Happy Easter

Happy Easter!


The kids had fun finding the eggs and baskets left by the Easter bunny. Lily darted through the backyard gathering the eggs. We had to remind her to leave some for Carter and Hazel too!

The eggs were a hit. My kids had fun playing with the empty eggs after they extracted their loot.

Hazel was adorable! I put the basket in her hand and she took off for the eggs. She picked them right up and plopped them inside.

She loves sunglasses. She tries to wear mine but they slip off her face. When she got this pair, she was so happy!

I included this picture simply because I love it. Aaron took it and captured my cute Carter (and his love of trains) well.

Grandma Ford was here for our early Easter celebrations. I'll post pictures of her visit later. We had soooo much fun with her here. I keep telling her she needs to just move down here, but I haven't convinced her yet!

We enjoyed our religious Easter celebrations as well. I love Jesus Christ and am indescribably grateful for his Atonement and resurrection.

In addition to Easter, this Sunday brought a significant change for our family. Our bishopric was released, including Aaron from his position as first counselor. It's been a privilege for our family to serve the Lord in that capacity. It wasn't without challenge, having Aaron away from our family a lot. I'm thankful for the growth it has afforded us. I'm absolutely, 100% ecstatic to think that now we'll be able to drive to church together, sit together in Sacrament meeting, and have Aaron home more on Sundays and weeknights!!! We'll enjoy the reprieve, short as it may be!

Our new bishop is a family friend. We adore him and his wife. I look forward to how our ward will be blessed by their love and dedication. His counselors are great. Their wives (my friends) are babes, I might add. God bless them all!

She lost it!

Hooray! Lily finally lost her first tooth! She's been waiting soo long to lose a tooth. She's so excited! She's been wiggling it for weeks and hasn't wanted Aaron to pull it out. (I couldn't pull it out if she wanted me to. It gives me the willies.) She's cried wolf a couple of times...tricking us that it fell out. So today before swim lessons her friends, Charlee and Oaklee, ran in to me saying, "Lily's tooth is out!" When I went in to see Lily, sure enough, it had come out. Lily was brave and pulled it out on her own!! She is so proud of herself! I think she's pretty cute with that hole-y smile. I think the bottom left tooth will follow soon.

The renowned tooth.

Lily and I made a tooth pillow the other day. She designed a cute little pillow and then we made it together. It has a pocket on it to put the tooth in. Hopefully the tooth fairy will take the tooth and leave some $$ for Lily in return.

About the same time we were making the pillow, Lily asked me if there's really a tooth fairy or if it's her mom and dad. I asked her what she thought. She didn't really answer me, she just said, "I really need to know." So I told her. And then I explained that this is information for her to know but not to talk about with other kids. Just like her mom and dad told her, other kids' parents will tell them. We had the same conversation about the Easter bunny in April. I almost cried after I told her, but she was 100% a-okay with it. In fact, she liked talking to Carter after that, all grown up like, about whether or not the Easter bunny had come to our house yet. I can't believe how this little girl is growing up.

P.S.

Lily woke me in the night to tell me that the tooth fairy came.

Here she is bright and early this morning, with her tooth pillow, moolah, and Lamby.

Now Carter is anxiously awaiting his first wiggly tooth... It may be a while!

Late is great!

My mom-in-law and I have something in common: we can't get to the post office to ship off packages in a timely manner. And this time it made for a really fun birthday and Easter celebration yesterday morning!

Carter (and Lily, I might add) loves this Thomas Lego set. It is so much fun!

Who doesn't love Easter candy early in the morning?

Grandma knows what Carter likes!

Grandma chose beautiful new Easter outfits. I loved having something fresh and new for my kids to wear to church. Thanks, Grandma!

I love, love, love when my kids are dressed up nice before church starts. I think I like it so much because with three kids, everything is usually in disarray. ;) In this moment I enjoy the illusion that everything is clean, bright, and tidy!

My Easter treats

I love these kids!

Happy Easter! We are enjoying celebrating the miraculous resurrection of our Lord and Savior.