What a Weekend!

It started on Friday with a day full of friends and play dates, and then I bolted off to see a movie that night by myself - Water for Elephants...though it ended up just being ok for me.

First thing Saturday morning, Noah and Anna had a birthday party to go to for one of Noah's friends.  This was an exciting outing for them as neither of them have ever been to Chuck-E-Cheese before.  What a thrill!  There was a moment of terror for Noah when Chuck the mouse came out after the pizza, but Noah was overcome with adrenaline and some encouragement and crawled out a new boy.  He got right down to business with "the giant puppet" and gave high fives, hugs, waves, greetings, and even a dance before the day was over.  If you didn't know better, you'd have thought HE was the birthday boy based on the group shots. :)  Too funny.

It was another glorious day yesterday as well with the wind and the sun and Daddy home, to boot.  So we took off to a nearby church yard to fly the kite again and show Josh our stuff.  We also got our 4 wheeler back this weekend, but somehow I didn't manage to get any pictures of Josh and the kids putting around the back yard.  The sound of the motor sure was welcome though.  The last we used that ride was in AL when Noah was so much younger.  It was a daily practice that he and Josh loved.

After dinner last night, we got our stuff together and made our first ever "Easter Story Cookies" to talk about the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  The kids pounded pecans like Jesus' body got beaten, smelled vinegar like He was given to drink on the cross, tasted salt like the tears of the people weeping at Jesus' death, added in egg to symbolize the life Jesus gave so we could have life, and enjoyed the sugar that stands for the sweet news of his love.  The mounds of batter stood for the tomb, and Noah enjoyed taping the oven shut like the guards who guarded the door.  The best part came in the morning when we discovered our cookies were hollow, empty like Jesus' tomb.

A nearby church hosted an Egg Drop last night so we hurried out the door to be a part of the mob scene that ensued.  There were not near enough eggs for all the kids and families that showed up, but Anna was pleased with her one and Noah found enough to go around and share with a number of different kids.  That boy is such a sweetie.  Mostly, we just enjoyed taking in the view of the aircraft dropping eggs and getting to enjoy that with a bunch of friends who were there as well.

After the kids were bathed and in bed, I got to work pulling together all the stuff for their basket.  With the beach, kindergarten registration, family visits, and traveling on this coming week's agenda, it felt good to finally knock out another big to-do item on the list - the Easter basket stuff.

We started a sort of tradition awhile back of leaving an Easter egg trail for the kids to gather on the way to finding their treats in the morning.  The sweets and surprises were received well - the kids have been busy enjoying them all day.  Today was my morning to sleep in, but Josh did a good job capturing the basket's undoing in pictures and videos for me.  By the time I came downstairs, Noah held up one of the empty Easter eggs and said, "Mommy!  Da eggs are empty just wike da tomb was empty!"  

With the wild weather we've had today (and our running record of skipping out on Easter morning church) we kept that tradition alive and enjoyed a quiet, calm, family Easter at home.  A lunch of ham, brown rice casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, and tomatoes and we were ready for water gun play and naps, but not before we watched the storms roll in again complete with hail and tornado scares. 

 Which brings us to now.  I think I'll join the kids and go have a holiday nap of my own.  We have a busy, busy couple of weeks breathing down our necks. I'm gonna need my rest and an extra dose of sanity to not ruin it. :)

Happy Easter, friends!