Easter festivities

So this Easter was shaping up to be as busy/festive as last Halloween-- Will participated in 4 egg hunts this year. Seriously. One at school, one at a local church and two here at the house. He loved it! Maggie only participated in the two here at the house, but still, that's plenty.
Daniel and I have felt convicted to share the reasons behind Christian holidays. For Easter, we explained Good Friday and Sunday to the kids and the importance of these days in the Christian faith. They may not have a full understanding for awhile, but it's starting to sink in with Will. These lessons are first and foremost but I ('cause I don't think Daniel cares one way or the other) still enjoy the traditions-- egg hunts and Easter baskets. So here's what we did:
Thursday evening we dyed eggs, both the kids loved this! Maggie was in her highchair initially but Daniel held her and let her pick which colors to dye her eggs. She can't quite dip them in herself, so D helped with that part. And I helped Will with his.

Friday we were supposed to go to the rememberance service at church but I was sick and Maggie was super cranky...we may have both had a little bug. Will was very disappointed. We hung out at the house and talked about Good Friday instead.
Saturday was originally going to be spent at Veterans Park for a helicopter egg drop and family event day-- inflatables, prizes, etc. But I found out a local church was offering the same thing, so we chose to stay in town instead. And we had a great time watching the kids have fun- there was more to do for Will because he could climb and run inside the inflatables but Maggie still enjoyed the day. The head pastor of the church even took the opportunity to discuss the meaning of Easter while we all sat in the sanctuary waiting for eggs to be hidden. I do believe a few people came to know Christ!

 Easter morning. Ah, it was a beautiful day here, sun shining, moderate temperature, light breeze, just the kind of day you can feel God's love shining down on you. And what a great day indeed, Jesus is risen! I promised Will he could hunt the dyed eggs before church if we got up early enough. Well, I woke up early to read scripture and write my blog and to get lunch started. Will did indeed wake up early so he and Maggie hunted the dyed eggs after getting their baskets. They weren't as interested in these eggs as the plastic ones later on....I think mainly because they got toys in their baskets this year and they were ready to play!

 We had to set up the Dora book to encourage Maggie

to crawl to the egg, ha!

 This is Maggie dancing. I suppose because she's

so excited about her Dora book.

 Then it was off to church for the Belchers. Daniel and I missed Sunday School because we had nursery duty and I really wanted to hear the sermon, especially after missing Good Friday. I was nervous about nursery because I've heard Easter is one of the worst days of the year in terms of volume, but we had a really tame class, praise God. In fact, before our time was up three kids were in swings, two of them asleep! It was a great day. After church came lunch, of course, because we were all starving. This was my first year to make Easter dinner by myself- we're usually with extended family. I wasn't happy with how the potato salad came out, but otherwise was reasonably pleased with my first solo attempt!

pretty girl waiting for lunch

Lastly, we had a plastic egg hunt in the front yard- after nap time. Both kids really got into this one and were happy with the treasures inside the eggs.

 We had a great Easter! Amidst all the eggs, candy and activities the most important lesson of the day is the good news-- He is risen! He is risen indeed!