Easter Sunday

Easter was such a nice day around here. Grandma & Grandpa went to church with us, Aunt K & Uncle E joined us for lunch, Hope took a good nap, then we hunted Easter eggs. It was a relaxing, sweet family day.

Here's Hope in the Easter dress that she ~knew~ she looked beautiful in. It's amazing how little girls automatically twirl and prance and bat their eyes when they get in a frilly dress. This sweet shot of Hope and Daddy is my new favorite. I can just see this same scene happening in twenty-some years on her wedding day!

A couple of jellybeans before church never hurt anybody ...


After church, Hope spent some quiet bonding time with Grandma while Mommy got lunch ready. Daddy stayed at church to work in the nursery, and we sent Grandpa to the store (Actually, it was the third store where he finally found French's Fried Onions).

Hope got her Easter basket while the rest of us finished up lunch. It was light on candy, but included some other gems like sparkly flip-flops, a purse, a kazoo, and paint. Pretty much all she cared about was the paint. She wanted to use it right away!

After a good nap, we hid Easter eggs in the front yard and turned her loose to hunt for them. Daddy, Aunt K, and I enjoyed how every single time Hope found an egg (there were 15) she said "I found one!" Mostly we had to steer her in the right direction to find them, and once Aunt K showed her how to "stir in the bush" to look for one. Apparently, stirring the bush was more fun than looking for eggs. Or maybe she thought they'd keep reappearing in that same bush, because she kept going back to that spot over and over. Aunt K cracked up, and Daddy and I loved watching them bond.

One of the sweetest parts of the day was hearing Hope say "He is RISen!" He is risen indeed.