Sunday, March 30, 2008

Easter Pictures!

Forewarning: There are lots of pictures here...but that's what you are looking for, right? :)
We went to Grandma & Grandpa Meadows' house in Iowa City for Easter - we were able to make a long weekend of it and were there from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of fun...the kids thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with the four cousins that are in their age group (ages 9 to 12) and the rest of my big family too - older cousins, aunts & uncles and of course their abuelos!


The night before Easter day the cousins (and aunts) had fun dying Easter Eggs!


Here are all the cousins (plus a couple aunts) having fun dying eggs. We had quite a few creative designs come out of this artistic group!


Holly's older sister, Tia Jenni with her oldest daughter Heather (age 12). Heather comments on our blog from time to time and even keeps a blog of her own!


Tia Michelle helps Angie dye eggs so that Mami can snap pictures and record videos! Angie loved dying eggs!


Laura loved it too - she is one creative little girl!


Good thing you can't really read the "creativity" that John put into this egg! Turns out he wrote 'pupus' (poo poos) on this egg with white crayon before dying it. He thought that was absolutely hilarious. Can you tell he's a 10 year old boy?!?



After dying eggs we did Resurrection Rolls (an idea given to me by my co-worker...thanks Amanda!). It basically tells the resurrection story through it's ingredients and culminates in the rolls coming out of the oven (tomb) empty (when it had been filled when it went in). Leave a comment if you'd like me to post this recipe...it turned out pretty cool and had a tasty treat at the end too!

Here's the kids with their completed 'Resurrection Rolls'


Easter morning began with an Easter Basket hunt. Laura found hers in the laundry room!


Juancho found his in the sun room (can you tell the sun was already shining in?!)


The morning also had a fun Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard. All these festivities were very new to the kids...and they loved them! Though we indulged in many of the 'secular' Easter traditions, we definitely focused on hitting home the message of what Easter is all about. At an experiential Good Friday service it was cool to have the opportunity to discuss in depth with our kids the story of Easter and have them experience it a bit for themselves.


The eggs could have been empty and Angie still would have been thrilled with the Easter Egg Hunt adventure!



Before you guys think that our kids are always smiling, cute and never misbehave, I have to post our fabulous Easter Family Photo! As you can see, our two oldest are not at all happy in this photo. I like Laura's look of dissatisfaction the best. Now it is funny, at the time I was not so happy. Long story short, while we were determining where to take the photo in the foyer of the church, the kiddos spotted a tray of donuts and wanted to take one immediately, fearing they'd all be snatched up before they got there. Having all the family in the same spot and ready to go, I wanted to get the photo taken first. They obviously were less than thrilled with that idea! :) We tried photos again at home post-donuts and got a much better result...see below


Angie calls herself a 'princesa' while wearing this dress and we can see why! She was quite thrilled with being dressed up and was very reluctant to wear the cute white sweater Mami paired with this sleeveless dress...she wanted nothing to cover up her princesa outfit!


Have I said before how much I love Laura's smile and laugh? It is so contagious too! She's is quite a happy girl.


Juancho really thought he was styling with his new tie. He wanted to wear this exact outfit to church again today. And spike his hair again too. He definitely enjoys "lookin' good"! And he carries it off so well...

The trio - what a good lookin' bunch!



You know that song, "We are family...I got all my sistahs and me?" Well, it always makes me think of my family...and here I am with 2 of my 3 sisters. Jenni (3 years older than me) is in the blue...she has 3 kiddos too - Heather (12), Sarah (11), and Max (9). Michelle in black in the middle is 5.5 years younger than me and she and her hubby Chris live in Chicago-land with their 2 kitties Kenny and Susie. Not pictured is my sister Debbie whose oldest daughter Ashley (age 19) just moved to MN! She also has two sons - Ryan (age 18) and Joel (age 12). Not included in "The Sistahs" but equally as important is my little bro Jon (age 23) who just recently graduated from college and is immensely talented in singing, acting and dance! He just recently auditioned for some Disney production groups...I'll let ya'll know if he gets a role!

I LOVE MY FAMILY!

5 comments:

Laura S said...

Your kids are GORGEOUS!! They look so great in their easter outfits. LOVE LOVE LOVE the photo at church! That is hilarious.

janine said...

I agree with Laura, that church picture is *too* funny! (hey, I've seen *those* looks on my kids' faces, too! . . . the boys are quite good at sticking out their bottom lips and Shirley squints her eyes and puckers her lips). And I love the one of the three kids at home (post-church!). They are all so adorable and I'm sure they are such a blessing!

Wendi and Benjamin Wood said...

they are a good lookin' bunch! love the pics!

Sherri said...

Love the pictures! That red hair :) I heard it is going extinct. But if it can pop up in Colombia I think it'll stick around! You are welcome to post our blog link!

Jes said...

I am so impressed with your updated blogging! Love it, love it, love it!