Easter in Pictures

We spent a most relaxing Easter weekend at my parent's house this year. There weren't many unusual activities, and we even scaled back on the food preparation and inhalation, but it was a refreshing time nonetheless. Here's a (detailed and long) glimpse-

I made a valiant attempt at capturing the girls in their pretty Easter dresses, but they were both too busy and annoyed by the bright spring sunshine. Instead, I give you a very realistic series of shots-

We had a very normal Easter morning: eating a "special" breakfast at church, attending the Easter service complete with trumpets and choir, simple post-church hors d'oeuvres, and Easter dinner consisting of ham, potatoes, salad, and rolls. Of course we did not neglect to celebrate the glorious truth of the holiday. We spent time on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon reading the Easter story together and in meaningful conversation. The next picture is Hope happily eating her Easter dinner wearing a basket from a few years back.

By default, the main event of the weekend (at least for the kiddos) was the Easter Egg Hunt. My mom does not let this tradition die, but this year we filled many of the eggs with nuts and dried fruit in place of candy and we even hid a few dollar bills around the yard as well to make it healthier and a more interesting for the grown-ups. This was the first year in my memory that the weather was at all cooperative for outside fun. We spent a lot of time hanging out outside, not just for the egg hunt, but swinging, walking, eating, and just running around!

This was Hope's first egg hunt, and perhaps her first time having candy. She really went at it with gusto too!

Eva of course had been anticipating the event all week, so she was all business when it came time to play hide and seek with the goodies.

After the lawn, trees, fences, wood piles, and rocks had been scoured for treasure, the girls sat down to admire their loot.
Hope gravitated to the Hershey's Special Dark chocolates, and I eventually had to cut her off. Her response to "Hope, do you like chocolate?" was an emphatic, "UH HUH!"
Back inside we enjoyed a dessert that had intrigued me earlier in the week- Ladyfinger Lemon Tart. It was pretty good, but it didn't earn a spot in the starting lineup at our house. I did think it was pretty nice looking though-
You can imagine, a good part of the weekend was spent indulging our imagination concerning the baby boy in my sister's tummy. There were discussions about names of course, but we never did get around to looking through a tub of hand-me-down baby boy clothes. Next time. We did however, take a picture of two sisters, gradually becoming great with child. Considering I am barely out of my first trimester, I'd say I'm becoming "great with child" a little less than gradually, but I'm not surprised considering my track record for ending up at 9 months really GREAT with child. Anyhow, I think this picture will be so fun to look back on in 40 years (when we're both, GREAT with no child, but looking well-aged and matronly). :)
And last but not least, Hope is so fun to take pictures of. She is somewhat photogenic, and she isn't disgusted by the camera as her older sister is. I thought these were precious.