Easter.

We had such a nice Easter weekend! We juggled both families on Sunday, but the kids were troopers and we all had fun.

We went to church on Saturday, which was AWESOME! Such a powerful service.

We hid Easter baskets for the kids on Sunday morning and it was fun to watch them find them and got through them.

They actually cooperated for a quick photo shoot. Happy mama!

Brunch. So good.

The kids had an Easter egg hunt at Brian’s parents after brunch. They each had a specific color egg to look for which made it fun!

The cousins cooperated for a quick group photo. . And a silly one too!

  
It’s so fun to watch them grow up together. I’m thankful for how often they get to see each other.

After the egg hunt it was off to spend time with my family. A trip to my aunt and uncles is not complete without an encounter with THE squirrel.

I think he might just join us inside next time. .

My aunt is the best at putting a family dinner together. She makes it look effortless and everything always comes out so good. We can always count on a great ham or turkey, mashed potatoes and pasta salad. For dessert she always makes at least three different pies, sometimes four. All by herself. I seriously don’t know how she does it.

Would you look at this beautiful plate? I ate every single bite.

We’re all still in an food coma today. The kids had a rough day back to our week day routine after a few days off combined with way more sugar than usual. Bedtime was early tonight and I’m heading there myself.

So thankful for this beautiful LIFE I’ve been given and for those I get to share it with. My heart and belly are full.

Easter traditions.

In our devotional book recently I read a passage about Easter and how our culture embraces Christmas more than Easter. I had never thought about it as we celebrate both the birth and the resurrection in our household and speak to our kids about the significance of each. The truth is though as an adult I do get swept up in the magical anticipation of Christmas. 

I thought about that this weekend and realized I have many fond memories of Easter from my childhood, more so than Christmas. We always travelled down to Cleveland with my grandparents to visit family. I am the youngest cousin by a landslide and my older (awesome!) cousins would always hide easter eggs for me to find. I would spend time decorating eggs with them. Waking up in our hotel room on Easter morning was magical for me and I always remember looking for my Easter basket. I even remember the year I got quacking duck slippers. . . 

We spent some time this weekend decorating easter eggs in our house and the kids had a lot of fun. Hayleigh had done this before, but this was the first year she really got in to it. I loved watching her delicately handling the eggs and patiently applying the stickers to her egg.

I’ll admit that sometimes I’m not too sure we are getting this parenting thing right. Hours before this Brady Bunch moment we were at Blaze pizza and Hayleigh was sitting underneath the table refusing to listen and sit in her chair. I tried condemning her to listen and when that didn’t work I tried threatening her in to listening. When that didn’t work I asked for a take out box so that we could hit the road. 

When we got home she did apologize and she was able to list (in order) all of the bad choices she had made since we’d left church. She wanted to play outside of course and figured giving her apology would be her best attempt at getting a yes instead of a no. 

 I was proud of her for apologizing and for knowing the ways in which she had done wrong. I explained to her that we did forgive her, but that wouldn’t get her out of a consequence for her bad choices. Later that night as I tucked her in to bed and sat with her as she fell asleep I thought a lot about parenting our kids. How do we get this thing right? 

How do we help them understand and embrace the significance of what Christ did for each of us? The easter bunny is all well and good, but he’s not the reason we celebrate Easter. 

I love these memories that we are creating together and I wish that every moment could be as perfect as this one was. The trouble is I know that it is not going to be. I want my kids to grow up and feel the freedom to make mistakes, but be humble enough to know when they need to ask for forgiveness. I want them to look back on these days, these traditions, and have fond memories and traditions that they can pass down to their own children. 

Most importantly, I want them to know and understand that Jesus has already paid their debt. On Easter we celebrate the victory of His resurrection and the gift of life that he has given to each and every one of us. 

That’s way better than a chocolate easter bunny! 

Balance.

The sermon at church on Sunday was about balance and I’ve been reflecting on that today. I feel like we go through waves where we have the balance thing down and then other times it seems like nothing is in sync.

So often when things don’t feel balanced, I am less patient with the kids and I will yell or say something hurtful that I am not proud of. The guilt that follows is hard to let go of and then I find myself wondering how I became so unglued.

A friend sent me the photo below last week and I saved it to my camera roll to look at each day.

I believe that each good day starts with a perfect cup of coffee and a fair amount of prayer and I am doing my best to make that happen each day. I don’t like when I allow my emotions to take the lead, I feel like it is the first step toward losing the balance that I hope to find in each day.

My happiest and most balanced moments come in the form of stolen kisses from this cute little boy in his dirty t-shirt from playing outside all day. I pray he’ll never be to embarrassed to kiss his Mama.

I feel balanced when he holds my hand and points out different things that he’s curious about. I pray that he will hold my hand until he’s an embarrassed teenager and then again when I’m old and and he’s sitting at my bedside listening to me tell stories of when he was young.

After work today we all took a walk to the ice cream place. It’s a simple way to make the kids happy and a nice way for us to spend time together. I pray that simple things like ice cream will always unite us and bring us happiness.

Today, I do feel quite balanced. I woke up this morning and said a quick prayer of thankfulness and when I got to work I enjoyed a great cup of coffee. My day ended with a scoop of ice cream and a walk with my favorite people.

I’ve experienced some dark days in my past and I always seem to be waiting for the next storm. I don’t have to scroll through my news feed too long before I see a post about something horrible another family is going through. I find myself praying for those people and feeling fortunate for everything that we have – health included.

I can’t help but feel so gosh darn grateful today as I think about all that we have. If we should ever face another storm I pray that I will continue to seek balance in all things.

The type of balance that only He can provide.

A few random things.

Every time I pulled out my computer to write this past week, I was pulled away to do something else. Life has been a whirlwind around here lately and I can’t believe tomorrow is already Thursday!

Last week we did really well with meal planning and sticking with it the whole week. I’ve been giving the “meatless Monday” idea a try and have had fun coming up with ideas for meals that I know the kids will not turn their nose up at. I’ve always been a fan of the Budget Bytes blog, and ironically Brian received her cookbook at a work seminar. I decided to make this easy and very simple meal last week and our whole family enjoyed it!

[not a food blogger or photographer]

I had not been to Ferndale until two weekends ago and I’m bummed it had taken me so long to get out there! I met some friends for an amazing meal at Local Kitchen. I’m still dreaming about the blueberry pancakes. We’ll definitely be spending more time there this summer. . so many fun restaurants to check out!

We also recently checked out the Sea Life Aquarium at Great Lakes Crossing. The kids had fun running around and of course seeing the exhibits. We had been wanting to visit, but thought the price was too high for our family. Kroger recently offered discounted tickets so we jumped at the opportunity. I still feel like it was too pricy, but it was nice to spend some time doing something fun indoors. When we visit my Dad in Tennessee we visit the aquarium in Gatlinburg and there is just no comparison!

I’m bummed that we did not have the time or the patience to shop while we were there. I quickly walked through the Jcrew outlet and promptly made an exit before buying everything in sight.

I also snapped some sweet photos of my family on Sunday. The kids LOVE riding the bus to church!