easter and other stories.

somewhere around last christmas my family kind of changed our stance on holidays. instead of focusing so much on the material things you find in stores and getting lost in the hustle and bustle of it all, we have decided to just take it slow. breathe in the real meaning of each holiday, rediscovering the history of each, and most importantly, we want to take time each holiday to be thankful and spend time together. so this has been the year we have begun to implement these thoughts. for easter this year we didn't have a photo-op with the easter bunny, the kids didn't get crazy huge baskets full of sugar, and we didn't exhaust ourselves by running to a whole bunch of egg hunts. instead, we simply enjoyed each other. in the days before easter we shared hot cross buns, dyed eggs together, and read about the origins of the holiday. and then on easter morning, john and sam decided to sponsor an egg hunt for madee and max. it was quite possibly the sweetest thing i have witnessed between the four of them. the two big kids hid all the eggs in their yard, and then teamed up to help each of the littles find them.

notice john's fort in the background. that kid will probably do just fine if stranded on a desert island... as long as he has duct tape! hey mom, need some quiet time? :)

and there they are. madee in her rubber boots (she's ALWAYS in her rubber boots!), and max in his soaking wet jeans. they had a GREAT time, despite maxi having a small run in with a fully charged garden hose. i hope everyone had an easter that was as heart felt and lovely as ours.

:)