Easter Weekend Recap

We crammed a wholelotta Easter into this weekend, and I think its best shared in pictures...

Coloring Eggs:
Newbie was really excited about "painting eggs" Friday morning.  He was a little enthusiastic when tossing eggs into the dye cups, but it wasn't anything a good paper towel couldn't handle.

(Newbie's showing Jubilee the egg he decorated.)

(He kept calling the un-shelled egg an "apple" and was not a big fan...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree there.  Anybody want some hard boiled eggs???)

(Jubilee, you helped us paint Easter eggs this weekend.  Big Brother was really excited about painting and wanted to show you the eggs he made.  He held the egg up to my belly so you could see!  Big Brother loves you so much, Jubilee, and so do Momma and Daddy...we were so happy to celebrate Easter with you this weekend!)

Backyard Egg Hunt:
We had planned on finding a local egg hunt to take Newbie to on Saturday, but we waited until the last minute and ended up just taking him to the park to play and then coming back home to find eggs in our backyard.  He was a champ and was thrilled to find "buuuugs" and "tandy" in the eggs he found.

Sunday Easter Service:
Sunday morning started bright and early with a fully-loaded Easter basket and a delicious Amish Breakfast casserole (thanks, Ambs!).  While we prayed at the breakfast table Newbie piped in and said, "tank too for da big wed barn and da big cow in da big wed barn" and had the Hubs and I rolling with laughter through the rest of the prayer.  Sometimes he pipes in to thank Jesus for bowling or Opie, but we've never heard his gratitude for the big red barn or the big cow before...and we're not sure where it came from! After unwrapping the fishing pole EB left and marveling over more buuuuugs in Easter eggs, we got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to church to celebrate.

(Newbie loves running under the trees after church. Below is how well things went when we told him it was time to leave the trees and go to lunch- eish!)

Easter Lunch and Egg Hunt:
After church Newbie took a snooze in the car while we drove out to his Grandma and Papa's house for lunch with the gang.  We had quite the spread of an Easter feast, and my MIL had stuffed Easter treats into little bags at everyone's place setting.  There was a cash prize egg hunt (!!!) after lunch, and I'm happy to say it was our day...we walked home with the big bucks thanks to some serious egg-hunting on Newbie and the Hubs' part. =)

(Egg hunt!)

(How is this the only picture I got of Uncle J and Aunt Corndog??? My bad! They're headed to Florida soon...don't feel too sorry for them. =])

(Twinners!)

***** 

After a busy weekend, we're laying low today catching up on laundry and writing out a birthday party to-do list for a little man who will be turning the big TWO on Saturday!  Hope you all had a blessed Easter weekend and make it a great week!

Happy Easter!

Easter has never been more sweet than it is to me this year. There is so much I could say, so much I could write because the heart is bursting at the seams with gratitude just as the spring is bursting at the seams with life this weekend, but its getting late, so I'll just say that I count it nothing but grace that the Hubs and I can walk the path we are walking and still shout with praise and joy on Easter morning because of God's faithfulness and grace even on the hard road.  God is good...ALL the time.  We are celebrating God's goodness this Easter weekend and marveling at the depth of His love and the richness of His plans for our lives.

(Click here if you loved that quote by Holly Gerth as much as I did..Disclaimer: this puppy may very well shoot to the top of your next birthday wish list! =])

We are celebrating LIFE this Easter Sunday (Praise Jesus!!!), and my heart is bursting with joy over this truth:

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. -Matthew 28:6

Hossana in the highest!

There are no words to describe the gratitude and praise overwhelming my heart for Jesus, who conquered death through His suffering and brought forth everlasting life through His resurrection, that my sweet babies' stories would not end with their lives on this earth, but rather only just begin with their departure from our arms.  ...and that we, having surrendered our hearts and lives to the King of Kings, may join them someday through the goodness of His grace!

God is just so very, very good!

Praying you feel the warmth of His unending love for you and are flooded with joy over the hope of His eternal grace this Easter!

Brittany



The Tortoise and The Hare [Alternately titled: "I went to the gym and an Easter recap"]

We had such a blessed Easter weekend! We started our morning with a delicious breakfast of zero calorie cinnamon rolls and fruit.  We ate it on my fine china, and I have never been more happy my grandmother, Mutte, talked me into registering for fine china than Sunday morning.  Coffee tastes better when it is enjoyed out of a fancy teacup.  It just does.  Newbie had his own place set with his silver spoon and mug, also compliments of Mutte.  We ate in style.  And it was SO good.

Then Newbie dug in to see what the Easter Bunny had been up to.  He was really into the cellophane bag his basket was hiding in.  Next year I might have to tell ol' E.B. to just leave a huge crunchy bag in Newbie's Easter basket, and we'll be all good.

We went to an AMAZING service at church after we slammed our breakfast and wrangled everybody into their coordinating Easter ensembles.  That Hubs can really be a handful. =) I loved every minute we had to celebrate and worship our Lord together as a family of three. 

After church, we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's house with Aunt Corndog, Uncle J, Grandad, and G-Mama for an Easter Eggstravaganza.  (I'm sorry.  I couldn't help myself.)  I ended up getting a twitch in my index finger from all the picture snapping.  But seriously?  A matching plaid hat and tie???  REALLY?!?  Plaid on my baby boy is like Oreo in my DQ Blizzard.  I needed 829 pictures of him.  Needed.

We had an over-the-top-PHENOMENAL culinary affair complete with roast chicken, ham, and Arnold Palmer sangria that were to die for. Yes.  I just said Arnold Palmer Sangria.  Google it and thank me when you are sitting in your lawn chair with your big hat by the pool this summer.  YUM. 

