Easter Morning: All Dressed Up!

Easter Morning

Here are some pics of the girls on Easter morning. Lainie was so much fun to watch as she came down and saw her Easter basket. She was so excited and absolutely loved hunting eggs this year!

Easter

Before I share the pictures from our Easter morning, I do have to share how thankful I am for the reason we celebrate Good Friday and Easter. I always knew the reason that we celebrated Easter, but it becomes more and more real to me as I get older. Once I became a mom, it made it even more unbearable for me to imagine what Mary went through as a mother to Jesus. I cannot imagine how painful that was to watch her son dying....literally suffering in front of her eyes and in excruciating pain...because of our sin, because of MY sin.

I can barely stand it when Lainie falls down and scrapes her knee. I immediately take her inside every time to wash her wounds and make them better with a band-aid and a kiss. I can hug her, love her and see that she is better. I cannot fathom someone beating her, stoning her, ripping her skin with thorns, NAILING her to a cross when she had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. I cannot imagine watching Lainie or Emmie literally screaming in horrific pain, crying, bleeding, hanging by nails, flesh being torn from their bodies and not being able to do anything about it....I cannot imagine. And yet, Jesus did that for me and His mother watched it. It really is more than I can fathom. I am so grateful for Jesus dying on the cross for my sins and loving me more than I can ever comprehend. He died and He rose again, and if I had been the only person left standing on this Earth, He would have done it. Mary would have watched Him suffer and die in front of her own eyes, and she would have seen Him rise again......for me.

I don't understand why I am sometimes ashamed to say I am a Christian. Why am I ashamed to say that Jesus is my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer? Why do I choose to place other priorities in front of Him? I am a sinner and I don't deserve His sacrifice, yet He loves me and forgives me. I can understand on the smallest scale how much He loves me through the love I have for my children. I would literally do anything for them, and I hope that I never have to hear that they are ashamed to know my name. That would break my heart, and yet I do it to Jesus all the time.

My greatest hope and prayer for my girls is to KNOW Jesus, to really know Him. I pray that they have a personal relationship with Him and that they understand the reason we celebrate Easter. It is fun to celebrate Easter with egg hunts, Easter baskets, and bunnies, but I hope that they eventually understand that Easter is so much more than that. He is risen...He is risen indeed!

Easter Eggs

After our fun Easter Egg Hunt at the zoo, we headed over to Uncle Mick and Aunt Ooey's house to dye Easter eggs. Granna was visiting from Seattle, so the girls were able to spend time with her as well. Lainie wasn't sure about dyeing the eggs. She did, however, have a blast finding them once we were finished. Aunt Ooey hid the eggs throughout their back yard and Lainie found them all. Thanks Uncle Mick, Aunt Ooey and Granna for a fun afternoon!

Lainie cheering on her Daddy while he played the Wii!! Have I mentioned that I want on of those....SO much fun!

Mommy and Emmie working on their "Auburn" Easter egg...War Eagle!

Daddy and Lainie working on their egg

Sweet baby girl just happy to be outside

Easter Egg Hunt!

Easter Egg Hunt at the Zoo

I am slowly making my way to my Easter posts! HA! We have had lots of picture taking opportunities around here evidently, because it is taking me forever to get all of these posts done.

Justin and I took the girls to an Easter Egg hunt at the zoo on Saturday. Lainie loved finding Easter eggs this year. She had no problem understanding the concept of an egg hunt! We were able to see some of the animals, hunt eggs, and play in the bounce house that they had. She had such a great time. Emmie....well, she just loved watching and chewing on the eggs! :)

Spring Break - Monkey's Treehouse

While Lainie was on "Spring Break" from MDO, I decided that we would do a few fun things that we don't normally do. We saw the bunnies on Thursday, and then we went to Monkey's Treehouse with friends on Friday. The kids played while the parents watched the tv screens as the tornados hit around us. The weather was awful, but at least we were inside and safe while the kids were having a blast! Afterwards, we all went out to eat and then headed home for naps.

Spring Break Fun...Visiting the Bunnies

There is the cutest little toy store here in Nashville that has baby bunnies for the kids to see every Easter. I took Lainie when she was about Emmie's age for her first visit, and they were adorable. I decided to take the girls again this year because I thought Lainie would really love them. She did NOT disappoint!! She absolutely loves animals and was so excited to see those sweet bunny rabbits. For a small millisecond, I actually thought about bringing one home. I quickly snapped out of that though and was back to logical thinking in no time! After our trip to see the bunnies, we met Daddy for lunch. The girls had a great time and were sacked out on the way home.

Lainie's Spring Program

Before our spring break, Lainie had her spring program at Little School and did so well!!! She was too cute up there singing and dancing like such a big girl. Her class sang two songs...Wiggly, Wiggly Wiggles and This Little Light of Mine. We loved watching her as much as she loved singing!

Lainie Bug singing and dancing!! She did such a great job!!



Emmie enjoying watching her big sister sing and dance

Watching the other programs with Daddy

After the program, her school had icees for all of the kids to enjoy. We played outside with Maddie Grace and then headed home to start our spring break!

Lainie enjoying her icee

Lainie and Maddie Grace....such sweet friends!