Easter morning.

The excitement and anticipation to see what the Easter Bunny dropped off was almost tangible. But before the littles can see the goodies in their Easter Baskets, they have to be primed, prepped and ready for Church.

I do it this way for many reasons:

1. They are sooooo excited and I just want to selfishly savor the moments of “Mom, do you think he REALLY came?!” and “I can’t WAIT to see what is in my basket!” The look of excitement on their faces and the squeals of anticipation that echo down our hallway.

2. Easter is about the marvelous story of Jesus and how He was raised from the dead so that we can all be saved. Church is our first priority on Easter Sunday. So, by sharing the story of the tomb and how Jesus was not there anymore with the littles between pulling on shirts and snapping bubbles, We make it very clear that Easter is not about a bunny that hops around and puts candy in baskets.

Easter is about SO much more.

3. This way the littles can play until it’s time to eat breakfast and head off to Church!

Once they were all ready,

the moment they waited for ALL MORNING (aka 10 minutes…) was here.

Ross and I just sat back, watching them dig through the goodies that the Easter Bunny left. Smiling when Harper would day “Wook Clee, a Nance (aka a Boa)!” and Cliff would say “That’s pretty Harper! Check out my new dirt bike!”

They popped open the eggs in their baskets and unwrapped their candy as if it would be their only meal for the whole week.

Candy before the big Easter Breakfast Dad cooks is an Easter MUST!

After all of the goodies were discovered, shown to us and played with, Ross and I went into the kitchen to plate breakfast. We were chatting about how cute the littles were and how their excitement was so big that the house could burst when we heard the pitter patter of little feet come around the corner and the girl yelling

“I’m all weady to goooooo!”

The Easter Bunny was spot on this year.

Little Miss Priss proudly wore her new bracelet, necklace, sunglasses and knit slippers to breakfast while Ross and I joked that SHE may be too good to eat with US common folk!

After a wonderful Sermon and scooping happy littles up from Sunday School, we went to lunch and then to my aunt’s house for an Easter Egg Hunt!

Ross patiently held Cliff’s basket while Cliff leaned down to pick up each egg he spotted.

And The Girl filled her basket in about 5 seconds…

She didn’t REALLY care about hunting for Easter eggs, she just wanted to pop them open to devour the candy inside!

Cliff beamed brighter and brighter with pride each time he placed an egg in his basket.

Easter this year was wonderful.

We are so blessed to have these sweet little souls in our lives.

Throughout the day, Ross and I kept looking at each other with the “Isn’t God SOOOO good?!” look.

Happy Easter!

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

John 11:25-26