Easter

Solution to never getting around to my Easter photos - just not worrying about editing and instead just journaling about the weekend.

As Easter approached I really didn't have any bright or creative ideas on how to make the true meaning of the holiday really mean something to my Easter-egg-crazed son. He loves himself an Easter Egg Hunt, so we had to focus on how everything we believe in is all about Easter. Thankfully his school was all over that as well.

The Thursday before Good Friday I got an email from Mariana on how to tell the Easter story through a playdough mountain. So bright and early before I took Justin to school that morning we quickly put this together. We built our mountain and put it in the oven for several hours.



That night we painted our mountain and our stone.


My little artist was very intent on getting the job done correctly.


And I am pretty sure Jesus' tomb was blue, don't you?


And then on Easter Sunday the people rejoiced as the stone was rolled away and Jesus was now outside of the tomb.


I also heard about Resurrection Eggs the day before you were supposed to start them. These were hands down my favorite thing to do this Easter. Justin would run downstairs every morning in anticipation of opening the next egg to see the next part of the resurrection Story. He had a hard time remembering them in order or what they meant until I got "physical" with them. Justin is big on physical contact - one of his love languages. So when I would tell the story and poke him with the spear on his side, smash the crown of thorns on his head, etc. he started to really get into the story. The best was when we had 4 neighborhood kids over and they all wanted to play with the eggs. Instead they sat down while Miss Shannon told the story. Never has my house been so silent for 30 minutes with so many children inside of it. I hope they told their parents. :-)


On Good Friday I was in charge of our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We hid dozens of eggs in the strangest places.


Which made it more fun for the kids.


Justin was chomping at the bit all morning to go and help mommy hide all the eggs. He was bummed he had to wait and come with daddy.


Then he got his face painted by one of the wonderful girls in the neighborhood.


Justin with Grace, Luke, Ellery, & Lily post hunt.


On Saturday my in-laws came up for the rest of the weekend. The boys were shooting hoops outside. Justin was showing the guys his ball when I grabbed my camera for a 3 generation shot.


3 generations of dimples!


Easter morning Justin ran down the stairs to see what was in his basket.


With his passion for monster trucks, I found this US Air Force one. Fitting since his Grandpa was in the Air Force for 20 years. I once again skirted around the fact that the Easter Bunny didn't really bring the presents. Kind of like Santa - just avoided it, enjoyed it, but made sure he understood what this was really all about.


So we weren't going to hide eggs outside because last year he wasn't into it and it was raining. So when we asked when the egg hunt was going to begin, Derek and I hid eggs on the front yard instead.


We were forced to get a little creative - like hiding eggs in the the handle of Grandpa's rental car.


The champion egg finder!


After a wonderful service at our church, we went to Grand Lux for brunch. We got some shots of the fam.


Since you never know if Easter is going to be cold or hot (in this case it was quite muggy), I decided to just rummage in Justin's closet this year. So no new Easter outfit for any of us Michaelis' - just like my family growing up, being in Galveston every year never warranted for a new outfit. In fact I might have repeated a few years in a row?


Smiley bunch


How many combos can we make


The whole crew


That afternoon I pulled out two years worth of cascarones (or confetti eggs). Justin had to figure out the texture at first. I knew it was coming but I still felt crazy when the egg smashed on my head.


We had lots of fun cleaning up afterwards.


Then it was Justin's turn to be the lacky.


I had fun the remaining confetti flying everywhere.


Derek was up next.


And then vice versa.


A wonderful Easter weekend with so much still to savor. Cheers to being thankful at the goodness of our God!