Easter 2014

Why yes, yes I do know that Easter was almost 3 weeks ago and plastic eggs and bunnies are all behind us now, nut remember this post? Well posting about Easter was one of those things that I let go... but better late than never :)

 

Easter and Thanksgiving are two of my favorite holidays. I love that the timing of celebrating Jesus' resurrection coincides with the bursting forth of new life in the springtime. I always feel so much joy in the new life all around me. I am thankful beyond what I can ever communicate for what Jesus has done for me. I can't stand the thought of who I would be without Jesus. What He did for me breaks my heart and causes me to love Him from the depths of who I am. To celebrate this year I just tried to pare it down to the things that would be great memories for my kids and cause me the least stress... we'll call that plan the "maximum enjoyment plan." Cause it just is. So here's what we set time aside for:

 

Hunting eggs in the backyard.

Dying eggs together.

Making peanut butter eggs.

Having breakfast together on Sunday morning.

Easter baskets.

Spending time with family.

 

Maybe that sounds like a lot, but let me explain. We play outside together almost every day after lunch anyway, so the week of Easter we got out some buckets and eggs from years past and took turns hiding them for each other. There were no candies or prizes inside, it was just the fun of finding the eggs.

 

 

Of course Isaiah put the bucket on his head. He said he was curious George and the bucket was Ted's hat. 

 

 Dying eggs together. We set aside the Saturday morning before Easter weeks ahead of time for this. I didn't buy any big kit or go all crazy. I bought one little package of food coloring and we used those three colors to make all different shades. I hard boiled one dozen eggs, we colored them with crayons and dipped them with spoons. The boys had so much fun, and so did we. I think I spent $4 including the eggs...

 

 

 

Peanut Butter eggs. I've never made them before but the recipe I found looked simple enough and Drew loves to help me in the kitchen these days. So while Jaden and Saiah napped Saturday afternoon Drew and I made the eggs. It accomplished spending time with Drew one on one, plus making a yummy treat for their easter baskets the next morning too.

 

 

Breakfast together. I like making fancy breakfasts, I would have loved to have made something special that morning and wow everyone with some great recipe, but the truth is just having breakfast together was the goal. So we had our usual. Hard boiled eggs, milk, and sausage. Good enough for us.

 

Easter baskets. Actually watering cans. That were $2 from target. Cause do we really need another plastic basket that we don't use all year? The watering cans were inexpensive and fun and Drew and Isaiah have been helping me water flowers and vegetables every day for the past week. And what was in the watering cans? A new set of little kid silver ware for each (something they needed anyway) and two homemade peanut butter eggs each. I didn't arrange it all pretty or anything because they don't really care about that right now and all they wanted to do was pull it out anyway. Their watering cans were at their seat when they came down for breakfast and they couldn't have been happier.

 

Mr. Jaden boy will get his first Easter basket next year. He didn't seem to mind at all, he was happy just having our attention :) 

 

 

 

All spiffed up on his first Easter :) My handsome little man :) 

Loves of my life. My heart is so full because of them.

 

 

Our family. So blessed to be surrounded by all these wonderful boys!!

 

 

We went to my parents after church and had an egg hunt there.

Pop chillin with his grandboys :) 

 

My awesome brother and his awesome girlfriend :) Love you guys!! 

That evening we went to Shaun's parents' to have dinner with them. We all hung out in the backyard until dinner was ready.

 

I loved that Easter felt simple and less stressful when I didn't feel like I had to put on a show for anyone. I like to ask myself what my motives are when doing something. Chances are, if my motives are to bring joy to my family, then it's really never associated with a stressful feeling for me. They are very easy to please and quality time is way more important than spending a lot of money or making things all fancy. If my motives are to try to be impressive to others, that's when I start feeling stressed. Such a good thing for me to remember especially around holidays. :)

 

So there ya go, Easter, three weeks late. Are you impressed?? ;)