After Brianna was born, we started a tradition of spending Easter with our friends, Ross and Tia. We would go to their place for a nice lunch after church, then have an egg hunt for the kids (it was just Brianna the first year!). Lisa and Russ joined us after they moved here, and it's a tradition that we all really enjoy. However, as we've added children to the group, it's much more difficult to do something on Sunday afternoon due to church and nap time and such. So this year, Tia decided to host a more casual lunch and egg hunt on Saturday to help make our Sunday a little easier. Spoiler alert: It was a great change, and we plan to stick with it next year!
I still have many moments - both big and small - that make emotions regarding infertility and miscarriage flood my heart. Before we left for Ross and Tia's house, I stacked up the kids' Easter baskets to take with us and the emotions hit me. I could't help but think of how we prayed so fervently for a house full of babies, all those years of empty arms, lost babies, medical procedures, tears, longing, and heartache. And then, there was this . . . four beautiful little Easter baskets with four beautiful names stacked up and waiting for us. Thank you, Lord!
Of course, as beautiful as life with four littles often is, it is also challenging at times! Honestly, it feels like constant chaos much of the time, and I think our attempt to get a family picture at this event depicts "real life" pretty well!
There's always one . . . this time it was Bren! That face though, haha!
Obviously, the babies were not interested in this endeavor.
This was our last attempt because right after this photo was snapped, Brecklyn pulled Brianna's hair and there were tears. You can see that she has it in her hand in the photo!
No one else seems to have quite the time that we do with family pics, but such is life with four littles!
Lisa, Russ, and Chloe Jo
Tia's parents and Ross's parents were able to join us this year, as well. It's always great to have the grandparents there!
Ed, Darthene, Sadie, Tia, Dixie, and Graham (I'm not sure where Ross was?)
Brecklyn and Brooke looked so cute in their ears, but I'm not sure they were as impressed as I was, lol.
Brecklyn
Brooke Ellie
Each year, each family brings food to eat and eggs to hide for the egg hunt, and we always end up with waaaaay too much of both. It took the guys almost 30 minutes just to hide the eggs. Ooooops :-). They actually hid them on one side of the yard for the bigger kids, and just laid a bunch of them around in the grass on the other side for the little ones.
Brecklyn
Brooke
Sadie
Brooke
Brooke
Brooke (she remembered how this egg hunting thing went from a few weeks before).
Brecklyn
Brecklyn (she found the golden egg, yay!)
Brecklyn
Chloe Jo
Brianna
Brianna
Chloe Jo
Bren
Bren
Bren
Brianna
Chloe Jo
Sadie
With four kids spread out over Ross and Tia's (large) yard, I found myself literally running from one side of the yard to the other trying to get pics. It was kind of ridiculous! Luckily, because we had so many eggs, the egg hunt lasted long enough that I finally put down the camera and focused on enjoying my kids instead!
We had so many eggs that Brecklyn, Brooke, and Sadie all got tired of picking them up. My girls just sat down in the grass with their baskets!
Daddy and Brecklyn
Daddy was trying to convince them to pick up the rest of the eggs. He didn't have much luck.
Notice that the big kids have multiple baskets/bags of eggs. Next year, we'll try not to go quite so overboard with the number of eggs!
Brooke, Brecklyn, Chloe Jo, Bren, Brianna,and Sadie
After the hunt, we all go inside and open our eggs to see what kind of goodies we got. We mostly try to stay away from candy, so that makes stuffing and opening the eggs extra fun :-).
Ross and Sadie
Bren
Brianna
Brecklyn and Momma
Brecklyn and Momma
Brecklyn, Momma, and Brianna
Momma and Brianna
Brecklyn
Brooke (on Aunt Lisa's lap)
Our annual lunch and egg hunt is always a great time, and like I said above, I think next year we'll stick with the Saturday gathering instead of Sunday.
Part of the reason that Sunday is so busy is because we always get up early, get everyone ready, take pictures, and do Easter baskets before leaving for church. The lighting in these photos isn't great because it was cloudy and rainy outside this year. I do love the photos, though!
Brianna
Brianna . . . my spunky girl :-)
Bren
Bren . . . my handsome little man
Brecklyn
Brecklyn . . . my little sweetie
Brooke
Brooke . . . my smiley girl
The babies weren't much interested in smiling for a group photo, but at least they're looking at the camera. If I can see eight eyeballs, I pretty much call it a win these days, ha!
After photos, I send all the kiddos into their rooms and set out their Easter baskets.
Then, we call them out to see their goodies.
Brianna is such a little Momma, so she had to help the babies find their baskets first.
Brianna got a few new outfits for her doll, Natalie.
Brecklyn got a new book!
Bren got Rubble and his digger from Paw Patrol . . . his favorite character!
Brooke got a new necklace!
Brecklyn wasn't sure what to do with her necklace . . .
Really, Brooke and Brecklyn were both interested in playing with the eggs the most.
Bri immediately dressed her doll in her new clothes.
She also put on her new necklace :-).
I love kissing my sweet babies (this is Brecklyn).
I remembered just before we needed to leave for church that I wanted a family pic. We busted out the selfie stick for this one! I love how Brecklyn and Brooke are looking at each other like, "Really? We're doing this?!?" Haha!
Chris put bunny ears on the selfie stick to get Brecklyn and Brooke to look. I adore my sweet little family and our traditions. I hope the children's memories of these times are as precious as mine <3 .="" nbsp="" p="">
No comments:
Post a Comment