A Beautiful Easter Weekend!

We had such a blast celebrating Easter with our family this weekend.  The weather was beautiful and we had plenty of Easter traditions to experience together!

The fun started Saturday morning with an Eggstravaganza at King of Kings.  We hunted eggs, ate pancakes and sausage, painted stained glass windows, planted flowers, and got a balloon puppy!  It was Gracie's first egg hunt of the season and she particularly enjoyed opening each and every egg to look for candy inside.  It's funny to see how kids evolve as they grow older.  For her, it wasn't about getting a huge quantity of eggs.  It was mostly about seeing what was inside.  But the older egg-hunters run like mad to gather as many as possible, knowing that whatever is inside will be a treat!

Gracie had to open each egg to look for 'kanny'!

Painting a stained glass window, "For Jesus" she says!

After nap on Saturday, we celebrated with Grandpa and Grandma Weaver, Aunt B and Uncle Chad.  It was Gracie's first time coloring eggs, and she wasn't quite sure what to think at first.  We slid the eggs into a wire whisk to prevent our hands from getting colored... and also, as I discovered later, to prevent the eggs from getting cracked.  Gracie was none too gentle during the dying nor the hunting process.

After dying eggs, we headed outside to play on the swing set and grill pork chops for dinner.  We had a great time just visiting and watching Gracie play.  She got 2 Easters baskets filled with goodies.  She is such a spoiled girl!

Dying eggs with Grandpa

And Grandma Tena

And sometimes all by herself, like a big girl!

Sunday morning started early as we headed to church with Grandma Sevedge and the Hurt family.  Kianna and Gracie wore matching dresses.  My mom and I sewed them again this year.  They were really easy and turned out really, really cute!  I also made the corker hair bows.  Super easy using a Pinterest tutorial.  

After church we came home and discovered that the Easter Bunny had visited our house.  Gracie was excited to hunt eggs again (mostly to open the eggs and check for candy - which made the hard-boiled colored eggs kind of confusing!).  He also left Gracie a basket filled with goodies... including candy, a princess wand, sidewalk chalk, an Easter book, and a matching game. 

Once everyone had changed, Grandma Sevedge, Aunt Steph, Uncle John, Kyle, and Kia came over for brunch and playing.  It was so nice outside that we ate out on the deck.  The kids played on the swing set, with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, and just ran all over the yard.  The Easter Bunny snuck through the front yard while we were fixing brunch, so the kids had more eggs to hunt.  Gracie had so much fun that she kept repeating, "Again!  I do it again!" when we came inside.  

The celebration ended, as many celebrations do, with a couple of messy girls!  So Gracie and Kia took a quick bath together before getting into clean clothes and settling down for naps.  It was a full and spectacular Easter! 

The Sevedge Cousins at church on Easter morning

This is what happens when you ask the girls,
"Where's Grandma?!"

This is the best picture I could get of her dress, but by then it was all wrinkly.
Oh well!

Opening her Easter basket with Daddy!
They match!

My cutie hunting eggs!

Admiring her chocolate eggs!

Drawing with sidewalk chalk on the back wall.

Cleaning up!

What a blessed Easter we had this year!  I can't forget to mention how thankful I am for the sacrifice we remember on Good Friday and the celebration we enjoy on Easter.  I cannot fathom the love God has for me to be willing to sacrifice His own Son so that I may have life.  It is beyond my human understanding to know such compassion and grace.  But I rejoice because the story does not end there. I rejoice because Jesus arose as the final victor, giving me and all believers the confidence to know that God always wins and Satan has no power over Him, and therefore no power over me.  Alleluia!