"He is Risen!"

Maggie and I both slept until 10:00 a.m. today (a first for Maggie, I think!). Easter wore us out, but we had a great time!

Last weekend (Palm Sunday) we had a meal and egg hunt at my parents' house. The kids had a blast playing in the newly-finished playhouse. Then we went to our bookstore downtown to meet the Easter Bunny. Granddaddy hid the eggs while we were gone. When we got back, each cousin had to find the eggs with their initials. It was so funny to watch my nephew Zeke hunt eggs . . . after he found an egg with a "Z" on it, he opened it, poured the contents into his basket, then tossed the egg on the ground!

Last week we had more Easter activities. Maggie and her friends had an Easter party at story time. She and I also made Easter cookies and crafts.

Another "activity" that we worked on last week was obeying your parents . . . the first time you're asked! Every time Maggie obeyed, she earned an Easter egg sticker to put on a paper basket we made. She was very motivated by this! When her basket was full of egg stickers, we dyed Easter eggs. I read Maggie the verse in the Bible about obeying your parents. Here she is "reading" the Bible to me:

I didn't think Maggie would want to crack the eggs to eat them, but she was ready to do that as soon as we finished dying them! She ate two whole boiled eggs!

On Easter Day Maggie awoke to find a full Easter basket and an empty plate where the Easter Bunny's carrots had been. He left her art supplies, a sticker book, a kite, stamps, and candy. After church we went to Brendon's parents' house to celebrate Easter with his family. Maggie and her cousins had fun finding eggs and playing outside on a gorgeous day.

I thought Maggie should know the true meaning of Easter, so last week I taught her the Easter story. I found a simple book online that she could cut and color. She loved it and "read" it to me and Brendon multiple times! I was unsure of how she would take the part of Jesus dying and the images of him on the cross, but she was fine with that and was amazed that He arose! Countless times over the weekend she told anyone who would listen, "He is risen!" It was so cute to see her tell people, "Did you know that Jesus died in the tomb? But he arose!"

Click here to see our Easter pictures. Click on each one to enlarge it.