Easter

Easter is such a glorious holiday.  We marvel at the magnitude of God's gift of grace, his Son sent to die on the cross so that we may be forgiven of our sins and redeemed.  Amazing Grace!  While riding in the car the other day, Tessa randomly announced "I have Jesus in my heart, I love Him."  The faith of a child is a beautiful thing to behold.  

We snapped a few pictures before heading to church bright and early Easter morning. 

After church we snapped a few more pictures with our friends.  

The three amigos made a break for the playground but I did manage to get a few good pictures.

 

And, for once, we mommas got to be in the picture instead of behind the camera.  We didn't plan to color coordinate, it just happened.

After church we went to my parent's house for lunch, egg hunting and presents.  In her Easter basket, Tessa got a variety of Ariel swim stuff.  And, to be cute, the Easter eggs were filled with goldfish.

We all watched Tessa hunt eggs around G&G's yard.  These eggs were much more exciting because they were filled with chocolate, lollipops, toys and Squinkies. 

Yes, we now have a million Squinkies plus the carriage/gumball machine.  And you can see from the huge smile that Tessa thinks this is the best gift ever.  Happy Easter!

 

Easter Pictures

 

 

Egg Hunts

The week before Easter was full of fun parties and egg hunts.  Our SS teachers hosted a cook-out at their house after church.  They have a big backyard and a swing set, the perfect place for all of our munchkins to run around and collect eggs.  I am amused at the different way kids pick up eggs.  Some race for as many as they can find, some wander aimlessly, and some sweetly share their eggs with the babies.  Tessa likes to examine and open each egg she finds, she's very patient and methodical.  I think the kids had the most fun playing by the side of the pool.  The weather was warm and beautiful and several of them wanted to swim.  It's not that warm yet!  So they settled for sticking their feet in the water and floating their empty eggs.  We were so sure someone would accidentally fall in the pool, but amazingly that didn't happen.

After I spent hours on these cookies, I just had to take a picture.  This was supposed to be a fun project for me and Tessa to do together the day before the party because she loves to cook.  Note to self, do not try to learn something new while also cooking with your four year old.  Making and rolling the cookies went great, Tessa is just precious with a rolling pin in her hand.  Making the Royal Icing also went well because she is fascinated with my stand mixer.  Then came the food dye and my stress level went up a few notches.  Icing went into pastry bags and squirt bottles and by now my kitchen is a disaster.  We iced one blue cookie together.  Before it had a chance to dry, said blue cookie was fumbled, smeared on Tessa's shirt and then landed icing side down on the floor.  At this point I realized that perhaps I should finish these myself after she goes to bed.  Tessa loved the finished product and the cookies were a hit at the party, so I will consider this a successful first attempt at "Flood Icing."

We also had an egg hunt at my friend's house while the kids were on spring break.  The kids dyed Easter eggs, we ate super cute snacks, and played outside.  Everyone was having such a good time that we ordered pizza and stayed for lunch.  

 

 

The day of Tessa's school party I had to work.  But, G&G were able to go to her party which Tessa just loved.  The kids made bunny ears and bunny bags and then hunted eggs in the classroom.  She is so cute in her ears!  One night over spring break Tessa asked what we were doing the next day.  I told her there was no school so we could sleep late (wishful thinking on my part) and snuggle.  She started to cry and said "but I LIKE school!"  I love that she is that excited about school, it means she is happy there and that makes me happy.    

Springtime

To my absolute pleasure, spring came early this year.  Our cherry tree was covered in gorgeous blooms so I decided to do a photo shoot.  Tessa wasn't sure she liked being hoisted up into the tree, but she was a good sport anyways.    

We have been making the most of the beautiful weather with lots of outside playtime.  Tessa loves to play at "her park," as in the swing set in the backyard.  

And wow does she like to swing high.  I told her that when I was a little girl we had a big tree next to our swing set and I would always try to touch the leaves with my toes.  She now does the same thing.  We must have taken twenty pictures of this pose, she thought it was extra funny to say cheese while upside down.   

And then, just for fun we took pictures in front of the azaleas.  Such a pretty girl.