Easter Sunday 2010

What an amazing Easter Sunday! We had such a great time with our real family and our church family celebrating the resurrection.

First, we got ready and managed to get Easter baskets and family photos before we needed to be at the church. That was pretty amazing for us. This year, the azaleas were so beautiful on Easter and it made for some awesome photos. Yay for tripods, although there were some pretty hilarious shots we got too.

At church, we shared in a delicious breakfast then the kids got to test out the brand spankin’ new playgrounds. Jonathan spent most of yesterday up at the church workday with many others putting one of these together. I think it’s safe to say that they were a hit. The kids LOVED them.

Our handsome guy.

At the last minute we invited my parents up for worship and lunch. Worship was pretty amazing. 16 people joined the church, including 4 baptisms. What a great morning!

Finally, we made our way home. It always takes us a long time to get out the door at church. :-) I finished up the ham (the first one I ever cooked since I’m not a fan), potatoes, and vegetables and we got some photos out in the back with my parents.

 

Happy Easter!

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And just for fun, I thought I’d post some pics of Easters past.

2009 – Ben’s first Easter

2008 – I was almost 7 months pregnant

2007 – I remember we had a surprise cold snap this year. We didn’t get an entire family photo either.

2006 – Rosemary’s first Easter

A Saturday Night in the Park

The night of the egg hunt we got a hankering for Conestoga’s so we drove up to Alachua for dinner. It was a beautiful night so on the drive home we stopped by Cellon Oak Park where there’s an amazing old oak tree. We were the only ones there most of the time and the kids got to run around and climb. I still had our camera with us so I followed everyone around and took lots of photos in the late afternoon sun.

The beautiful oak tree.

She’s big enough to stand on these without any help, but not big enough to get on them without help.

  

Ben loved the clover.

So did Rosemary

 

  Rosemary chased her daddy all around the field.

Ben enjoyed hunting for sticks.

Picking flowers together.

 

 

Climbing.

In case there was any doubt, the kids do not get their climbing abilities from me.

 

 

Heading home

Easter Egg Hunt

The Estes family hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for all the Harvest families last weekend.

We started out with a potluck lunch and visiting with friends. After lunch, Jonathan joined some of the other dads for a beanbag toss games and the kids played with bubbles. Then we headed over for the egg hunt.

 Rosemary was ready to get some eggs.

There was a really good turnout.

Landon and Ben got a head start since they were the littlest ones there.

Ben did a pretty good job for his first egg hunt. Once he realized candy was inside, he kinda lost interest in finding more though.

 

 

Rosemary knew exactly what to do this year.

 

Ben loves his chocolate.

A lot.

Next, the kids tried to break the pinata.

Waiting for the pinata to break.

 

Grabbing some of the loot.

  

I don’t know why, but Ben would only pick up Tootsie Rolls. I don’t think he’s ever even had a Tootsie Roll.

Ben’s Tootsie Roll take.

The Birdfeeder

A couple of weeks ago, we bought a birdfeeder. Within a few minutes of having it outside, a cardinal flew over to grab some birdseed. Rosemary was quite excited.

Three days later, however, we spotted the squirrels and within an hour they had knocked the feeder to the ground. Crazy squirrels. And so, alas, our foray into feeding birds ended quite quickly.

Warmer...finally!

The warm weather is finally starting to make some sporadic appearances. Today it was actually a nice day to be outside so we took advantage of it.

We chased some bubbles...

(There really were bubbles!)

We colored with some sidewalk chalk and played hopscotch.

Rosemary enjoyed some crafts.

Then we fingerpainted.

And this is why they're non-toxic

Messy kids...wow that was fun.

New to us clothes

I was sorting through some clothes that someone had given us for Ben earlier today and the kids decided to help. Rosemary threw on a Blue's Clues pajama shirt and some shiny shorts and Ben begged to wear two Thomas shirts that are two sizes too big over his current shirt. What a pair!

The massively long shirts on Ben make me think of Hurley from LOST.

He was so excited to wear his 'choo-choo' shirts. I've got to get him some that fit!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We're not big St. Patrick's Day celebrants. In fact, most years it's pretty much a miracle if I remember to wear green. This year, however, I did remember and rather than eating corned beef and cabbage in honor of the day, we had Green Eggs and Ham 'n Cheese omelets...with hashbrowns and green beans. Perhaps one of the strangest meals I've made, but it was good.

They tasted the same, but honestly, the bright green was a little bizarre for me.

Soaked

Last week, the kids and I emptied the porch to wash all the dust and pollen off the toys and furniture. Rosemary used the hose to spray her brother down too. Poor Ben was soaked to the bone...even his little socks were wet.

The little guy was drenched.

On his way in to get some dry clothes on. Rosemary had moved on to the tree. It didn't mind the water so much.