Christmas Eve…yeah I know.

Christmas Eve with the Powells. A tradition for sure. For the past four years now we have spent Christmas Eve with our dear friends, Zeb & Holly Powell. The first two years we ate McDonalds, but the past two years Holly has cooked, thank you Jesus. This year’s feast was by far the best! Holly made the most amazing potato soup we have ever eaten! It was heaven in a bowl! Racing around the house were the 3 girls and Noah. In a shocking display of yuletide cheer and love, Yaya and Lily Kate ended up in a hug-fest, something not typically done by either of these girls. Somehow, sweet Zoe eluded my camera this year and I have no pictures of her! In a wonderful turn of events, our awesome niece Halli, was able to come spend a few hours with us on this special night. As always, my parents were there and for reasons unknown to us all, Lily Kate developed a particular affection for my Dad and took many pictures with him. All in all, it was a wonderful way to celebrate the coming anniversary of the birth of our Lord Jesus. I can’t wait for next year!

Easter Finale!

Ms. Wanda saves the day! Just when we thought Easter was over and no family picture was to be had...our sweet neighbor provided us such an opportunity. About 5:30 p.m. there was a knock at our door. It was Ms. Wanda our neighbor who has a gorgeous backyard and fish pond. Often we find ourselves in Ms. Wanda’s backyard because we visit our old fish, Fishstick, who now lives in her incredible Koi pond. Ms. Wanda wanted to know if the girls would like to hunt eggs in her backyard...well YEAH! So she left to hide the eggs and we met her down at her house. The girls got to hunt real Easter eggs that Ms. Wanda had dyed the night before. It was so much fun and a great way to end our day. Plus, we finally got our family picture! Thanks Ms. Wanda!

Easter, for real.

So this is Easter 2014. All I could capture was the aftermath. To all you awesome Moms who got those amazing pictures of your family in matching pastel colors and some how everyone is smiling...I salute you! And I envy you! However, to all those awesome Moms, like myself, who had clothing wars, clothing malfunctions, tardy family members, resistant children and couldn’t get it together enough to remember a camera (or that a phone IS a camera) let alone shoot a picture...I salute you! I am you! Hunting eggs and the thrill of Easter baskets abounded in our home this morning. Nothing says, “Risen Lord” like a purple mythical warrior dragon Easter basket (Skylanders). We had a huge egg breakfast that only Eric and I really ate. Eden got dressed and her dress itched her, so she got redressed. Noah was dressed with the greasiest hair imaginable, how did I miss telling him to shower? Eric is super sick with a sinus infection and was up all night with the girls, who each had nightmares, so all three of them slept together in a twin bed. Yaya...God love her, hated her cute China girl dress. However, in a stellar Mom move, I didn’t let her change, ‘cause for the love of Heaven...HE IS RISEN, just wear the stinkin’ dress for Mommy! Then we had a potty emergency as we were getting in the car to leave for church, late. We ended up taking two cars and sending Eric with 2 kids because he is leading Children’s Church today. I stayed home with the 3rd child patiently waiting for their bowels to move. Yet through it all, I am grateful. So very grateful for Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross for a sinner like me. Thank you Jesus, for life eternal with you and life temporary with this family I love so much here...and one day there, with you.

To Dye For

Dye eggs...check. So this year I didn’t buy a new egg dying kit. I knew that I had some colors left from last year. What I didn’t know was that there were only four colors, and they didn’t mix well. Hence the rock color eggs and prolific green eggs, something that made Yaya immensely happy. To offset this lack of color I grabbed my acrylic paints and let Noah and Eden “paint” their eggs like the professionals do. They all had a blast which was the point. We ate most of them for breakfast the next day, as we don’t boil our eggs...we live on the edge.

We were Egged…and we liked it!

We were egged and we loved it! This was such an awesome idea of some sweet friends of ours! While we were away from our home, our friends came over to our home and hid Easter eggs in our yard and left us a note. Noah and the girls had a blast finding the eggs! After all the eggs had been found, Eden was walking in the house and said, “Mama, it would be a sweet thing for me to give Yaya this egg.” She held up a green egg. Yaya’s favorite color. With a Mama’s pride in my heart I told her it would be sweet but not necessary. She replied, “I know Mama, but I want to give it to her.” So, she did. Thanks Miller’s for giving us a great day and me a sweet moment.

Egg Hunt at The Station Church

Hunting eggs, jumping on inflatables, blowing bubbles, taking train rides, and fellowshipping with friends is how we spent this day! Can I say that I love our church. This was our outreach event for the Easter season and it was spectacular. All the kids and adults has a wonderful time! Can’t wait for next year!

Empty eggs are what the kids found, they turned in their baskets full of eggs to get a bag of candy. Brilliant idea! The field was full of thousands of empty eggs and the bags of candy were enough incentive to get children to pick up every last one of them. Face painting was also a huge hit. I had a blast at this task for about 2 hours. The unicorn you see on Eden is an Angie original!