very long Easter entry....

Prepare yourself for the longest entry known to man kind...and it's all about Levi, of course. Only doting relatives will make it to the end.
Happy Easter everyone. We had a good one. Here is our best Easter Family Photo. All pastel-y and everything. Our Easter weekend began with a Good Friday service. Nathan says he's never been to one, so that was new for him. It was a nice little intimate service. It was a small worship team. Just a guitar and bass, and then 4 singers. We just did slow passionate songs that people could worship to and think about what Jesus did for us. The ultimate sacrifice and loving gift. There was a time during the service where everyone could take a stone to the stage and lay it at the foot of the cross. It was very impacting. I learned that night, again, that when I pray for God to change me where I'm failing, He's faithful to work on me. But I have to remember to not hold onto on my gunk as it rises to the surface. A woman at our church reminded me that when I pray for God to change me, and then I feel like all my faults are in my face and I can't ever over come them, it really means that God is dealing with all those things, and they're in my face because He's bringing them to the top so He can skim them off of me. But, I can either choose to hold onto them and believe I'll never be able to change, or I can lay them down at the cross, have faith that He's working in my life, and live with that freedom. It was a nice refresher, actually.


Plus, it really puts you in the mood when you dress like Mary. That's what I wore to the service. I wanted to feel authentic. I liked it. Nathan can call it ridiculous all he wants. What's new?

Easter service is always such a jubilant celebration at churches worldwide. It's an important day for Christians; Resurrection day, as my pastor kept calling it. To focus entirely on how we should be living, knowing that we have life and hope because Jesus raised from the dead. And if He hadn't, it's all in vain. Something I should remind myself of every morning. I have joy and peace and eternal life because of my beautiful Savior.

There is a great tree right outside our church that the kids climb every Sunday. Levi's never gotten to explore it, but Sunday we stuck around for a potluck, so he got to get down and play. Offered lots of great opportunities for pictures.

Kickin' back with Valentino drinking some much need lemonade after climbing that tree and playing hard in the nursery all morning.



After church we went to a park and had a picnic. It was a really nice day for it. It had been raining for a few days before Easter morning, so I was a little worried. But, it was bright and sunny, and nice and windy, which worked out perfectly because we were teaching Levi how to fly a kite for the first time. I think he thinks Kites are called Pooh now because Winnie the Pooh was on his.
Here he is getting into his Easter baskets. One from mama and papa and one from Grammy and Pop. He spent time enjoying each and every treasure.

I got him this little FM radio. It's so cute and perfect for him. It obviously has very bad reception, but he likes it. He can carry it around with him and dance. If only he would hold it on his shoulders like back in the boom box days. Here's Nathy getting the kite ready. It's so rare that I can get him to look at the camera and smile. He's so pretty, but he won't model it up. Just have to flaunt my beautiful husband. He is why my son is so precious and adorable.

The kite flying commences. Nathan kept trying to let Levi hold onto the tail, but he just couldn't grasp the idea, so to speak. He let go after about a second.


I love these next two pictures of them flying it together. There's really no better Kodak moment than a papa and his son standing side by side.
There was lots of papa son play time at this picnic. I pretty much had my camera going non-stop. I love when I come out at the end of the day with pictures I know I'll look at and cherish forever.

Here Papa's reading Levi the Jesus book that he got in his Monster Truck Easter Basket. Each year he'll be able to understand and learn more and more about Jesus and how important He is in every person's life. I just pray that Nathan and I can be consistent in our example to him, and that he'll grow up to really love Jesus and want to live his life for Him because he understands how much God treasures us and wants to live with us forever.


After our picnic we went over to Bryan and Jenene's house for an egg hunt and some outside games. It was fun. They have a really nice yard for playing. It's completely fenced in, and lots of room to run around, so it's perfect. The kids can play, and really the parents can relax because the kids can't escape or anything. The kids hunted for eggs, and they played water balloon games. The parents got to play a few games too. I'm glad God gave us a fun group of people to hang out with here. And here of course is the ever so common picture of Levi lovin' on the dog.

This is how Levi did his egg hunting. He didn't get too many eggs because he wasn't frantically running around like the other kids were. He was just strolling along on his borrowed Barbie bike, picking one up every once in a while, if he really liked it. He's a funny boy.

Papa helped here and there of course.
This is one of Jenene's daughters...Bailey. She was over in this little area alone, and I discovered her peeling every egg in her basket and tossing them aside. Turns out she doesn't so much like hard boiled eggs. This is the Easter basket that Grammy and Pop sent. Of course it was a hit, because it's Mickey! So, he got one of his other Mickeys and put it in the basket too. Easter aside, the boy loves baskets and bags and anything he can put on his arm, carry around, and put stuff in and out of.
We had to extend Easter on to the next day, because we ran out of time and energy on Sunday to do all our planned activities. Thus, the egg dying got to happen Monday night after Papa got home from work. I'm glad we did it, even though Easter was over. I almost just figured, we'll just wait until next year when he'll be a little older anyway. But, it was fun for him I think. We only did about 7 eggs I think, so it wasn't a huge deal or mess. But, it was just a little creative project for the day.

First papa had to explain to Levi what the whole deal and process was gonna be like.

Then Levi helped me dip an egg and decorate it and all that.
And then he was ready to do one on his own. He observed and talked it through, and now he's ready to do the hands on.
I kept telling him not to touch the dyed eggs. I told him, no they're wet....don't touch...over and over again. When that wasn't convincing enough I said, "Levi look at your hands. That's why you don't touch the eggs when they're wet." That worked. He looked down and noticed the dye on his hands for the first time and was so curious. He showed me, and then he rubbed his hands together, then he rubbed his hands on his shirt and when neither of those attempts worked, he rubbed his hands in his hair to try to get the color off. And the moral of the story was, don't touch wet eggs.


So, that was our Easter experience. It was a great weekend full of fun activities and praising God for what an amazing love He bestows on us.

And here is a big Easter kiss to everyone from Levi.