Easter

I've always considered myself a Christmas girl. It has always been my favorite holiday. But recently, I think I've switched over to Easter. I love the reason we celebrate Easter: Jesus's triumph over death and the hope we have because of Him. It's been a hard year (not necessarily for us personally, but all around us - and I feel that) and that hope is something that I find myself clinging to more and more. I also love that this holiday doesn't come with a lot of hustle and bustle. That makes it easier to focus on the meaning of what we are celebrating. 

Easter Sunday was perfect. The weather was exactly how you imagine and hope Easter to be like. Our kids are becoming pretty understanding about my need to get nice photos when they dress up. And they're getting pretty good at it as well - we set up the tripod and got this family photo in one shot!

 

We did our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Andy and I hid 91 eggs around the front and back yard.

Bella being a goofball. 

 

Time to open up the eggs to see what they found.

 At this point, all of the eggs were counted and we discovered that there were still a few more eggs out there. 

The hunt continues.   

I gave the clue about an egg in the swingset area. All three kids were looking and no one saw it. (Hint - look near the bottom of Graydon's right foot). I eventually had to pretty much point right at it.  

Still a few more to find.  

Every year, one egg holds the grand prize: $5 and a chocolate bunny. Both Bella and Curtis have won this egg multiple times, but Graydon has never found it. Until this year! Easter 2021 is the year Graydon finally found the golden egg! It also happened to be one of the first eggs that got opened up. Money! Each of those slips of paper represent $1.  

We don't do little prizes anymore - just candy and money.  

Our grand prize winner!  

But wait. . . there's more! They still had baskets to find. Curtis found his first. I believe it was hiding in the master bathroom shower.  

Bella and Graydon's were a bit more challenging. They were still looking for their baskets 30 minutes after Curtis had found his. We eventually had to start giving them hints. Bella eventually found hers hidden on a top shelf in the garage. Graydon's was buried at the bottom of his hamper. Graydon officially has his own room now. This used to be our guest room. It's still in an in-between phase, but he doesn't seem to mind. He just enjoys having his own space. And Curtis doesn't mind having the other room to himself either.  

Later that day, we decided to drive out to our land. I haven't been back since were purchased it in September. We hiked through the woods a bit and Bella drove the Jeep around.  

I enjoyed all of our quality family time together. It is always my favorite.

Marching On

During one of Bella's driving lessons, we worked on backing up. Sometimes, it can be hard to gauge how much space you actually have by looking through the back-up camera. I went outside to give her an idea.  

Curtis received a lesson in pancake making.  

Our Spring Break came mid-month, so the kids and I decided to go up to WI for a few days to visit with family and meet our newest nephew/cousin, Bennett!  

It's so fun to see my sister, Kristen, as a mom.  

Bella is getting good at holding babies.  

 We also got to see this sweet baby again who was alreayd almost six months old when this photo was taken!  

My mom put together a little egg hunt for the kids. Each of them ended up $20 richer!  

Just missing Sydney and Rose!  

We love having these two sweet additions to the family!  

Curtis got in some baby-holding practice too!  

Back home in Indiana. . . Andy and Curtis replaced our front screen door. The glass in it has been cracked for years - so severely that we had to duct tape it to keep it from becoming dangerous. It looked pretty awful, but our front door is so far back from the road and we always use our back door, so it just wasn't a big priority. But I finally came to a place when I just couldn't stand it anymore, so Andy and Curtis took care of it.  

I didn't manage to take any before or after shots, but it looks 100% better!  

Curtis had a bright idea!

Somebody had a birthday in our house. Andy is 41! We celebrated by going bowling and eating pizza at the bowling alley. Afterward, we came home for ice cream cake and presents.  

This was a 1,000 piece puzzle that I primarily worked on during Spring Break. We didn't go to a warm beach, but I stared at one for several hours. This was the hardest puzzle that I've ever done. Looking at it now, it doesn't seem like it would be. But the sand and sky pieces looked very similar, so it was hard to sort those pieces out. Plus all that water! It felt very satisfying to push in the very last piece!  

Bella had her basketball awards banquet the other night.  

She was awarded the Most Valuable Teammate for the JV team. Go Bella!