Easter Feast!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Easter.  It was great having both of our kids enjoy the festivities this year, as last year Emma was a newborn.  I also think it is pretty cool that Emma has celebrated two Easters before she even is a year old!  Here are some pictures, showcasing our holiday preparations and festivities.

Lucy and Emma enjoyed coloring Easter eggs.

 Lucy also helped me bake some coconut filled bunny sweet buns.  The recipe was from Pinterest (I know, shocking!) and I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed.  They were delicious, don't get me wrong, but the filling leaked out of them before we even put them in the oven, making it look like the bunnies had peed, as Lucy put it.  Even after they were baked, the bottoms were still quite soggy.  Here Lucy is below, poking holes in the buns for the bunnies eyes.

 Easter morning the girls did an Easter egg hunt in our yard before church.  It was extremely windy and cold and we were of course running late for church so it was a rather rushed affair.  I will admit that I gave pretty big, obvious clues to the hunters to speed things along.  Here Emma is below excitedly clapping two of the eggs she found together.

 Lucy was super excited when she noticed some eggs hidden in our newly renovated garden.  I promise my very next post will be on our new garden, so consider this your sneak peek.

 The Easter bunny even hid an egg in Luke's little garden.  You can kind of see my beautiful statue of a mother holding a little boy, and my yellow tulips that remind me of Luke, and the little pine tree we planted in honor of  him.

 After church we went to the cemetery to drop an egg off at Luke's grave.

 I wanted to do a family hug on Luke's plot, but Emma was fast asleep in the car.  We decided not to wake her as we still had a busy day ahead.

 Emma woke up when we arrived at our next destination, Grandma and Grandpa T.'s!  The girls did another Easter egg hunt there and fortunately the sun came out.

On our way home from Grandma and Grandpa T.'s, the girls both took their afternoon naps and were able to play outside when we got home.  My sister Jane and her boyfriend Matt joined us for a later dinner where I made several recipes from Pinterest - some yummy garlic potatoes, some honey balsamic roasted carrots, a fruit salad, the bunny buns, and of course, ham!  It was a wonderful way to end an otherwise jam-packed day in the comfort of our own home.  I think I consumed more calories on Easter than I have the entire year so far combined!

Easter is the reason I grieve my son Luke with HOPE.  Because Jesus rose from the dead, we will have a spectacular feast in heaven some day, reunited with all of our loved ones.  So until that day, back to the straight and narrow.  Well, at least as soon as the Easter candy is gone.