. Last night, the camera was on the table. Ruth was in a good mood. The big kids were in the other room. Jacob was home and free at the moment. We finally had a chance to capture her laugh on camera. So please excuse the messy kitchen and the pant-less baby. Carpe diem, right? :)

Christmas at Gramma's

We flew into vist Gramma the Tuesday afternoon before Christmas. Our plan was to spend a few days with Gramma & Auntie M, then drive to visit Granny & Pa for a week. Then come back to Gramma's for a late Christmas and New Years. But Gramma was too eager and excited for Christmas. So the same night we arrived, we had "Christmas."

 

The kids were very excited to see that Gramma had a tree, too.

And, especially, that there were presents under her tree!

And Ruth? Yes, she was excited about packages ;)

Nathan got some neat things from his Aunt Kristen & Uncle Dave.

Art supplies, a monster truck hauler, a new book... he loves it all!



And Nathan loved opening Ruth's gifts for her, and showing her what she got.

Ruth loves to wiggle with her bouncy, vibrating elephant toy!

And Faith? LOVE LOVE LOVES her first Barbie!

Another fun toy from Aunt Kristen & Uncle Dave!

And a monster truck hauler for Nathan.

Ruth appears to be thinking... "who cares about presents, look at all the ornaments waiting to go in my mouth!"

Faith got a princess crown ornament.

And Nathan got a big monster truck from Auntie M!

He was VERY excited about that!!

And Faith got lots of things, too - but her favorite present was her Gramma ;)

Gramma got each kid their own carry-on luggage.

They've already gotten lots of use hauling their clothes to Granny & Pa's.

And storing toys while at Gramma's, too.

And those carry-ons??? They were full of more presents!!

The kids have seriously been spoiled!

They love all their presents and find such joy in all the simple things, as well!

Like Ruth... she loves her elephant, musical remote, and singing dinosaur.

But she really loved the jingle bells on Daddy's stocking ;)

 

Thank you, Gramma, Auntie M, Uncle Dave & Aunt Kristen, for another wonderful Christmas!