Easter 2017!

 I was able to actually sing in the choir at church this year...last year I wasn't able to sing at Easter because I was so sick I couldn't stop coughing. We sang for 3 Sundays....the two before Easter and then on Easter Sunday. 

My parents came to church with us for the 3 Sunday's that I sang. It was fun for them to be there. If they lived closer they would come to church with us every Sunday. 

This year we hosted Easter Sunday at our house because Michael was on-call. We had the Kuch's over for dinner and Christina's parents were here on vacation so they came too. It was so fun to see everyone! We moved the table over and had it go diagonal so we could have a table for the adults and the kids. Owen took this picture for us and he did a great job! 

Here was the kids table. Ga-Ga got a flower centerpiece for the adult table so Ella had to have flowers on the kids table. We ended up using the flowers we used for her tea party! 

The kids played for quite a while and then we figured we should get the egg hunt underway. 

Heading down to the backyard. 

Go, go, go!!!! 

Then it was craziness! 

They were everywhere! 

Trying to get a picture of them actually getting an egg was a bit difficult! 

Caleb found the one I hid up high! 

Owen got the one that Michael hid up high! 

Pretty girl! 

Zeke got the one that Daddy had hid in Owen's coat. 

Some of them were tricky and some of them were pretty easy! 

Caleb was the only one that still needed more eggs. Ga-Ga had enough so each kid could have 7. He found another one up high. 

Then another one inside the clubhouse. 

Back inside checking out their haul! 

This year Ga-Ga put candy in some and then change in some. 

Ga-Ga also made sure that the candies in the eggs were chocolate since Ella can't have dye. 

Happy guy! 

Fake smiler! 

Zeke man always thinks he has to squint when he smiles! 

Caleb has such a nice smile!!! 

Addison looking so pretty in her dress! 

Last year Caleb had lost all his front teeth well now it's Anna's turn to have no teeth! 

This was right before we let them open their eyes to see their Easter Baskets. 

Happy Girls! 

Happy Boys! 

Ga-Ga & Pa! 

Tom, Christina and Gay! 

Michael and I....this is one of the dresses that I got at Value Village. I also wore the shoes I got as well! 

Mom, Dad, Me & Michael! 

Christina & Bill! 

It was such a nice day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. Eating good food, visiting with loved ones and just fully enjoying this life that we don't deserve, but because of grace...His grace we get to! 

First Fire Of The Year!

Since it was so nice the Saturday before Easter and Michael had worked so hard on the yard we decided we should get outside and enjoy it. 

The first fire of the year!!! 

Taking a load off....this guy worked SO hard!!!! 

Ella and Jack wanted to perform for us these different stunts. Ella had made these checklists things for us to give her and Jack scores. We watched all sorts of tricks and there were many many rounds. In the end Ella won by 2 points. 

She's too much....her crossed leg and clipboard! Love that girl! 

We stayed outside for a while and then it was time to get the kids all bathed and ready for Easter....no one wants to smell like smoke in their nice Easter clothes!!! 

Riverview Community Church Egg Hunt!

Our church had our annual Easter Egg Hunt the day before Easter. We had been praying for nice weather and all week it kept raining and raining. Zeke and I were even at the church on Friday making Cotton Candy and it was pouring down rain. Praise the Lord we woke up to sunshine on Saturday!!! 

We always take our kids to the 10am hunt and then we volunteer at the 1pm hunt. This year I volunteered and Michael stayed home with the kids. He was on-call and we were having guests for Easter so he was able to tackle all the yard work while the sun was shining. 

The Easter Bunny was waiting outside the Auditorium in the Foyer. Owen and Zeke didn't want their picture with him, but Jack and Ella weren't going to pass it up. 

This was when I told them they should all hop!!!

On the other side of the Foyer was the Chocolate Easter Bunny! 

After that we headed into the Auditorium to meet up with Daddy and the other kids. Don't let this picture fool you we were there early! As it got closer to 10am Ms. Colleen asked us to scoot in I think 3 times....we ended up almost touching the stage! There was a lot of people there! 

Ms. Colleen talked about some fun upcoming things for kids that are happening at our church. Then her, Mr. Scott and Ms. Gretchen started calling out raffle ticket numbers. They were raffling off all the prizes on the stage. This year none of my kids won anything. 

Once we dismissed for the hunt I took Ella and Zeke and Michael took Owen and Jack. I had Ella and Zeke go to the Kindergarten & 1st Grade Hunt. The Preschool Hunt was really full so I figured this would be better. Michael took Owen and Jack both to the 4th - 6th Grade Hunt that's on the upper field. 

Lots and lots of eggs....8,000 to be exact for the first hunt and then another 8,000 for the second hunt at 1pm. 

That's the Preschool Hunt that was right next to us. As you can see there was no one standing next to us on this side of the field. 

Ella was all ready to hunt some eggs. By this time you can see a couple of people had come over that side with us. 

Zeke man was totally ready. Again only a couple people were beside us. We really did pick a good side to hunt from. 

And go!!!! 

Zeke and Ella really had this whole place in front of them for quite a while. 

All those eggs for the taking! 

No one was coming over so they had free reign! 

After a while Ella declared that she was done! 

Then she decided to help Zeke find more! 

Seriously they could have completely filled their bags by the time the other kids made it over. 

There were a ton of eggs so no one went home empty handed! 

Obviously they were having so much fun! 

Trying to take a selfie with the kids! 

That's a lot of eggs!

Zeke man got quite a few as well. 

After the hunt the Ella and Zeke stopped and blew bubbles for a bit. 

Then I decided to have them stand in line for the bouncy slide since I knew it was going to be crazy later. 

I was actually surprised that Zeke was going to climb all the way up to the top. 

He wanted to hold Ella's hand when they slid down. 

Weeee! 

After the bouncy slide we went inside and found Daddy and the older boys enjoying some candy.

We emptied all the eggs and recycled them so the church can use them again next year. After munching for a little bit it was time for us to go home so I could make lunch and then get back in time to help with the 1pm hunt. I helped with registration and then I handed out cotton candy. We had 7 lawn and leaf bags full of individual bags of cotton candy and it was handed out in about 7 minutes! We counted later on and figured out there was over 1700 people there for both hunts combined! It was so amazing that so many people came out!