Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter week, capped off by a gorgeous Easter weekend.  All week I tried to keep the focus on Christ and what Easter really means.  We read scriptures and had a Family Home Evening lesson on it.  However, I also really love the fun non-religious traditions that surround Easter.  We colored eggs several times with friends.

I had a blast getting the kids things for their Easter baskets.  It was so fun to see their excitement and Bella thanked me for her gifts and told me how much she loved them at least 20 times over the course of the weekend.  That was so sweet.

We also had a fun Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  I put lego pieces and Disney princess names in the eggs and when they found them, they either got the new lego set it belonged to (Benjamin) or the corresponding princess doll (Bella).  Christian was excited either way!  He just loved calling out the colors of the eggs he found.

Kelly's present was a new kayak which the kids enjoyed even without any water.

Bella also wanted to make Kelly an Easter present, so she made this:

"It's a ship that says I love you" she told him. Kelly and I looked at each other and both tried really hard not to laugh as we started quietly singing, "The love boat!  Exciting and new!  Come aboard, we're expecting you!  The love boat!"  Boy, those 80s tv theme songs stick with you a long, long time,don't they?

On Saturday we also had a BBQ with friends at a nearby park.  We had burgers and hotdogs and roasted marshmallows.  The weather was wonderful and it was so much fun to spend the day outside flying kites, playing on the playground, and just enjoying the time with friends.

Bella's favorite activity at the park was playing with her newly acquired princess dolls.  At one point she had all their dresses lined up and all the girls in a group in front of them.  I asked her if they were in a dress shop and were trying to decide which dress each would buy.  She replied matter-of-factly, "No, their dresses are all bloody because Ariel fell off the cliff and died and sprayed blood on them, so they had to take them off."  Truly a little girl sandwiched between brothers.