Aunt Mary, Aunt Tina and Mom.
This was our fancy Easter table. We had hot dogs, cajun potato salad, fruit, chips and dip, and cake.
Melissa, Mom and Annabeth.
Jackson has been in this shirt in almost every picture I’ve taken this spring, but I can’t help it. He’s so handsome in it.
Aunt Mary and Mom.
Aunt Tina was so sweet and mindful of my little kids. She brought this swing to hang from the tree and tiny lawn chairs for them to use.
Hot dogs in the lap. Typical.
The guys had fun with some cascarones (confetti-filled eggs).
The brothers, Ben and Joe, look like they have rumbled a few times before.
My brother-in-law, Colin.
Ben cracked an egg on my dad and he got some projectile German chocolate cake in return.
This is Dad giving directions to the young men on how to sweep the field for snakes in preparation for the kids’ egg hunt. I’m sure my aunts were pleased.
It begins! And no snakes.
Annabeth found Lip Smackers from Aunt Melissa in her first egg and she pretty much forgot about everything else.
Texas girls need their lip gloss even when stomping through fields of grass and dried up leaves.
Annabeth having a fit in the dirt.
Post-fit rebound.
AB with Cousin Hannah.
Jackson got a lot more eggs than his sister.
She wasn’t bothered.
This is how we say cheese.
The progression of a toddler with lip gloss. One.
Two.
Three.
My dad squealing like a piggy.
The big kids got to do an egg hunt too. The stakes were a bit higher, although they didn’t know it.
Running into the arms of…
Bibby!
The search is on!
My Easter chickies.
Pops on the Gator.
Colin, Dad and Melissa.
Some were not so enthused about the Mickey Mouse bags used in the egg hunt.
John and Hannah finding dollar bills in their eggs.
This is Cousin Joe stuffing his money in his pocket while being very quiet about being the Egg Hunt Winner.
Those dollars saw the light of day for .5 seconds before they were hidden deep in pockets.
We had decided to go to the evening Easter service at our church, so we spent a lazy morning at home. Curtis read the Scriptures to us and we turned on some great worship music.
It just wouldn’t be natural if my kids weren’t in Christmas pajamas. They were waiting to get their baskets.
They were so tickled to get a surprise.
My mom used to give us these panoramic eggs when we were little. I saw some mini ones at HEB and had to grab a couple.
Later that morning Annabeth came down with a 102 degree fever. She didn’t have any other symptoms except for not wanting to eat and wanting to sit in our laps. I gave her Tylenol and every time it started to wear off, her fever shot back up. She was much better the next day.
I’m thankful that God seemed to have prepared me to miss church on Easter Sunday. Any other year I might have been devastated. I ended up taking Jackson to lunch at my parents’ house and then Curtis took him to church that evening. Annabeth and I sat on the couch together and watched some of the web cast. Also? Singing along with the web cast made me realize what a truly joyful noise I make. Bless my heart!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend worshipping the Risen Savior and loving on your families.
So enjoy seeing ‘slices of life’ you are having with young children. It is an encouragement to other Christian mom’s out there. You are missed when you are not on here.
Thanks. What a wonderful day.
Love the pictures!
Thank you for sharing your easter memories.
Easter for us was good and sad this year. Although we all know that easter isn’t about a easter basket, my girls and I were pretty sad when I noticed that I had totally forgotten to buy anything 🙁
Our pastor gave a wonderful message and I had a larger group of High school girls to teach Sunday school to. That was good.
After church we, along with many other families, were invited to some dear friends, where we shared our favorite meals, watched the children do their easter egg hunt and just enjoyed fellowshipping with one another.
Thanks again for the blessing,
Christina
You are so very blessed to have a family who loves to have fun together. Never, never take it for granted.
Thank you for sharing your pictires they are always so good and fun to look at.
So precious, the extent of your lives you share with us. I truly feel like I really “know” y’all. I didn’t want the “visit” to end.
My mom used to buy my sister and I those panoramic eggs, but I had completely forgotten about them. Thanks for the treasured memories they recalled.
Blessings to you,
Joy
thanks for sharing amanda…what fun! i love it when you all share your lives with us…i get so blessed.
Gloriously wonderful post! Thank you
What motivates me is to be in the company of people who have the trait I desire. To be around healthy eaters motivates me to eat healthy food. To be around godly people makes me want to be more devout. To be with friendly or happy people encourages those traits in me. I try to surround myself with such people to motivate me to be a better person.
Thank you Beth and Amanda for this blog. I have loved your study lessons for years and felt close to you through those, but this blog and the sharing you and Amanda do with us really make me feel like a friend and gives me a support system with other Christian women. I travel a lot with my husband and enjoy the connection. Thanks for sharing the pictures and commentary of your family day.
