Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Our Easter preparations began on Thursday when I got home from school. We died Easter eggs (well, Cate and Daddy did while Mommy supervised and took pictures).
Of course we used the Sesame Street egg dying kit. I love that these two turned out like Elmo and Abby Cadabby.
Cate and I are going to see Sesame Street Live in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to take her on a fun date to see her favorite furry puppet life-size on stage. We bought some of the cheaper seats though since I'm not sure Cate will want to stay in her seat. We'll see.

Back to Easter though-- the Easter Bunny paid us a little visit last night, leaving a basket full of goodies for Cate.
In addition to some Peeps, candy dots, a small chocolate bunny, and some Reeses Pieces (stashed in Elmo-shaped eggs), the Easter Bunny also brought Cate: two books (Cookie's Week by Cindy Ward and Tomie dePaola as well as The Best Easter Prize by Kristina Evans and John Wallace); a Little People figurine in a rabbit costume with an Easter basket; a Thomas the Train pull back and go car-- he's carrying the Easter Bunny); finger paints, dinosaur counters/pattern makers (similar to these) with flashcards; a set of ABC phonics readers, a My Little Pony, and some awesome Crayola washable markers with flip-top lids (so the lids stay attached to the markers).
Cate was excited about all of her goodies! And remember the dollhouse from this post? It was an Easter present from my parents for Cate. She is in love with it. She's played with it all morning. And my handy hubby put a latch on it while she was napping so that we could take it with it when we go to celebrate Easter with more family later on today. The Easter Bunny didn't forget Daddy or Mommy either.
Daddy got some candy, a kite to fly with Cate, and some fun playing cards (Eric loves the fruit faces and I couldn't resist getting him the cards when I saw them). Mommy (sorry, didn't take a picture of my basket), got candy, a cute spring cardigan, and the CD my yoga instructor put out recently. It is wonderfully relaxing music. She chants and sings for the last 15 minutes of each yoga class while we meditate in positions of rest. Amazing!

After some yummy pancakes and pictures of us in our Easter best, we headed off to church to really celebrate Easter.
Eric and I are both so thankful for what Jesus did for us 2000 years ago! We are thankful we serve a risen Lord who sets us free and loves us so much! We are blessed by our church and our small group-- both of which keep us growing ever deeper in our faith and are helping Cate to grow too (she currently loves to sing Jesus Loves Me and told us when we picked her up from Kids Club--our church's version of Sunday School-- that she learned about Jesus today).

Happy Easter! He is Risen! Alleluia!

~Melody :-)