OK this is going to be a large post about all of the Easter activities we did and pictures that we took. Here goes!
The week of Easter, we went to my friend Christy’s house so the kids could do a few Easter activities. Christy read them an Easter book, they colored an Easter picture, and then we made resurrection rolls. 
The girls even got to enjoy Coleman’s power wheels Hummer! They had a lot of fun zooming around the yard!
The below picture was right before Coleman gunned it and Bailey flew forward and ripped through her seatbelt! :) It was hilarious since no one was hurt!
Christy has this great Texas-shaped stepping stone which I love due to my true Texas roots! Yee-haw! I remembered taking a picture of Avery on the stone a couple years back so I had to take one of Bailey standing on Texas as well!
Here’s the one of Avery—I was hoping they were the same age, but Avery had just turned 2. Isn’t it crazy how much bigger Avery looks in this picture than Bailey—and they are only 9 months apart! Can Bailey really grow this much in 9 months?!
OK back to Easter…
The next thing we did was go to the Community Easter Egg hunt that is put on by one of the nearby churches (not sure which one). We have never been to this because we are usually out of town on Easter, so it was fun to go with the girls. A man went over the resurrection eggs with the kids and then they were let loose in different age categories to grab as many eggs as they could!
So that was Saturday, and that night after Bailey went to bed, Craig and I went over the resurrection eggs with Avery. In case you haven’t heard of those, it’s a set of 12 plastic eggs and each one has something inside with a corresponding bible verse. Such as, a silk leaf to represent Palm Sunday, or a nail to represent Jesus being nailed to the cross. You go through each egg from 1-12 and it tells the whole Easter story until you get to the end and the last egg is empty just like the tomb was! This is the first time that we fully explained to Avery everything that Jesus went through. From the beatings to the crown of thorns to the nails in his hands. She was pretty surprised by the details but didn’t seem upset or anything. I’m not sure that a 4 year old can empathize much with any of the details, so I’m sure (and hope) that with each year that passes, the story will impact her more. Please ignore these scary-looking pictures of me! :)
After that we dyed Easter eggs and this was our first time to do this! I guess in years past I either forgot about it or was afraid of the mess! I’m not sure which! Craig had to go somewhere so it was just Avery and me, and the only picture I got was of the end-result! It was pretty fun.
I was up really late that night making the girls stuffed bunnies. I had found this project a while back and kept forgetting to make them until, of course, the night before! I really wanted them in their Easter baskets, and to be “green” they were made from some of my old sweaters that I was going to get rid of! I will say that I flat out told Avery that their gifts were not from any Easter bunny. She asked me if the gifts were from the Easter bunny and I said, “No, they’re from me and Daddy to celebrate Jesus being resurrected! He’s alive!” She totally did not care about the Easter bunny and though I hope she doesn’t make some mother mad one day by ruining it for her kids, I do think that it is most important for her to focus on what really matters on this holiday, Jesus’ resurrection, which our faith stands on. So to celebrate, we gave them each a stuffed bunny, a book each, and a CD called Songs for Saplings. It’s a song for each letter of the alphabet and each one is a bible verse to music so it’s easier for kids to learn them! Also Avery got a set of dominoes, and Bailey got some new shirts.
And finally—thank goodness for a tripod!—our before-church pictures!
If you’re still here—thanks for hanging with me this long! Phew! Probably the longest post in history! Happy Easter 2010!
