Easter 2013

Well, I think it's about time that I document our Easter weekend festivities!  I had read up on some great ideas to make Easter more meaningful by doing special things throughout the week before it.  While Resurrection Rolls and The 12 Eggs of Easter Lesson are both ideas that I love and plan to start next year, I knew Eli was still too young to understand them now.  I still wanted to do something though, especially to help keep Christ more at the front of our minds for David and I.  When I looked in the April Ensign (magazine our church puts out), I saw an article about Easter week, that had lots of pictures of Jesus, with a brief synopsis and scriptures listed so you could read about what took place every day that week.  So that's what we did every night for our scripture study.  Eli may not have heard or understood what we were saying, but he enjoyed looking at the pictures of Jesus every night, and it definitely meant more to me to spend time every day pondering those sacred and important events.  I am so grateful for the Atonement and Resurrection, and that Jesus Christ made it possible for us to live with Him and our Father again.

The Saturday before Easter we spent the day at David's parents in Greencastle.  Eli always has a blast at both of his grandparents' houses, and finds humorous ways to entertain himself.  For example, when he found this blue bowl he immediately put it on his head and called it his hat. Then he went over to the phone and was "reporting a fire" just like Curious George in one of his books.  : )

Then he found a candle and his hat became a birthday hat, and he tried blowing out the candle and "singing" Happy Birthday.  

David and his brother hid Easter eggs in the backyard, and Eli and his cousin, Grace, went on an Easter egg hunt!  The boys hid the eggs well, not too obvious but not too tricky, and Grace was nice and let Eli gather many of them for himself, even though she saw some first.

"What do you want with my eggs?"

Once Eli caught on to the strategy of the game, he got very into it and happily squealed "Ooohhh!" when he found his eggs.

And of course the best part was discovering the candy treasures inside!

Checkin' out their stash.

Riding the see-saw with Mom and Dad--

Back inside Eli and Grace did some coloring.  Eli randomly placed these colored pencils in his mouth like this.  Too silly!

Then it was time to decorate eggs!  Eli got quite a kick out of the process.

Delighting in watching the color take over.

Later on after the eggs were dry and it was decided that no one wanted to eat them or take them home, David came up with the idea that they should play golf with the eggs in the yard.  So he, his dad, and three of his brothers each took a turn whacking an egg with the golf club.  By the time they were done, there was stinky egg splattered all over the yard, but they had fun and it was enjoyable to watch, with a few laughs shared.

After the golfing the boys then came up with the idea to put up an egg on the archery board and see who could shoot it with their bow and arrow.  They sure get creative in their play!

Eli and his Grandpa Hayes sharing a sweet moment.

We opened Easter baskets after church on Easter Sunday.  The very first thing Eli found was his Easter eggs, which he of course dug into and ate up the candy.  That boy has got quite the sweet tooth!  I enjoyed gathering little things for his basket, and put a few things together for David and me, too.

Playing with one of his new cars.

Reading his new book together.  It's become one of his favorites!

It was a wonderful Easter celebration!