Easter

Easter weekend was full of blessings for our family. It is one of our favorite holidays. Drew and I cherish the time to worship and celebrate the resurrection of our Savior and cannot wait until we can teach our boys about it. Jasper already knows that Jesus died for our sins, but the full extent of that statement has not sunk in on him yet.

Last year we introduced Jasper to hunting for Easter eggs. We hid them in our front yard, and initially he didn't get what was going on. By the end (of us pointing them out and getting very excited when we saw them), he was getting excited too. We knew he'd be ready this year. So, we let Jasper participate in the Easter egg hunt sponsored by our church at Zilker park on Saturday morning. It was cool and overcast with a little breeze that made it feel less like spring in Texas and a little more like spring in the midwest.

Something like a few thousand eggs were hidden on the grounds, and areas were marked off by age-group. Jasper fell into the 2-6yr group. Unfortunately that meant he was pretty much out-gunned. But he found three eggs and thought that was awesome!

I found this felt bag at Target and thought it would be perfect for collecting eggs. Jasper agreed. Benjamin is just along for the ride in the ergo.

After we finished hunting for eggs, Jasper got to play on the playground equipment.

He is a shy kid when he is in new environments or surrounded by masses of people - especially lots of people acting aggressively (like running around and screaming as kids are wont to do at playgrounds). Initially he held back and watched, reverting into his social wallflower position. But much to our surprise and delight, he started to take risks, climbing up steps into lands unknown with bigger kids at the top. Sliding down slides - on his belly and landing face first in the pea gravel (and loving it!).

This park has an old fire truck frame that's been converted into park of the playscape. Jasper took turns with other kids, sitting at the front and turning the steering wheel.

I have a slight concern that gymnastics are in Jasper's future. He hangs off anything he can!

On Easter Sunday Mark and Teri Burchfield came to our house for Easter dinner - which of course meant ham, cheesy potatoes, fruit and seafoam salad. Mark and Teri have been uber busy with a new business project they're working on, so we have not seen them much - especially the boys. Jasper enjoyed some reading time with Teri.

Look how Jasper is nestled in next to Mark. He loves Mark and Teri so much!

And here is a family portrait. Pretty cute!

We not only let Jasper do the egg hunt at the park, but we also hid eggs in the house that he found on Sunday morning. After his nap he got to check out his Easter basket and open the eggs to see what surprises were in store. Two big eggs held the biggest surprises. ....

MATER SOCKS!

(McQueen socks were in the other big egg.)

He was so excited that he wanted to put on the new socks right away!

Benjamin got Easter basket surprises, too ... a new teething toy for our drooling, tooth-cutting boy.

He enjoyed his new toy, and I'm sure will be ready for an Easter egg hunt next year with his brother!

In the late afternoon, we loaded up the boys in our new double stroller and headed over to Mark and Gayleigh Cotnam's house for a visit. While Saturday was not a nice day and even Sunday morning was a bit blah, Sunday afternoon was glorious! It was great to get out and stretch our legs. Then when we got to the Cotnams' house, we had a fun time playing with them in their back yard. They have a lovely tree canopy and fully fenced-in yard with equally lovely flowers planted all around. Jasper enjoyed playing with the bubbles, throwing the hoops and goofing around with Mark, Kate and Gayleigh. We did not give Benjamin a chance to take his afternoon nap, but instead he just fell asleep in Everlee's arms and even tolerated being transferred to a blanket on the ground. We tarried with them longer than expected but enjoyed the respite as a nice way to close out our already lovely Easter.