He Is Risen!

Shared the most wonderful Easter weekend with my boys… I woke up Monday morning feeling even more thankful than usual thinking about God’s blessings in my life and in the lives of my loved ones. What a faithful risen Savior He is!

Friday evening, we decided to take Sam to see the Easter bunny at the mall in Collierville. We knew he had done very well with Santa but were prepared for him to potentially get upset since he’s now a little older and sometimes wary of strangers. It turned out that Sam LOVED him and even played “peek a boo” with him while waiting in line. It was the most precious thing! He even held his hand. So adorable! This was also the same day our big boy gave up bottles for good. Mama was so proud! The photographer was excellent and got a really cute pic of our Lovebug...

Saturday morning, we attended our church (Faith Baptist)’s Easter Egg Hunt at Buckhead Recreational Complex. The facility is owned by our church and is a beautiful outdoor facility complete with jogging/walking trails, ball fields, playground and more. The hunt started with a worship service just for kids (Sam loved the music) and a word from our Pastor Brother Danny. It was a little bright outside for Baby Sam. :-)

Then, it was time for egg hunting and Sam’s age group was Birth-2. Of course, the little eggs weren’t really “hidden” for this age group so the babies could walk right up and grab them. I had prepared for the hunt thinking Sam would pretty much go through the motions without really “getting it” this year. Little did I know he would walk right to the eggs and begin shoveling them in his little basket two at a time! Our sweet little man had his basket filled very quickly and just loved it!

After a long nap (Sam was asleep before we could pull out of the Buckhead parking lot) :-),

Sam enjoyed his first experience dying Easter eggs in the backyard. I always did this as a child and have such fun memories… We chose to dye only five eggs this year (one in each cup color) and used lemon juice rather than the usual vinegar (much better smell!). Sam enjoyed it but really just wanted to stick those chubby hands in the dye and wasn’t a huge fan of sitting still around all of that fun stuff! HA!

Before bed on Saturday night, Daddy took the time to read Sam a book the church had given us earlier that day about the REAL meaning of Easter- “Jesus Lives! Come and See!” I pray that Sam will always know and celebrate the true reason for this special season.

Sunday morning, Sam woke up to look at the goodies the Easter Bunny brought including a set of dishes in boy colors and many new bubble toys that were his favorites. :-)

We decided to go to our 8a church service and dressed Sam in his precious monogrammed outfit!

When we arrived to drop Sam into his new class Toddler A (13-16 months), we saw probably 8 of the 10 babies already dropped off crying. It was truly like a chain reaction! Sam saw their tears and his started flowing. Mama had to quickly hand him over, take my pager and get my focus on worship (although I did send Jonathon out during the Welcome and hand shaking just to make sure he had stopped crying… he was playing in the floor with the other girls and boys and listening to his teachers with no tears- Phew! :-)). Sunday’s message from Brother Danny was a wonderful one that Jonathon and I both enjoyed tremendously on one of the most foundational Bible verses we have as Christians and one I remember memorizing as a little girl…
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

We spent Sunday afternoon with family (Sam enjoyed two ADDITIONAL Easter baskets from grandparents- he’s so loved!) enjoying yummy food and fellowship. Here is Sam getting ready to spend time at Grammy's!

I made my traditional crock pot macaroni and cheese (recipe posted here) and also brought a festive coconut cake I picked up. Sam enjoyed swimming in his inflatable pool at Grammy’s (just couldn’t resist the pineapple trunks and “Big Kahuna” rash guard when I saw them)… You can see the drool as all four molars are making their way in but that didn't stop him from having fun!