easter 2013

i was skeptical about easter this year. i was convinced we were going to be hiding eggs in the snow. but  the day delivered the joy and celebration that is expected of easter. on good friday-aunt beth and i looked at the weather forecast and talked about our options for a family egg hunt. grandma is in a short-term rehab facility, after being in the hospital for 2 weeks. we thought about doing a pot-luck there, but we decided the chaos of having all the kids in a small room might be more exhausting for her than needed right now. so we texted everyone and started planning the impromptu party.

 i have wanted this to become a tradition because it is loads of fun to watch troy deliver the egg hunt rules and then see all the kids running with excitement to find plastic eggs. i'm not the best at carrying on holiday traditions mostly because life seems so full already that planning a party, preparing food, and cleaning a mess of a house seems next to impossible. but after the party i was thinking about what my mom and i say when things are hard-'that seems really uphill'. i decided that if you don't get up that hill you don't get to enjoy the amazing view and remember when you accomplished that hard but wonderful thing. so maybe not everything is worth walking up a steep hill-but some things are. 

and-

 the kids did not have any special easter clothes to wear since i figured they would be wearing their snow bibs-

we had a successful gathering anyway...

attempt at a family picture before church. i forgot how to set the timer-so we promised ourselves we would try again later...i hope instead of a thinking how crazy grant's shoes look you will offer me a pat on the back that ben even has shoes on (and socks) double pat.


 bob invited us to his church-so we drove to the mcclouth methodist church where bobby went as a kid. the kids did surprisingly well sitting through the service and we got to hear bob sing a solo-easter special!

 beth is the queen of fun-she brought kites. watching her enjoy the kids smiles made me smile :)

 easter egg hunts are the best. and it was especially lovely to see the 3 babes together that were in tummies last year. i realize now what a great idea it is to hire a photographer for parties-because it is really hard to take pictures of all that is happening and be the host...sadly i didn't even get a pic of all three almost one year olds together :(

 it was a surprisingly nice easter-which made even more memorable.