Easter

Church and family filled our Easter Sunday, and luckily for us the weather was beautiful too!

 The boys were up early, ready to search for the candy-filled eggs that Ben and I had hidden around the house. They were each supposed to fill their egg carton and while some were super-easy to find,

 they had to search diligently to find them all.

 The one in the washing machine was the last one found!

 Twenty four candy filled eggs!

 After church, cousin Rylee came out to the farm. Levi and Rylee have a lot of fun together but they also get themselves into all sorts of predicaments. Levi was super-excited to show the tree house to Rylee.

 Then it was off to the new house, where Levi had to show Rylee his hammer and how he can hammer nails in by himself. Well, wouldn't you know, then Rylee wanted to try it too!

 But not with anyone's help, she's very independent...most of the time. :-)

 Then we were off to my cousin Megan's house for our Epp gathering. After a delicious meal, the grandparents went outside to hide eggs and Easter baskets for their grandchildren.

 Megan's pregnant dog Shammy (sp?) was just begging for someone to rub her tummy. She laid down right in the middle of us and just waited.

 And she stayed there until it was clear that she wasn't going to get anymore attention.

 The kids had a blast searching for eggs and baskets all over the backyard.

 Please notice the outfits my boys dressed themselves in. The color variety and combinations are truly noteworthy.

 It's so nice that the kids are old enough to be independent giving the adults a chance to visit. We see all the people in our Epp family on a regular basis, but it's rare that we get a chance to truly visit.

 Once all the baskets and eggs had been found we gathered the kids for a group photo. Some of the kiddos were more cooperative than others. Ha! :-)

 And then we asked them to make silly faces to round out the photo session!

Holidays are special for many reasons, but they also come with complications of kids' expectations, anxiety and over-flowing energy. It was a long day, but the beauty and reason that we celebrate Easter wasn't completely lost in the hubbub of eggs, candy and baskets.