Easter 2014

We've had a crazy amount of illness in our home this year, so much so that it has taken Easter down to just a weekend of activities rather than a month of them like I normally do with the kids. It's been wonderful, though... It's allowed me to focus on what's really important about Easter and getting the message of the Cross to my children. We've decided the Easter bunny isn't going to be a part of their childhood... We will still have baskets celebrating Jesus's resurrection, but the bunny, while cute, doesn't really focus on the true message of Easter. 

We dyed eggs today and had a little hunt in the backyard. Ellie thought the hunt was great fun, she even found some non-egg treasures for her basket (namely a baseball and a dandelion). James loved hunting them all and then insisted on flying a kite (I sang Let's Go Fly A Kite to him last night for a bedtime song and he really took to it).

Ellie has been saying all kinds of new words, including egg, bubble, and keys. She also learned to sign bread, horse, and alligator. Ellie is a climber... That girl will seek out the highest spot she can reach and get there in an instant! It's pretty terrifying for us, honestly. She's been getting a lot of teeth in including some molars, so she's been particularly crabby recently. But Ellie has a helpful and sweet temperament... She loves her stuffed animals and can often be seen holding as many as she can at one time. She loves to go wake up James from his naps, first by knocking on the door, then going over to his bed and saying "Hi!" Ellie is also my little laundry helper, always  there when I'm putting things in the dryer.

James is taking off with his drawing, actually creating pictures with some semblance of what they are. He particularly favors airplanes when he draws. Once in awhile he will write his name, but it's still a work in progress. James is an absolute HAM.... He knows the opposite of everything, so when we sing songs or rhymes he likes to insert the opposite word in (example: the song about the wise man building his house upon the rock has a chorus that says "the rains came down and the floods came up" and he likes to say, "the rains came up and the floods came down.") He's just silly. :-) James also loves to watch Little Einsteins "in France" (French) and build houses, trains, and planes with his Legos. 

Tomorrow we head to church and then hopefully we will have a relaxing day with the family.

Some pics from today: