Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year. I decided to make the girls Easter dresses and I started early enough that I thought I wouldn't have to be stressed at the last minute. But of course I was up late putting the last zipper in the dress on Saturday night. I think they turned out pretty cute as long as you don't look very close. I had never tried Addie's on her because she was always sleeping when I was sewing so when I put it on her Easter morning it was to the floor. The bottom two inches of her dress were wet and grassed covered when we got into the church building because she walked through the wet grass. Oh well.

We had a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday afternoon that was a lot of fun. The girls did a great job finding eggs. Addie would find an egg and have to open it and eat the candy before she would move on to the next egg. Needless to say she ate a lot of candy really fast. We also did a little egg hunt around our house, but the eggs were filled with items that represented the last few days of the Saviors life. Addie was pretty upset that those eggs didn't have candy and she tried to eat a little piece of soap that was in one. The girls also died eggs and we of course ate deviled eggs for dinner with pork chops and potatoes and the girls begged me to make rolls so I decided to break my tradition of easy Sunday dinners, but only because it was Easter.

The Easter Bunny did find the girls on Sunday morning. They each got jelly shoes that they are wearing with their new dresses, a littlest pet shop, a chocolate bunny, and way too much candy. I am going to have to talk to the Easter Bunny next year about the candy, because I am the one who ate it all.

I love Easter so much because I think it is a great time to reflect and think about all the Savior did for us. I found a wonderful article as I was preparing for my lesson by Elder Wirthlin titled Sunday Will Come. He spoke of how the Friday before the resurrection when the Savior was crucified was probably the darkest Friday in history, but then Sunday came and everything was better. The hurt and the pain and the sorrow that everyone felt was gone as soon as they recognized that the Savior had come to life again. In his talk Elder Wirthlin promises that even on our darkest Friday's we can have faith and hope that our Sunday will come because of the sacrifices our Savior made for us. I thought it was such a wonderful way to look at Easter. Easter is a celebration of faith and hope.

Adeline's growing up

Adeline is growing up too fast. She is not a little baby anymore. She is climbing all over everything and her vocabulary grows everyday. I am amazed at how well she communicates with me. With the other girls there was that long period of time when they were trying to tell me what they wanted but couldn't say the words so they would just scream. Addie still does that on occasion, but for the most part she can tell me what she wants with gestures or words. Maybe she is just easier to please than the other girls, but the guessing game is so much easier this go round.

Mom's big helper

The other day Eliza, yes I said Eliza, decided to help mom out and made my bed. She won't make her own bed without a huge fuss, but I thought it was pretty sweet of her to want to help mom.

Jaynie's South Korean Fan Dance

Jaynie's Brownie troop spent some time studying about girl scouts in South Korea and even earned a badge that they earn. As part of the big event they made paper fans and did a little fan dancing. It was pretty cute. Notice they are all in green, yes it was on St. Patrick's day. Jaynie is in the front in the blue and green striped shirt.

The rest of us wore green too, I just forgot to take a picture.

Lillie's St. Patrick's Day Parade

Lillie loved St. Patrick's Day at school. They make a really big deal of it. A leprechaun comes and trashes their room and leaves behind a big pot of gold (Rollo's). Notice her cute pose. I think she adds extra drama around the boys :).

The Power of Prayer and the Faith of a Child

Yesterday the girls and I had a wonderful prayer experience. It is spring break right now for the girls and all it has done the whole time is rain so we have been stuck inside, but the one thing we had planned was to go swimming at a local indoor pool yesterday morning. We had a set time that we had to be there and we were doing great on time (which is very unusual for me) but as we were walking out the door I couldn't find the car keys. According to the girls Addie had had them earlier so who knows where they could be. We all got frantic. The girls were racing around looking, I was bawling because the girls had been so excited all morning and I just knew we were going to miss it. After about 10 minutes of searching everywhere I was able to calm myself down and I asked the girls if they thought we should say a prayer to Heavenly Father and ask Him to help us find them. So Jaynie said a prayer and we started looking again. I went back into my bedroom and got down on the floor to go through some piles of laundry and I looked over and saw the keys hidden underneath my rocking chair. We ran out to the car and once everyone was buckled in and we were ready to go I asked Lillie to say a prayer of Thanks. It was actually a really cute prayer that had a little bit of her Methodist Preschool flare. She said Dear Heavenly Father, (pause) Thank you Jesus for helping us find the car keys.

I know this seems like such a simple thing, but for my children and me yesterday it was huge testimony builder. I know and my children know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. We know that He is there for us when we need Him. I am so grateful for experiences like this that remind us of His presence in our lives and remind us that we do need to rely on Him in all things. The best part about this experience was the wonderful conversation we were able to have all the way to the pool. I hope this is a moment in time that my children never forget.