I never imagined three years ago that I would be celebrating Easter with TWO amazing children, but there we were on Sunday, baskets in hand, camera at the ready, and more than a few tears in my eyes as I realized how very blessed I am. I love Easter because it is a time of new beginnings and it has always been a time of reflection for me. I think of all the Savior did for us- even for the people who hated him and killed him. He loves us all so much and therefor he gave his life so that we can live with Him again. I don't think it was ever easy for me to imagine the kind of love that took for our Heavenly Father to watch his son go through that. That is, until I watched our boys' birthmother experience a similar sacrifice as she placed not one, but two children in our arms to raise as our own. Her strength has helped me to better understand the Savior's love for me and her trust in us reminds me each day what a blessing it is to be a mother and what a great responsibility I have to do my best in raising them so that I am worth of the heartache she went through. So, Cori, to you I say THANK YOU for what must be the millionth time! I also want to remind you how much you are loved and appreciated. We want so many good things for you!
Okay, so our Easter, aside from being rather cold and rainy, was by far my best EVER! Last year Kolton was not walking yet so this was really his first year of really getting to HUNT eggs and by the time he finished his fourth egg hunt he was a total PRO. And when it came to decorating eggs, he was super careful and knew each color he wanted. We found some cute egg kits with 'Cars' and 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' stickers and he was very specific on which sticker he wanted on each egg. And, as luck would have it, he ended up LOVING to eat the hardboiled eggs the next day!
here is is dyeing a 'lellow' egg
These stickers remained on him for two days. He was pretty attached!
The final product! I think he did a pretty awesome job!
Sam even got in on the fun!
This was the egg hunt in Richmond. We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow, but nothing was going to stop Kolton from digging through every inch of it to find the eggs and 'canee' (candy)!
We went to Grandma and Grandpa Garners in between sessions of General Conference on Sunday for a yummy lunch and egg hunt! Every year, Grandma gives them seeds to plant a garden and puts them in the eggs instead of candy. It was a nice break from the sugar rush!
Wes entertained us all with a little egg juggling. Kolton tried as well, but I think he may need a bit more practice!
We didn't even have to help Kolton find his special basketball eggs. He knew which ones were his and found all eight of them on his own!
We finished the day off by going to my sister, Cristi's house for the biggest Easter egg hunt this side of the Pecos. She has a half acre of land and lots of trees . This means many great hiding places and a lot of competition between the older kids to find the 'uber egg'. This is a jumbo egg full of money and really good prizes that must be filled and hid by the person who found it the year before. This year my 7 year-old nephew, Caleb, found the uber egg hidden in some crusty old squash in Cristi's garden. I told you the competition was high!
Sam and Alex got caught up on the latest happenings while the other kiddos hunted for eggs
The first thing Kolton found was this carrot egg. He would have been happy with that and nothing else and he still keeps it close to his bed each night. He didn't even care that there was candy inside!
This is a small fraction of all the people there. There are 20 grandkids in our family, not to mention 18 adults!
Sunday night while I was cleaning up and trying to get Kolton down from his sugar high I put on 'Baby Einstein' for Sam and found out just how much he loves it! He talked the whole way through it and cried when it was over. Is this a blessing or curse? Only time will tell...
And finally, I cannot share the stories of the last week without mentioning 'Bear'. Bear is Kolton's new best friend. Kolton includes Bear in all he does; sleeping, eating, getting his diaper changed, and even his artistic pursuits! Here are some pictures to illustrate how super cute this is!
you can't see Bear in this picture, but believe me, he was close by!
Bear's favorite food is Nerds, apparently!
To top off this very long post, Sam is now spending some time in this walker that was given to him by his cousins. The flower part is actually a mirror and I don't think he will ever tire of looking at himself! He is growing so fast and just keeps getting cuter by the second!
1 comments:
Looks like you guys had a ton of Easter fun! The new sticker fashion might just set a trend! I think its great they like stickers...mine like them for about 2 minutes and then I end up peeling them off of the floor for the rest of the week!
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