We do Easter

Easter is so much more than a bunny and some eggs. I get the whole egg concept- a symbol of the empty tomb. The bunny? I'm thinking it's just a spring thing. I never had my girls meet the Easter bunny at the mall. For one, it doesn't look very fun. The kids are usually screaming from pure fear of the horrible bunny costumes. Second, it's not the bunny that represents the true meaning of Easter.

We celebrate Easter by being in church on Sunday. Every Sunday. We honor Gods house and learn Gods word. We repent and thank him for his son who died for our sins. We are saved. That's our Easter.

We do enjoy the Easter basket. I'm a big fan of the chocolate bunny. We do color eggs - I then make them into deviled eggs. My absolute favorite! We do the whole honey baked ham & Easter egg hunt. I'm excited because this year will be Isla's first hunt. We do family. We do God. We do Easter. All in all, it's another great day. A holy day.

What a cute little pair of bunnies! Have a blessed Good Friday 2014! 

So I attempted the ombré egg - it turned out cute! I didn't let Isla get into the dying this year.... She would have made a huge mess! Next year, I'm sure she will love to participate!!

Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful. The weather was unseasonably warm. I think it may have even hit 80 degrees. We woke up to the sun beaming and the birds chirping outside our window. The girls opened their baskets. We didn't go too extreme, just cutsy stuff from the dollar store that they can play with outside... & minimal candy! It's so abundant everywhere! 

Isla got to meet Mr. Potatoe head. We are currently learning body parts so he turned out to be quite the perfect gift from Grandma's basket! 

Lots of fun things to color on a rainy day or catch outside when it's nice! 

Church was beautiful. The service was so meaningful and the hymns were sung loudly. I kept running down to the nursery to check on Isla and ended up rocking Estelle outside so she wouldn't cry during service. The nursery is too loud and I didn't mind sitting in the sunshine on the steps of God's house. After a quick run to Hahn's Bakery on Franklin and 3rd, we made our journey to Grandma & Papa's farm for a very long day of outside play! But before the shenanigans could start, I was finally able to pull us all together {in our Sunday best} for a family photo! Even Twinkie got in on this, which made it all 5 of us!

Poor Stellie had her eyes closed.

Much better but not quite....

Aaaaaand quick take that picture! Everyone is looking at the camera! Even the dog! PERFECT timing!! & oh so cute!

What a sweet little Easter dress with Bonnet and all :) She was totally not digging the hat so we just clipped her little bangs back and let the sunshine kiss that beautiful face. 

Nothing like fluffy frilly pink cuteness!

Getting these 2 to sit still and look in the same direction is nearly impossible! The only thing that works is to ask Isla "Where is Daddy's nose?" So she will look right at Justin... But also points to his nose. Haha it's the only thing that works! 

There was lots of bounce house fun! Mari definitely kept Isla hopping all over! 

Then it was A-egg-hunting-we-will-go! The eggs were pretty boring eggs if you ask me. & not too skillfully hidden. It was a lot of fun to watch Isla search for them all. A great moment I will keep in my heart stored away. When I forget about these days, I'll open up this living journal and re-read the love that filled this day. I'll see the pictures of her in her bright pink dress. Ill remember the way the sun hit her face. I'll relive the excitement and joy from her first egg hunt, the rides on the golf cart, the afternoon jumping in the bounce house.. 

I thrive on days like today. Our ordinary days are just as wonderful together, but holidays have their own magic. Next year Estelle will be right next to her racing to get the eggs. I will be there again, watching the excitement in their eyes. 

Feasting on some egg hunting treats! 

The Lord blessed us with another beautiful day of life and love. By far, the best Easter yet. He has risen! 

Spring Fling ~*~*~*~

My little adventure woman who loves to watch the squirrels and listen to the birds. She is a true nature lover!

Finally a few good days of weather passed by and we were able to be outside! Isla was begging to go out in the sunshine. We were able to do some playtime out in the yard for a while. 

We did have some of our friends over for a spring get together. It was fun to see our adult friends and their kids. However staying up late may not have been the best idea since Estelle woke up around 5:45am! 

There is something about a spring rain that I absolutely love.... The smell, the greenery that comes with it, the dimness and sound of the water hitting the windows, oh & sipping a cup of coffee while I watch it drizzle all day. It puts me in the best mood. Im relaxed and slowly chip away at things all day. There is no rush and I don't feel guilty sitting and sipping. Now once it hits summer- I can do without the scary tornado warnings. These soft spring rains that are gentle are the best lazy days. It's cool enough to curl up in my favorite sweater and watch out the window. It's the little things...

On a different note... We had a beautiful day on Friday April 11th. It was 67 degrees, but felt like 72! It was so incredibly well needed and healing. All our winter blues were washed away. We went to visit a small zoo in Wheaton called Cosley Zoo. It's free to all children and cost me only $5.00.

They house around 200 different animals. It is a small zoo with mostly local species of animals. Nothing too exotic. You can pet most of them. We walked the entire property in about 30 min. So we did 2

Laps :)

Isla is such a lover. It doesn't matter what you are or who you are, she will love you. She has the most beautiful soul I have ever seen. The zoo was right up her alley. She can touch and huge and frolick all she wants. It was an amazing moment for me to stand back and watch her see these creatures for the first time up close. We take for granted the simple things in life. 

Well the zoo was fun, except for the ridiculous parking. You basically have to circle around and around like O'Hare airport! It was worth the time. Now on to bigger and better things! 

Just keep swimming....

Well we are all signed up for swim lessons and ready to get this party started! We officially signed Isla up for water tots at Geneva Sunset Pool along with the seasonal pass for Estelle and I. Isla is my little fishy & can't get enough of the water. It will be a fun experience and most of all, a great chance for her to learn survival skills. I think I'm more happy with the fact that she will learn to survive & swim if for some reason she is in a large body of water. That will hopefully NEVER happen, but these skills will follow her into adulthood. We are so ready to bust out the sunscreen and swimming diapers! Lets get moving rude weather! We want sunshine!!