Easter Celebrations

We enjoyed Easter week with activities, both secular and religious.  We read parts of Christ's last week throughout the week and post related pictures on the playroom wall so the kids can see them often and hopefully ponder on what we are teaching them. We started this tradition last year and were very pleased.  You can read about the specifics of it from our 8 Apr 2012 post, Easter Week.

Sophie is really fascinated with the Crucifixion of Christ. She says it is her "favorite part" and we are not sure why.  We ask her why she "loves the crucifixion" so much, as she is all smiles about it.  We explain that it was very hard, even painful what Christ endured.  She says she loves it "because Jesus loves us."  Well, we can't argue with that but we thought the resurrection would be more understandable for someone her age to rejoice over.  We just try to teach what is truly important to our kids at a level they can hopefully understand and with the Holy Ghost present so they can feel God's love and recognize eternal truths. Check back with us in 5 years and we'll see how it's going.

Other fun family traditions include egg dying and goodies from the Easter Bunny.  This year we twisted rubber bands on the eggs before immersing them in the dye solution.  It was a cool outcome.  I am pretty sure egg dying is still primarily for us parents as we really enjoy it.

We got a package from Nonnie and Papaw, the kids' great grandparents through Becky, Neal's step-mom.  The kids had a blast going through all the goodies. 

And Keri made and gave a few springtime goodies away this Easter as well.  Inside the flower pot with saucer lid is a bag of potting soil and a packet of marigold seeds.

Friday, we took off to West Monroe, LA to spend time with Nonnie, Papaw, and Becky's siblings, Denise and Paul and their families.  The drive out was gorgeous while it was still light.  LA is a lot more lush than the plains we have in the Dallas area. The dogwoods and redbuds were all in bloom, spotting the woods with color. When it became dark we gave the kids glow sticks to play with until they nodded off to sleep. We made it to the hotel - Sophie was quite happy about this.  She loves hotels.

The next morning, while we were downstairs for breakfast, the Easter Bunny came and left Sophie and Rhys cool Superman and Supergirl T-shirts, a no-spill bubble bucket with wands, and eggs filled with sugarless gum. 

It rained quite a bit on Saturday but we had a great time catching up with everybody. We ladies escaped to get pedicures, while the kids were left to their Easter basket goodies from family and the men, who later got everyone out for a walk when the clouds cleared. We spent Saturday evening at Nici's (Denise) house eating, talking, and having a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt, she put on.  That was pretty cool, I have to say.

On Sunday, we attended church and learned that the man that Forrest Gump's military life was based of off in the movie, Sammy Davis, was present being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He had earned a Medal of Honor.  We did not stop and chat about it with him because that was obviously not the focus his or our church going experience.  Just interesting.

After more time with family and some awesome roast, we had to say our good-byes and begin our journey home.  It was a great weekend.  They are such a great family and we always feel welcomed and enjoy them.  I hope they know how much we love and appreciate them as well.