Easter Weekend

Easter weekend kicked off for us on Saturday when the boys and I went to Barnesville for the afternoon to spend time with lots and lots of extended family at the annual fish fry held at my parents' house. The weather was pretty nasty but the show went on. Terrell wasn't up for going so I handled the big family gathering solo... and it was pretty crazy. Thank goodness I had my sister helping me out. It was pretty overwhelming trying to keep up with my crew but thankfully AnAn came to our rescue! Whew. We missed daddy big time but I'm glad I was able to go and see family that I don't see very often and introduce Layton and let the big boys dye eggs. It was an exhausting but fun start to our Easter festivities. (Thanks again for all your help AnAn!!)

The boys and I got home in time for baths and bedtime on Saturday night and Terrell and I enjoyed a glimpse of our future... home for the holidays! Haha. For the first time ever we stayed at our own house on Easter Eve and made a day trip to the hometown on Easter. It was really nice and made things way easier on Terrell who is still recovering from surgery but was determined not to miss Easter. I am so thankful for him!

Sunday morning the boys woke up to lots of goodies in their buckets. This year the big boys got things like new plates, books, flip flops, bubble bath, flashlights, mini monster trucks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, chalk for their chalkboard, and eggs filled with candy, jelly beans, and piggy bank money. They were pretty excited. 

We went to our home church for Easter and it was such a blessing. We enjoyed a wonderful service celebrating our Risen Savior. Every year Easter means more and more to me. And this year my biggest boy understood a lot. I let him watch this video and he said he wanted to follow Jesus. That's my ultimate prayer for him and his brothers.

After church my mom made our family pictures for us. It's an Easter tradition. =)

Then Layton got to take a few extra pictures since it was his first Easter.

 

This picture before the egg hunt cracks me up. =)

 

We had a delicious feast with my parents, sister and brother-in-law, grandparents, and aunt and uncle. My parents are the best hosts! 

 

After lunch my boys got to open Easter presents/treats from Granna and Papa. They were thrilled. (Part of the reason we go so simple and practical at Easter is because Granna and Nana give them lots of Easter goodies too. They're only slightly spoiled. Ha!) Once they had a chance to go through their new stuff and check everything out, the big boys had a huge egg hunt all to themselves! The original plan was to have the egg hunt with several cousins at the fish fry the day before, but when the weather didn't cooperate it had to be postponed. Terrell's parents came over to watch too and the boys had a blast. Austin was more interested in quality as he tried to check each egg along the way, while Garrison was more interested in quantity and scooped up as many eggs as possible as quickly as possible. We are swimming in candy at our house now. =)

We were all exhausted after we got home last night (partly due to the super full day we had and partly due to playing I-Spy for almost an hour straight on the way home). We are so thankful to serve a Risen Savior and to celebrate on Easter with lots of family. We truly are blessed beyond measure.

****Big, BIG, BIG THANK YOU to my parents for hosting 2 major events at their house on back to back days! (You pulled it off without a hitch and desserved the day off today!) We enjoyed our Easter weekend!!