Newbie's Grandpa pulled out the turkey call after lunch while the womenfolk cleaned up the kitchen, and the Hubs took these adorable pictures.  I think we might have ourselves a future hunter gatherer?  He was digging the turkey call. 

Then we had a full on brawl-of-an-egg-hunt where the winners walked away with CASH PRIZES.  It was such fun!  I may or may not have gotten a little over-zealous and plunged off toward the field through a water-saturated stretch of yard in my flats, chasing after what I thought was an orange egg but was actually a piece of trash. 

Nah, that doesn't really sound like me. 

That probably didn't happen.

Probably.
When we returned home, I spent the afternoon enjoying the plunder and discovering the HEAVEN that is the Reeses chocolate peanut butter egg. 

Which leads me to Part II, called:  I went to the gym.

I've been going on and off for a while, but its tough to find consistency when your son isn't sleeping through the night and you wake up with bags under your eyes and less than 4 hours of solid sleep to your name more often than not.

But last night wasn't one of those nights, so I went today.  Actually, the whole gang went because Newbie's new Tumble class started today, and since the Hubs had the day off, we made it a family affair.  After Tumble class, the Hubs took his bad self to the track with Newbie in the jogger while I hit up Treadmill Alley because if I don't run on a treadmill...I don't run. 

And so began my treadmill saga. 
Let me remind you, I am a get 'er in, get 'er out, under the radar gym gal.  I like to get it done as fast as possible and see as few people I know as possible and talk to as few people as possible because, quite frankly, I can't breathe most of the time I'm there, I don't have great workout hair, and I have laundry to do and pictures to post.  So it's a quick stop for me.

NOT today.

I had to try FIVE different treadmills before I finally made the walk of shame all the way across the gym to one that was working.  FIVE, friends.  FIVE.  We're talking, get on, stand there, push "GO" a billion times to no avail, get off, look around, and then go to another machine FIVE times.  Oh, you can bet I was ready to haul my cookies right on out of there and pretend trying out and then abandoning five machines was exactly what I came to the gym to do, but then the Jillian Michaels in my head went all spider monkey on me and sat atop the last treadmill screaming in my face, "ARE YOU GONNA QUIT?!?!  ARE YOU GONNA LET THIS GET YOU DOWN?!?!  HOW MANY BLIZZARDS DID YOU CONSUME IN 2010?!?!?  HOW MANY?!?!?!?! ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM WIN?!?!  ARE YOU?!?!?!?!"

Oh, Jillian.  You get me every time.

So I walked the walk of shame past the 80 people who had seen me step up to four different machines and not actually run on them, and after swallowing my pride, I stepped up to the first working machine in five, and ran off at least one millionth of the Blizzards I did, in fact, consume in 2010. 

And now I'm going to feel really good about that Chicken Fajita Roll-Up I'm going to order for lunch today at Applebee's. Because if going to the gym doesn't earn you a few fries dipped in Mexi-Ranch, then WHY?  WHY?!
Here's a few shots of my little man loving life before his mother experienced the Treadmill Alley Saga that almost kicked her hiney.

Wishing you all a fabulous week and your very own inner Jillian Michaels to go all spider-monkey up in there when you need her the most.

Easter Sunday

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.

He has risen!"

-Mark 16:6

The Hubs and I were talking this morning about how Easter is our favorite holiday, because there simply isn't anything more beautiful than knowing the truth that the One you love more than anything, who was crucified, died and buried,  is not still dead, but has RISEN and does not sleep! 

I am so grateful to serve a God who makes all things new.

A fresh newborn on Easter morning is such an excellent reminder that God does indeed makes all things new and restores our souls, don't you think?  A sweet baby so fresh from the hands of God to remind us of the magnitude of the gift of life- it just doesn't get any better than that! So, with the permission of his amazing mama, I'm sharing little Baby E with you all this morning!

Come, and see what the Lord has made!

Isn't Baby E a beautiful bundle?! 

Blessed be the name of the Lord!  Praising God that our Savior is ALIVE today and hoping you all have a very blessed Easter!

*Be sure to scroll down and mute the music at the bottom of my blog before pressing play! *LOVE* this.  Love it. =)

He is Risen!

Hi, Friends! 

I haven't been good about posting because my desktop has officially been diagnosed with a nasty virus that quite possibly has eaten up a good number of my pictures, and I just haven't had the heart to get online and try to write a blog post on the laptop that is still missing the "u" ever since Newbie wrote his grandma a happy birthday note back in October.

But I'm here now because it's Easter weekend, and there's nothing I love more than celebrating the JOY that comes with Easter and it's life and new beginnings thanks to our sweet Jesus!  So I had to hop on and wish you all a blessed and very happy Easter! 

(Easter makes me want to put an exclamation mark behind everything because I am so excited to be celebrating the gift of eternal life Christ gave us when He rose again that glorious first Easter morning.

 ....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


!!!!!!!!!!)
Ok. Got that out of my system.

Speaking of life...my dear friend Miss L had a precious baby boy last night that I am just aching to visit this weekend. I'm going to see what I can do about squeezing in a visit between the sleepover with Aunt Corndog tonight and pulling out my china for breakfast tomorrow and church in the morning and the family lunch and Easter egg hunt tomorrow afternoon.  We've got a busy weekend packed with all kinds of plans to celebrate LIFE and what better time to snuggle a newborn than on Easter weekend?!

Hoping your weekend is packed with life-giving celebration and joy, Friends! ...and maybe some chocolate.  Or Starburst jelly beans because it seriously does not get better than Starburst jelly beans in the candy-that-isn't-chocolate department. =) 

Happy Easter!