Happy Easter!

Hope you all have had a wonderful day! We had the best day to top off a great week. Greg and I have been really going through the Easter story with the boys each night so that they would understand the real reason behind Easter...not just the bunny and egg thing. It really was so exciting and humbling to hear Landon tell the story to us last night...God is so good...and we are so blessed...everyday, but especially this day!! "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, He has risen!" Praise God!

So after a week of spring break with the boys, we capped off the week dyeing eggs on Friday, with intermittent trips to the basement due to tornado warnings. You should have seen the amount of hail that fell! There was so much that it actually looked like snow on the ground! They had a ball, though most eggs had a "spiderweb" design due to them dropping the eggs into the cups! :) Our family has a tradition called the "Egg smash" where everyone has an egg (also called fighter, steed, warrior, etc...ah, there is quite a bit of smack talk in my family...shocker, I know...) and we tap (read that "smash", crash or crush) small ends first with everyone determining a small end winner, and then the same with the fat end until we have two winners. Then those two compete for the title of Egg smash champion for the year. This has become such a serious competition, that my mother actually brought eggs for my dad and her to fight with...to be sure that they had worthy competitors (which ended up to be wise, but funny that they would come packin' just the same!). Unfortunately, with 5 kids under the 7 and under and 4 of them being boys, the smash quickly dissolved into mass chaos so therefore, we have no idea who was the "official" winner. I personally think that people were making illegal substitutions...next year I'll have to hide the extra eggs!!

So, yes, you read that correctly, this year we celebrated Easter at our home. When my mom and dad called my grandmother to wish her a happy Easter and told her they were coming to my house for dinner...there was a moment of silence and then she asked "who's cooking dinner?" When my mother told her I was, she laughed right out loud!! Thanks for the support! It was my turn, as I really wasn't much help with Thanksgiving or Christmas this year, though most of you know that I really hate cooking...mostly because I am horrible at it! However...Easter is the holiday to cook for if you have to...the ham comes completely cooked!! All you have to do is make the glaze and glaze it! Imagine my surprise and joy at this discovery!! Now before you all think I was a total slacker, I did prepare a turkey breast (which, may I add, wasn't half bad...though I did receive a little guidance from Scott on when I should take it out of the oven), and I made my mother in law's soon to be famous sweet potato souffle. And last I heard, everyone was doing fine! :)

It was a wonderful day. The boys woke up in time to check out their Easter baskets before church...and we even made it on time!! At our home (from my childhood, and I think, even my dad's childhood) the Easter bunny leaves roasted peanuts (in the shell) all over the house. When we were kids, Lisa, Chadd and I would tear through the house and then count to see who had found the most. See, I do come by this competitive nature honestly! Anywhoo, the boys aren't there yet, but they sure did have fun finding the peanuts...with a little help from Grandy! And, they enjoyed eating the goods too! Scott, Lisa and the kids got here around 1 and we were able to have a fun visit. Tanner took an aluminum bat to the mouth and put his eye tooth through his tongue and bottom lip...but no teeth were loose, and after a Popsicle and some good sugar, he shook it off...but has one heck of a fat lip. He is such a tough guy, I was so proud of him! Mathis was an angel and napped at all the right times so we were able to visit and eat, and then sat in his bouncy seat and talked for everyone. Poor thing didn't make it into a family shot, but we'll stage one later on! Landon just reveled in the presence of his cousins...he sure does love and look up to them...it is so sweet to see...and they are so good to him and all the young ones! It truly was a fun day!

Hope all of you had a wonderful day and made some great memories!! God bless you!