Easter Sunday

With 9:00 am church this year, Easter baskets had to wait until we got home from church.  We knew if we did them before hand, we'd not only be late for church but we'd have pretty wound-up kids!  Neither sounded desirable. :)  Turns out, the kids were fine with it.  So when we got home, after we'd done our pictures, we sent them to their rooms to get dressed and I assembled the baskets.  We don't do anything huge for Easter baskets, just some fun activities and a few little presents.  Included this year were sunglasses for the older three, pencil sets, bird house crafts, and Jelly Belly jelly beans!  Lukey got a new ball, a book, and a new Minion shirt.  The kids loved it all!

After we were done with our Easter baskets, we made our way to Grandma Candy's for Easter dinner.  It was bound to be another good time with cousins!  And it didn't disappoint.  But the best part was that this time Lukey was able to join us!  He wasn't feeling too well, having just gotten home the night before from a round of chemo, but he perked up quite a bit once he was with all the kids.

I absolutely love seeing all these kids play together.  The boys (Bowen, Eli, Johnny, and Chance) stuck together, finding things to do that involved getting their clothes as dirty as possible. :)  But they had a great time!

And the girls (Lily, Isabelle, Claire, and Sophie) did girly things, like sit on the porch and talk about who-knows-what. :)  

And Luke?  Luke did his best to soak up every ounce of attention and look as cute as possible in his new Easter shirt.  He knows to give the people what they want...

Jami, Jenny, and I were so excited to have dinner together at Mom's house, because it gave us the opportunity to take Mom's new dishes for a spin!  We decorated the table, and I have to say it looked absolutely stunning.  Everything we were hoping for when we bought Mom the new dishes at Christmas, and it made Mom feel so nice to have such a beautiful table setting.

The kids got paper plates at the kids table.  :)

We decided on a Cafe Rio dinner for Easter.  And it was amazingly delicious!  We made a big batch of Cafe Rio Chicken and a big batch of Cafe Rio Sweet Pork.  We had all the fixins for either burritos or salads, including coconut rice and black beans, as well as lettuce, pico, cilantro, and limes.  And of course, we made the Lime Tomatillo Ranch!  It was absolutely wonderful...and so easy to prepare for the twenty or so of us there were.  We'll be doing this again for sure!

After dinner came dessert, which was Lime Dessert and Natalia's Amazing Apple Pie.  We enjoyed some time playing and talking...just enjoying each other's company.

While the adults were enjoying some time gathered in the kitchen talking, Lily took all the little kids outside to create Fairy Gardens.  They did a wonderful job!  We love Lily.  She's so good to take the littler kids and keep them entertained.  As a parent, I know I don't have to worry when my kids are with Lily.  She's amazing!

What a wonderful Easter weekend!  We're so grateful that Jeff and Jami brought their family to spend the weekend with us.  We're so glad that Lukey was able to be home for Easter!  We are so grateful for the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Danny and I know that everything we have, and every dream we hold on to, is made possible by that greatest of gifts.  We love Him, and continue to strive to live worthy of all He has given us.  

Happy Easter!