Happy Easter

Things here in St. Louis are blooming like crazy and we have the pollen levels to prove it! We have a great climbing tree in our back yard and the kids have just figured out there is a branch off to the side that can support their weight and they like to swing on it and jump off. This tree is beautiful when it blooms and it was just at it's peak on Easter Sunday.

Sam and his cheesy Easter grin!

Sam really enjoys the climb

Looking down at the jump!

Here is Emma enjoying her swing

And of course Claire would rather sit and look like the responsible young lady she is becoming.
Here is the entire gang just before church. I did make Claire wear a sweater. It was warm, but not yet spaghetti strap warm!

Silly pictures! I love that Emma gave herself bunny ears!

After church we headed to Farmington for time with my family. I ate way too much. We hard boiled eggs this year and dyed them the night before Easter. The kids had fun with this. Emma loves hard-boiled eggs. She ate about 3 a day until they were gone!

We hope you had a joyous Easter celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and him overcoming death and sin forever. I love, love, love Easter service. I can't sing at all. But I love to sing the Hallelujah chorus as loud as I can. HALLELUJAH CHRIST IS RISEN!

Happy Easter!

We hope you all had a great Easter celebration today. We had a great day. The day began with an early wake up (Emma)! Scott went to usher at the early service and the rest of us got to sleep in. When all the kids woke up around 7:30 we all went downstairs where they each found a little Easter gift. Claire got new cleats, Sam a new fishing pole and Emma got The Tale of Desperaux movie. They were all excited with these gifts and began looking outside for eggs! The girls are over the "Easter Bunny", but Sam is not sure. He didn't really talk about it much. I might have mentioned that this might be our last year for this...we'll see! I told them we could not hunt eggs until after daddy got home. So we all got dressed for church and had breakfast. Daddy came home and we had about 15 minutes to hunt eggs and get a few pictures before heading out to church!

Sam was so excited about his find!

Claire counting her eggs!

There were even some in the playhouse!

Easter service today was such a highlight! We got there early and got a good seat so we were comfortable and not rushed. We were in the 4th row so the kids could see the brass ensemble and choir really well. Emma sang her heart out and Claire took notes in her bulletin. I loved how they really worshipped today. I also sung my heart out. I can't sing. I am horrible. But on Easter Sunday at our church it is so loud I don't think anyone can tell that I can't really sing and I think God still thinks it is beautiful, so I just go for it:) HALLELUJAH! Christ The Lord Is Risen Today!

After church we headed to Edwardsville for dinner and fun with some of my extended family. They had another egg hunt for the kids and we had a nice lunch/dinner. We had a nice afternoon and hope you did too!

Down on the farm

Friday was going to be our camping day, but the weatherman kept calling for rain and a high of 56 degrees, with more rain overnight and a low of 38-yikes! So, we cancelled and Scott went to work instead. This left me with a full day and no plans. We made a few calls and planned a trip with Claire's good friend Chandler to head out to Purina Farms for their Easter village. I have never been there. Scott's parents took Claire when she was a little peanut. It was a long drive and I took the risk that maybe my big kids were too big now for this little outing, but it was a risk I was willing to take. So we piled up and headed out west to the farm!

Here is Claire and Chandler on the wagon ride.
Here is Emma, the animal whisperer with her lamb friend. He did seem to really like her :) This was in the Easter village portion where they had a lot of baby animal to see and pet. There were also bunnies, chicks, pigs, cats and dogs.

They all got to have a few turns on the rope swing that flings you over a large pile of hay.

Here is Sam with a big grin on his face after just coming through some of the many climbing tunnels.

And to top it all off the Easter Bunny was even there! It was a fun day. They probably won't need to go again as they were probably too old for a lot of it, but it was still fun. They especially enjoyed the dog show where Claire was chosen to be a volunteer for the doggy basketball game. The dogs had lots of impressive skills like basketball and frisbee. We tried frisbee with Blitzen when we got home, but no luck!

Afterwards we went to McDonald's for a free kiddie cone. It is just the right amount. Everyone was happy for the car ride home.