Easter 2013

I love Easter.  It signifies the beginning of Spring and new life and warmer weather.  It also comes with colorful eggs, chocolate in its myriad of forms, and the opportunity to bring my family closer to God and to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as a savior.  We taught Anna about the resurrection using crescent rolls, marshmallows, butter, and cinnamon sugar.  You "annoint" the marshmallow with butter and sugar and then place it in the crescent roll "tomb."  After it bakes and you open your crescent roll up, the marshmallow is gone.  The lesson must have stuck because later when we asked Anna about what it meant to be resurrected, and she kept bringing up marshmallows.  We would find her flipping through a small Book of Mormon, acting as if she was reading it.  When Richard asked her to tell him about it, this is what she said:

"Jesus was obedient.  Jesus was gone.  Thats why he died.  And then we wrapped up marshmallows.  To God Jesus was prepared.  And then he was gone.  And thats why he died.  Thats why his body came off.  His body was wrapped up.  And then he came back to life.  And then we wrapped up little marshmallows.  Let me check in my Book of Mormon..." (at which point she would studiously flip through her Book of Mormon as if looking for the answers.)

The week prior to Easter we did an Easter Egg Hunt with some of our close friends and their kids.  Easter would not be Easter without a million jelly beans.  I have decided my favorite jelly beans are the Nerds bumpy jelly beans. They are amazing and beat the pants off all the other jelly beans.

Even though it was cold outside for this hunt, Richard still wore shorts and sandals even as we bundled up our kids.  Anna approaches things like Easter Egg Hunts with the same gusto and enthusiasm as I approach marathons.  I think I even saw her carbo loading the night before.  I am pretty sure she has a cliff bar in her pocket just in case her energy begins to flag mid hunt!

The kids prior to the hunt and before sugar crash.
I don't think I have ever seen Anna so content as when she has just raked in a huge pile of candy

 

 Benjamin is not a full citizen when it comes to candy equitability and shares of Easter Egg Hunt stock.  Someday though....

   

Another egg hunt another day.  After this candy hunt, Anna came close to sharing with Benjamin.  She let him look at her candy egg haul and sit on the same blanket with it.

 I do not take enough pictures of my little boy.  I love him so dearly and he is so handsome to me, but I rarely take out my camera to capture him growing and doing.  Easter dawned so beautiful and warm that I felt inspired to do a little portraiture in our back yard.  Benjamin was very obliging, and so cute!  He is just about 9 months in these pictures.

 and this is the best of my little boy-- so quick to smile, to laugh, to be pleased, and to love!

 I think Benjamin's grandmother has a serious crush on him.  They were practically inseparable the whole weekend.

 And of course I couldn't forget a picture or two of my princess, though as to allowing you to take her picture, she is slightly less obliging.  She is probably telling me not to take her picture in this picture :)

Happy Easter.  It was a wonderful one for us.