So glad you are not afraid to say you nixed the Easter Bunny – I seem to offend everyone around the holidays because we don’t do the easter bunny or santa. Looks like ya had a great time!
Thank you for sharing! Could you hear all the “awww”‘s and laughter as I read this? 🙂
What WONDERFUL memories you are providing for Jackson and AB! Since none of us know how long we’ll be on this earth, it’s good to LIVE every day, make memories with those we love, and TELL our loved ones how much we love them!
My mom (THE best Mom and Grandma!) suddenly passed away when my now 22 and 25 year olds were 1 and 4, but they still have memories of her sitting on the floor playing games with them, reading to them, and singing with them.
You are truly blessed to have such a close family, and I appreciate you sharing! God bless!
Oh my! So many wonderful photos! My favorite is the one of Jackson and AB in their Christmas PJ’s waiting for their Easter baskets…adorable!
We had a wonderful Easter afternoon at my in-laws. My Father-in-law hid eggs for our kids (14 and 12), and since they are older, he made it a point to really hide them well. Too well, in fact, because they didn’t find a couple of them, including the grand-prize-big-money golden egg, which had a $5 bill inside.
Pray for us here in the Southeast today – we are already under tornado warnings here in Chattanooga….
Love and hugs,
Adrienne
Your pictures and sharing are a wonderful blessing! Can you imagine so many women who haven’t even met you looking at every picture with smiles on our faces? Isn’t being a part of the Body of Christ great?
I love how your kids call your mom “Bibby”. My kids called my mother-in-law “Bunky” and it stuck too. I’m glad your daughter is feeling better.
Loved the post!
My little girl LOVES her lip gloss too… so I totally relate to that…. and am perfectly fine admitting that she gets that from me! Just the other day I went fishing in 5″ wedge heels. I almost fell in the river, but my shoes were sure cute. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Heather in Lewiston
Where did Miss Beth get that dress? So cute with the leggings!
And what is it with Easter and fevers? At least one of my children has been sick in some way every Easter!
I love these pics! Thanks for sharing! I look forward to my grandbabies running to me too! The closest I have for now is my daughter’s 4-lb. yorkie poo – she’s my grandpup!
Have a great day!
Thanks for sharing! The day was a rare sunny one on the Dakota praires. The crocuses were blooming but noone I know had a picnic here. It was 65 degrees and the mud was drying up. My defining moment was when I was wrecking the angelfood cake trying to get it outta the pan and my learning disabled son sat down at his player piano with the pump pedals and played the Halleluiah chorus from Handels Messiah! Put the whole day into proper perspective. I am not blessed with grand children but enjoyed making Easter baskets for my Sunday school class.
Oh my goodness Amanda!! When did Annabeth get so grown?!! Love her hair! Long, flowing and topped off with a big bow. Truly Southern. 🙂
Thank you for including us as part of your family!
We enjoyed a wonderful weekend of praisng and serving (42 two & three year olds on easter morning!)and fellowship.
Before dinner we read an excerpt from Beth’s prayer: “Our faithful Abba Father, cause the looming shadow of the Cross to fall fresh on us again….” (I just typed it out in a larger font this morning to pack away for future Easters.
Our Easter was also perhaps one of seveal “lasts”–due to my mom’s progressing Alzheimer’s, loved ones’ tetering marriage…but our God is faithful and we trust Him-for the ‘whole’ of our future.
God bless!
Great pictures Amanda! Thanks for showing us a peek in your sweet life! Those kiddos of yours are absolutley adorable. I LOVE Jackson’s snaggle-toothed grin. And his eyes are BEATIFUL! AB is all girl. I love the pic of her and auntie stopping business to get those lips shiny. That’s a girl with some priorities. These, sister, are the best days of your life!
LOVE the pics!!! Thanks for sharing!! We had an awesome weekend too!!
Oh what joy it brings me to see pics of those sweet little faces! I always love your family photos…a great little intimate way to share in life with you! By the way- when did your kiddos get so big!?!?!?! Oh my it goes so FAST!
In Him,
Andrea S.
Amanda, we have missed you! And thank you for those fun pics!
I went to a Passover Dinner Friday (my first) night at church and then just relaxed after services Sunday morning.
Actually I wathced it rain all weekedn, 11 3/4 inches since last Thursday and they say a possibility of 5.38″ more before 10:00 pm tonight. We are getting a blinding down pour right now, this will be inches if it keeps up! Noah, where are you? Actually the Easter Bunny did make it to my office but thought he might need Noah’s help.
