Easter Weekend-Family Pictures

When we got home from church, we all went outside to take our Easter pictures. This is a tradition that I think most families have on Easter and ours is no exception. I, of course, always love taking pictures, Josh tolerates it, and Eli is proving to be quite photogenic. We had a good time taking pictures and I love having special memories like this of my family.

My favorite two boys

Our Happy Little Family :)

Joshua and Andrea

Eli and Emily

My brothers and me

"The outlaws"
Josh and Andrea

Eli with Grammy and Pop

Grandma with all her grandchildren

Grandma and Eli

My mom, grandmother and Uncle David

Uncle David and his daughter, Emily

Easter Weekend-Easter Morning

Eli woke up bright and early Sunday morning to see what the Easter Bunny had left for him this year. Mr. E.B. must have know about Eli's love of painting, so he made sure to include a Toy Story water color book. My little boy is an artist in training :) He also got three new pairs of big boy underwear. You may laugh, but we're excited that he got some new ones. He's been doing so well with potty training. I could probably say that he's potty trained right now because I can't remember the last time he's been wet or had an accident, but I'm too scared to say it in case I jinx him. Anyway, the Easter Bunny wanted to pass along his congratulations in the form of some new big boy underwear. Eli also got some chocolate bunnies, peanut butter eggs, and various other forms of candy that have now disappeared into the candy bucket at the top of our kitchen cabinet to be used only for special occasions.





I was happy to discover that the Easter Bunny still delivered to almost 30 year olds as well as little kids. I'm still a kid at heart, so I guess that's what counts.



After we looked through our Easter goodies, it was time to get ready for church. Until it was time to put his church clothes on, my son chose to walk around Grammy and Pop's house like this. Josh cringes whenever Eli puts on these red boots, Mom laughs gleefully, and I just snap picture after picture. I'm thinking senior yearbook ad one day ;)


While we were getting ready, Eli sat down and started to paint. The whole concept of having to wet his paintbrush and then dip it in the paint is still somewhat confusing to him, but he's getting better at it.


After Eli saw that Pop was dressed and was wearing a tie, he had to have one just like his Pop. Pop happily obliged and found a purple tie just like his for Eli to wear. Eli sat so still and let Pop tie it around his neck. The boy adores his Pop :)

Too precious for words!

Once we were all ready, we left for church. It was such a wonderful service. We serve an amazing God! I love Easter and the fact that we get to celebrate our risen Savior, Jesus Christ!! How exciting to know that he is alive and waiting to come back one day! It was a great day and I'm so glad my whole family was there to celebrate it with us.

Easter Weekend-Dyeing Easter Eggs

Saturday night before Easter, we dyed eggs for Eli and Emily, my Uncle David's daughter, to hunt the next day. Eli loves to help so we let him do as much as he could for this activity. First, he and Daddy filled up a big pot with water.


Then Eli gently placed the eggs in the water for them to boil. He didn't do it so gently at first and we lost two eggs right away, but Josh intervened and showed him how to do it properly.


While we waited for the eggs to boil and then for them to cool, we got our coloring cups ready.


We mixed the vinegar, water, and the colored tablet and waited for the tablet to dissolve.


While we waited, Eli decided that he and Brody Jack, my brother Josh's dog, needed to spend some time together. He arranged the gate to form a pen and begged that Brody get in with him. Brody did, but it definitely wasn't Brody's idea.


Thankfully for Brody, our eggs were ready very soon and it was time to start dyeing them. I helped Eli do it at first, but he quickly gave up on the little dipper and opted to just drop the eggs in the cups with his fingers instead. (Just in case you're wondering, with the help of Oxi Clean spray, the dye does come out in the washer.)


Emily showed Eli how he could write on the eggs with the crayon.


Eli took his turn after Emily.


Pop didn't want to miss out on all the fun, so he came and joined us.


Here we are with our finished eggs. As you can tell, Eli was very tired by this point. We put him in the bathtub for his bath and then he went straight to bed. He was going to have another busy day tomorrow!

Easter Weekend-Duck Pond

This weekend we traveled to my parents' house to spend Easter with them. This was where we spent Eli's first Easter two years ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long! My brother Joshua and his wife, Andrea, also came in for the weekend. It was great to have everyone home!

Saturday morning Josh woke up early and went to play golf with a buddy of his. The rest of us slept a little later and then enjoyed the morning while we decided what we wanted to do that day. Uncle Josh and Eli decided to discuss it outside on the front porch.


They came back in and we decided that we would go to the duck pond. I had lots of bread scraps left over from the bunny sandwiches I made for Eli's class at school, and I couldn't think of a better way to use them than feeding the ducks. After a careful inspection from Eli, it was determined that the bread scraps would indeed be best used for feeding the ducks.


We stopped by and picked up some people food from Sonic so we could eat it at the park. I think Eli managed to eat one chicken strip before the ducks captured his full attention. Eli, Pop, Josh and Andrea all made their way to the bottom of the pond and started to feed the ducks and the turtles.




Then Eli, Josh, and Andrea played for a little bit on the swings and the slide.





While they were playing, a few ducks walked up and Eli decided he needed to go greet them, and by greet them, I mean chase the poor ducks all over the park. We told him to stand still but that was next to impossible. The poor ducks got their workout that's for sure!


We were delighted to see that a mama duck and her duckling came to visit. We threw some bread scraps their way, but the mama didn't let her duckling get any. I guess he wasn't old enough yet.


We walked over to the other side of the park and found more ducklings. This mama let his ducklings eat all the bread they wanted. I can't blame her; that's too many mouths for one mama to feed alone!


The other side of the park had a huge playground. Eli loved going to each section and playing.





Pop liked the playground, too! This is why we loved Pop :) He's still a little kid on the inside.







We managed to get one picture of Eli by the trees. He only allowed us this one because he was ready to go back and play some more!



On our way back to the car, Eli did every slide and swing again. Pop and Eli had to do the big slide a couple of times before leaving. They love each other so much. I love watching the two of them together!












We got back to the car and Eli crashed. It'd been a wonderful day at the park!