Easter 2013 in Pictures

Dying eggs…

Hannah telling Scott how the process works.

I told them to show me their excited face.

All dressed up for church.

Making Resurrection Rolls on Easter morning.

Once Nathan got a taste of the “spices” (ie cinnamon and sugar)…

he couldn’t help himself.

Easter egg hunt in the backyard…

We had a wonderful Easter lunch with Nana, Mama Jo and John at the house. Hannah likes to use the china when Mama Jo comes because as Hannah says, “Mama Jo likes using fancy plates.” And it was so fun for me to have an occasion to use them!

Mama Jo also brings the wine:)

Happy Easter!

ps This did not all happen in one day. I don’t change my kids clothes that often!

He is Risen!

What a great (and sometimes hard) time of reflection this season of Lent and Easter has been. We read through Ann Voskamp’s Easter Devotional, The Trail to the Tree, as a family this year. It was a little deep for the kids, but they recognized the stories and really enjoyed hanging the pictures on our Jesus Easter Tree.

Now, please don’t picture a little family sitting around the table and the children all eager to listen to the Bible with their hands folded politely in their laps. That’s just not the way it looks at our house…maybe one day. But it did give us something to study and work through as a family during Lent to try and keep our hearts and minds focused on our sin and our need for Him.

Reflecting on my sin is never fun. Satan always knows right where to hit me and make me wallow in my guilt. He tells me over and over that my anger and impatient heart and countless other shortcomings make me a bad mom, a bad wife, a bad friend…sister…daughter…etc, etc.  And sometimes I feel like I’m fighting desperately not to believe him. I know he wants me to see my sin and leave me there…wallowing.

But that’s not the way Jesus does it…can I get an amen!?! The wonderful thing about Lent for me this year has been to see how my Heavenly Father gently points out my sin and then draws me closer to Him. He comes down and meets me where I am…right in the middle of all my issues and insecurities and then with such amazing grace, He lifts my head and points me to the cross and my need for Him. He doesn’t leave me there wallowing with no hope. He reminds me again that it has no control over me and that He is working on me for my highest good and His greatest glory. He is my hope.

This Easter Sunday, more than ever, when our pastor stated, “He is Risen,” every part of me believed (and I probably shouted a little too loudly), “Yes! He has risen indeed.”

Camping Spring 2013

We decided to give camping another shot this weekend.  The closest state park to our house, Lake Mineral Wells State Park, recently imposed a two-night minimum on the weekends, so we haven’t been there in a while.  We really like the park but the kids just can’t quite handle a two night trip yet.  This week, I took off work on Good Friday, so we reserved a campsite for Thursday night. It really worked out well because we were able to get the single night campsite and the weather was really nice.  It’s been a long couple of weeks at work, so it was really nice to get away for a little bit.

Here are the kids hanging out by the fire.  Notice Nathan finishing his nuggets.  Since we went after work, we decided to drive through Chik-Fil-A instead of cooking at the campsite.

Camping buddies

We were ready for bed pretty soon and we all piled in the tent.  It was a nice night, clear and mild, the temperature was in the mid-50s.  I bought Nathan a new Spiderman sleeping bag, which he liked, but not for sleeping.  We finally got everyone to sleep sometime after 10pm, but about 1:00am, Nathan woke up screaming. We got him back to sleep, but he woke up again screaming about 15 minutes later.  It seems he does not like to sleep in a tent.  Part of the problem was that he wouldn’t get in his sleeping bag, so I think he was a little cold.  After another 5-10 minutes of him crying, Jennifer decided to take him home.  Hannah and I decided to stay.  She reminded me that she was good at camping and that sometimes babies that cry have to go home, but not her.  We were back to sleep in pretty short order and slept fine the rest of the night, except for some howling coyotes that woke me up later.  The next morning, this is how we found the campsite (Jennifer had left the food and some of the gear for us):

After breakfast, Hannah and I broke camp and left everything at the campsite while we took a short hike along the lake

We went down by the water for a bit

And Hannah did a performance for the camera

About mid-morning, Jennifer and Nathan returned from the house (it is about a 30 minute drive), and we went over to Penitentiary Hollow to play in the rocks.

We went through this “cave” looking for a bear……no luck

I scrambled around on some of the rocks

Nathan had a blast.  He loves everything about camping except actually sleeping in the tent

We had a great time and can’t wait to go back.  Hopefully Nathan will be able to make it a full night soon!

Super Heroes

Dresser Makeover

Hannah got a new dresser for her room, kind of. She had an old dresser that we inherited from Aunt Mae and we decided to paint it.  We made it a family project. Jennifer got the idea here and from many other pictures via Pinterest.

This is the closest thing to a before shot (we forgot to take one).  Here it is after some quick sanding:

Hannah was all about it

After a while, we let her just paint this piece of cardboard.  She said we could use it to decorate the garage.

The finished product:

The drawers are suppose to go from light to dark, but we didn’t realize that the two top drawers were different sizes than the bottom two. So this is what we got. I like it, but Jennifer says she might fix it one day…we’ll see.

Just Because...

The Theater

Anyone recognize this scene?

Once again, Mama Jo treated us to some fun over in Dallas. She took us all to a little Children’s Theater to see a precious production of Goodnight Moon. Scott and I couldn’t imagine how they could turn that little book into a one hour play, but they did and it was so cute! Hannah was on the edge of her seat the entire time and Nathan only got really antsy toward the end. Scott was able to stand up with him near the entrance so he could still see the stage.

Hannah found Pinkalicious during the intermission.

Nathan was right behind her saying, “Me too, me too!”

Thanks, Mama Jo! You know how to show us a good time!