Hey Miss Kathy… Hope you made it through the horrible storms safe. Been praying for you… These pics are so cute Amanda.The panoramic egg brought back child hood memories for me… My mom used to make them for our Easter baskets…So(snif snif) next yr…my nieces and great gran nephew will have one each…
Love in Christ
Andrea
Thanks for sharing. It sounds like you all had a great week.
I spent my Easter day with my BFF who is losing her battle with breast cancer. She has gone into remission twice, but this time it is everywhere in her body, after her last PET scan. Her faith amazes me and inspires me, she has cancer and I have Multiple Sclerosis(MS) and we talked about seeing each other again in heaven and meeting Jesus. We went to her church in Albuquerque, NM and enjoyed the service immensely. As you can see in my Gravatar picture I had pink hair extentions in my hair to honor her fight and to honor her and pink is her favorite color, she loved them. We talked about our own healing, her’s from cancer and mine from MS. We decided that we will both be healed when we reach heaven, we will be made new. We also decided that we both have been healed from depression, anger, fear, worry by the power of our Savior Jesus Christ. She will meet Jesus sooner than me, I won’t die from MS, but I will die with the chronic illness. That is okay, I know where we are both going and I know that without our faith in our Savior our lives would be much harder, we are filled with such joy and anticipation for the day we see each other again. Sharing the Resurrection Day with my BFF was something I will never forget and I will treasure it forever. The other amazing thing about my visit, my birthday just happened to fall on Easter Sunday. As my Mom says, “It was a kiss from the King.” My kids and husband were so supportive about me missing my b-day with them, to spend it with Dawn. My prayer for my friend is that she has a peaceful journey to heaven, where there will be know more pain, no more sadness. “Come Jesus come, come quickly, come quickly.” I love you Dawn. 🙂
Andrea, your story was so moving, I just had to say thanks for sharing. You’ll be in my thoughts and prayers.
Patti
Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers, they mean a lot to me and my friend Dawn. God Bless You,
Andrea
That was beautiful! Praying for you both!
Thank you for the prayers, they are always welcomed.
God Bless,
Andrea
Andrea, Thank you for sharing. I will be praying for the both of you. What an awesome testimony about the both of you and your faith.
You’re welcome, it helped me to write it all down, the visit meant so much to both of us. I have to admit, our faith gets us through everyday, because our hope is in the Lord. Thank you for your prayers.
God Bless,
Andrea
i love your easter photos. my daughter (Sarah – who is 3) got some lip smackers and LOVED them too! She didn’t stick it in her mouth, but applied it over and over and over and over again on her lips. She smelled like Mango lip smackers all do! She loves all things to do with beauty…I’m curious to see if her sister (Amilia – 2 months) will be the same or if i have a completely different girl. anyways, thank you again for sharing your photos. Your kids are too cute! Looks like a fun easter celebration!
she smelled like lip smackers all DAY…good grief, I need to proof read better 🙂
I love this post! So fun. I especially love that you got your kids panorama eggs!!! I remember when I was young they were BIG; I even took a class on how to make one, but then they just disappeared it seems like! I don’t think I’ve hardly seen one. I wish I had a HEB (whatever that might be) around me to get one for my 2 chicks..
Love ya
Oh Amanda,
It is so nice to hear from you. You are so blessed to have a wonderful family. Is there any disfunction like a normal family????:) I miss the days when the kids were young. Oh my heart breaks. Thanks for sharing.
I love family time! Glad to see you all had fun together…but having to watch out for snakes may be the greatest deterrent for an Easter egg hunt. 🙂
Oh, how I hate snakes….ran over a few babies in my back yard last year while I was mowing..all it did was remind me there was mama hiding out somewhere in my yard! ugh!
Loved the pictures and details of your family Easter. Thanks for sharing a bit of your life with us.
How do you make cascarones? They look like something my boys would have loved throwing at each other.
