Life With Our Little Ladies: Easter 2016

On Good Friday, we continued the tradition and loaded up the car after dinner for a local church's drive thru presentation of Jesus' life. The girls' loved identifying the scenes and finding Jesus in each one. Ella asked so many questions and really engaged with the scenes in a new way this year. Jesus' crucifixion made her visibly sad and when you ask her which scene was her favorite she eagerly shared about the empty tomb and the GOOD NEWS that Jesus is alive!

On Saturday morning, we did Resurrection eggs a few times!

Then, it was off to the Torns' 2nd annual Easter party to celebrate with friends. It was a beautiful spring day and the kids had a blast running around outside with friends and participating in the egg hunt.

Abby and Ella have been praying for their friend (and Ms. Heather's neighbor), Emily, as she fights a hard battle with cancer. They think of her often and pray for her daily. As we drove to Ms. Heather's house that day, Ella asked how Emily was doing and then suggested we all pray for her as we drove. Though Emily lives next door to Heather, I prepared the girls that there was a good chance we wouldn't see Emily because of the large amounts of people and her weakened immune system. I truly believe God gave Ella the sweetest gift that morning when she spotted Emily before the start of the egg hunt. They both ran to each other with huge smiles and didn't leave each others sides the entire time. It was so special and a beautiful reminder to me of how God uses our prayers not just for those we pray for, but to grow our hearts in love and joy as well. It was a sweet connection for Emily and our girls. They have sent pictures back and forth to each other since. We continue to pray for sweet Emily and look forward to being back in the swimming pool with her again when she is feeling better!

Saturday afternoon, we dyed Easter eggs while Juliet napped.

I filled the Easter eggs and put the finishing touches on baskets after the girls went to bed! I love filling and personalizing Easter baskets (and Christmas stockings) for our girls. This year, Abby reminded me to hide her basket somewhere new since I put it in the same place two years in a row!

All dressed up on Easter morning and ready for church. It was Juliet's first morning in the church nursery. After a great morning at church reflecting on Jesus' sacrifice, we headed home to prepare for our family to arrive. But not before we snuck in a mini photo shoot.

This one is my favorite because I was making faces trying to get Juliet to smile and I got Mama as she was laughing at me!

Ella and Daddy dancing to Cinderella

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IXytM5QN8s

Snuggles with Grandma

Showing Uncle Cory who's the boss!

The whole gang

These two! :)

We laughed so hard that day. Every time Mama and Joe took a picture, it was blurry! SO, they got fed up with us, insisted their photography skills were perfect and the rest of us were crazy! Then, we all started laughing every time someone took a picture! Maybe you had to be there, but weeks later after we take a picture every one still shouts...."Blurry!" and everyone laughs. :)