Easter 2009

What a fun Easter we had! Seriously, I'm pretty sure we now have more candy than we did at Halloween - which is quite a feat. But we have managed the sugar-highs (and crashes) and had a wonderful time celebrating our risen Lord. Here are a few pictures of the boys' Easter festivities...

A class picture in front of the pavilion for the class Easter party.
Here is Ben finding the first of his Easter eggs during the hunt. Miss Betsy did something that I hadn't heard of doing before: she asked all the moms to write the name of every child in the class on one egg. It ended up working out great because it made the "hunting" last a little bit longer than in past years, and helped each of the kids get even better at recognizing their own name. Occasionally, they would see one with someone else's name on it, and run to give it to their friend. Drew finding the first of his eggs. Drew giving his buddy Brax some very manly hugs. I couldn't love this little guy anymore if he were one of my own. Ben and Drew act like he's the other brother they lost at birth.
This is maybe my favorite picture of the whole weekend. Maybe, my favorite in a while. Oh, and just to clarify for years later when I'm looking back at these, Drew isn't really taller than Ben. It just looks that way because of the hill he's standing on. With Miss Betsy. I can't say enough how much I've loved having them in her class this year.
After the hunting, we headed back to the pavilion for some picnic lunches and "pupcakes", as they are called in our house.

I'm really glad that they had such a great time at the school party. Because that next Saturday morning we went to the church Easter egg hunt, and we were greeted with temperatures in the low 50's. It was FREEZING. So cold in fact, there was a fire in the outdoor fireplace, and the kids huddled around it as they waited for their turn to hunt. Poor little guys kept huddling into our shoulders asking if we could go back to the car and get warm. Clearly, the weatherman didn't realize that we were trying to have some springtime activities.
And though it's not a great picture, here is the best we could get of the three of us on Easter morning. Ben refused to take a picture with just he and Drew, so that's why I'm in it. My little guys looked so handsome in their little ties. They were so proud of them. They felt very big to get to dress up like Daddy.
We capped off the weekend with lunch at our house with some of our very dearest friends. You could say they are our family we got to choose. None of our parents live in town with us, and we feel so blessed to have been brought together with such wonderful friends to share these sweet times with.

We had a great weekend, and I think the best part for me was listening to Ben and Drew tell me the things they learned in Bible class that morning. We always ask them on the way to lunch to tell us what they remember from class, and this time they responded with "Hosanna! He is risen!" Nothing could make me happier than to hear that they are learning the reason we celebrate anything is only because of what Christ has done. He is risen, He is active in our lives, and we have faith that He will do what He says He will do. By all measures it was a special weekend.