Hi Diana,
Cascarones (‘c’ has the ‘k’ sound) means shells in Spanish. I don’t know if this tradition applies only to Hispanics or if other cultures do it as well, but my family has always had cascarones for Easter. It’s a blast and so much more fun when you crack them on an unexpected person. It use to be that you had to make your own but now you can buy them at Walmart or Walgreens. I even saw someone selling them on the street corner…that was funny. Growing up we use to joke that we should make them and sell them but we never did. Now, Walmart is doing it. Okay, to make them you basically have to make two holes in your raw egg on opposite ends. Using jumbo eggs makes this easier. Usually one small hole and one a little larger to get the egg out on that side. You can blow into the small hole to facilitate the egg coming out the bigger whole. You have to make sure to rinse the egg out very thoroughly or else, well, you know what eggs smell like if you don’t . If you are going to dye them you want to do it before you fill them with confetti the regular way you would dye an egg. You can make your own confetti or buy it. Using a whole puncher or paper shredder works great to make confetti. You can go with paper confetti or glitter confetti. Just remember the goal is to break it on someones head, so they might have a bit of a hard time getting it out. :o) OH THE JOY!!! You need to seal the ends and you can do that with some stick glue or regular glue and some color tissue paper. Some people get lazy and just put a piece of tape over the whole. Whalla!! Your very own cascarones! Have fun! :o)
Thank you for sharing your family’s Easter celebration with us. Your children are darling, and cousin Hannah is beautiful… A family where all the girls are pretty, and the guys aren’t bad either:) May God continue to shower His blessings on you all.
amanda, thanks so much for sharing these with us! makes me think back to my own family “get togethers”.
it looks like a wonderful time was had by all and oh, what awesome memories you are giving to your children.
hope you are having great week and annabeth is feeling better,
Julie, Thanks for your prayers!! Things seem to be looking up with my son this week!! His name is Anthony! So please keep the prayers coming!! What is your son’s name? I am always so amazed how fast God answers our prayers!!! I will continue to pray for your son too!!
Thanks so much for sharing the photos…When did Jackson lose his tooth? I am just lovin that gap tooth grin. Those are some precious babies you have and it was so fun to get to see your extended family as well. Looks like it was an awesome day just bondin’ and bein’ family. Miss having you on the blog but grateful for an opportunity to hear from and about your life. I know you are right where God wants you right now and you won’t have any regrets spending time being Mom…it is a calling with infinite,(and eternal) rewards!
Leslie in Utah
Thanks for sharing! You’re such a better picture-taking mother than myself! Ha! I think there was an Easter fever going around because you’re the 3rd person I’ve heard whose kid ran a fever that day…not including myself. Glad it passed & that you enjoyed the day with family! 🙂
Where has the time gone? I can’t believe how big the kids are! I love the pictures, thank you for sharing.
Amanda and Jackson are beautiful! Your dad’s pig…that has me squealing. The picture with you, your mom and Amanda is so sweet. So glad you had a wonderful Easter.
The video of Houston Baptist Church made its rounds on facebook. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for sharing your blessed event with us. Your kids are so precious, brought tears to my eyes remembering when my 3 were that little. I love seeing families having fun together.
Thank you for sharing your Easter photos – very precious memories were made! My family and I had a wonderful Easter; mainly, because we were all together and my husband and I worked in the nursery & preschool during the Easter musical (had our 3 grandchildren with us, too!) Lunch was at our home – the Lord has blessed us, indeed!
Amanda your children are adorable! I do feel honored to know a little more about you all a little at a time.It does make me feel like I know you personally. I just want to squeeze that little AB. Jackson is precious too!
Amanda-
Thanks for the pics. It was good to hear from you.
I must say your kids are getting big.
I can honestly say I have never, and I do mean never
had to sweep for snakes at a Easter egg hunt.
Oh. My. Word.
Amanda, how much fun! Thank you for sharing your special weekend. God Bless each of you.
Amanda. HI! Thank you for sharing! YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!-DENISE
Great pictures! I’ve never heard the word wonky before. I love it! How nice that you were able to watch Easter service at home while you were taking care of your sweet little girl.
It is so generous of you and yours to share your lives with us as you do. I would imagine that there could be times it feels downright weird to have so many people you don’t actually know, know so much about you. Privacy has probably been hard to come by for your family and so you could easily be forgiven just wanting to keep things like your Easter photos for yourselves. And yet it gave me so much joy to see them, to remember when you told us you were pregnant with AB, and when Melissa got married and even some stories of restoration that your mom has alluded to. At times when my own life has been a challenge it is joy to see what God has done in yours.
Bless you!
Thanks for sharing Amanda! I enjoyed all the photos. I love the one of your two little ones together. Looks like a good one to frame! I hope your little girl is feeling better.
One thing we have never had to worry about durning our egg hunts is snakes in the grass. We just had some morning drizzle to make our eggs soggy here in Calif.
God bless you! : D
Amanda the pictures were great!! And I loved the ones with her lip gloss!!!! Jackson is getting so big and yes he has the prettiest eyes ever!!! I had a great easter myself love spending time with my family!!! 🙂
Amanda! So great to hear from you! I can’t believe how long Annabeth’s hair has gotten, and Jackson has lost a tooth! How precious! They have both gotten so big… I love that you shared with us. It looks like you had a GREAT day. You are missed!