easter twenty thirteen

we had such great weather for easter.
so. thankful.
after many, many cold, yucky days, i was just praying my little heart out for a nice, sunny easter.
it was perfect.

i always set out their easter baskets and easter treats.
we don't do the easter bunny....they know the gifts are from us.
i love making holidays special for our family.

ruby loved her necklace and bracelet from grandpa & grandma.

coffee cake, because obviously we needed more sweets.

lovelovelove my three handsome boys.

i am one blessed mama. :)

ruby wasn't really in the picture taking mood but we managed to get a few. ;)

her brothers spoil her rotten.
she is a blessed little lady.

no sucking your thumb during easter pictures, ruby jane.

my boys.
love sawyer's crossed leg. :)

after church we went to our friends' house for lunch and easter egg hunting.
love watching these sweet kiddos grow up together.

so thankful for great friends.

yep. i'm standing one step up and still way shorter than erin. thumbs up.


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instafriday....remember that?

some instagrams from the last few weeks . . . 

1. sissy & her new shoes that she l-o-v-e-s.
2. we had a sunny saturday perfect for packing up the garage.
3. in all my packing/purging festivities i found our wedding program circa 2000. happy youngsters. :)
4. love having some sweet time with my sawyer when the boys are at school.
5. tutu and teddy bear cuddles.
6. i told sawyer he was getting to play soccer this spring. he ran away & came back with this outfit on...complete with dress socks and arm guards on his legs.
7. sold!!!
8. i love fabric.  how fun is this from hob lob?!
9.  AJ wears a tie every tuesday. i find many of his ties while thrifting.  that week was in honor of our favey show, duck dynasty.
10.  i love having my car full up of these sweet children.
11. ruby looked like a beast next to her baby cousin.
12. doing what we do best when we go to kansas....lots of game playing. my favorite.
13. it's not family unless you're getting your eyebrows waxed at the kitchen table.
14. ruby had her first egg hunting experience while we were there. she's a fan.
15. happy first day of spring from snowy arkansas. so glad this sunday should be warm (!!!)
16. we have a laundry *room* with a door and it's not a pass through. hal-le-lu-jah.

we've started on ruby's room.
one corner is done. :)
i'm not changing much in her room so it should go pretty fast.

and one little sweet corner of the kitch.
my grandma's cookbook from when she was first married and my granny's bread box & strawberry jelly dish make this corner extra happy.

we dyed easter eggs today.
whew. it was a wee bit hectic.
always is, but we let sis be involved this year.
maybe not my best plan ever.
but we got it done and we'll be eating boiled eggs for dayyzzzzz.

happy friday and happy weekend y'all!!

do you instagram? i'm itsgoodtobequeen if you want to follow along. :)

link up your instas with me here . . .










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easter twenty twelve, part 2

i love holiday traditions.

i think they are such a great way to make special memories as a family.

for easter every year we set out the kids' easter baskets full of goodies and little surprises.

four baskets this year. wow.

i put shaving cream in the boys' baskets this year so that they could each have their own bottle when we play with shaving cream. 

i think i will let them go outside on a warm day and have a ball with them. 

and then hose them off. 

good, clean fun. :)

after easter baskets we made simple resurrection rolls from refrigerated croisants & marshmallows.

then the race was on to get us all ready for church on time.

thankfully all of our clothes were set out and ironed {by aj obviously} the night before.

we snapped a few quick photos before jumping in the car for church. 

we had to take lots of pictures with our ruby girl since this was her very first easter. :)

and my first time to get to dress up a daughter in her easter clothes. 

mama and daughter. sigh. 

yes, she's wearing peep toes.

i know.

thank you self timer.

the whole lot of us.

i could not be more pleased with these four children God has blessed us with.

so grateful.

after church we had lunch with my parents and little sister.

my sister and i hid easter eggs for the boys while my parents tried to keep them from watching out the window. 

we had a nice, relaxing afternoon which was just so. wonderful.

while sawyer was taking one of his typical entire-afternoon-long nap, i took the others outside to try to snap some more photos.

these boys of mine are crazy about their little sister. 

she is one blessed little girl.

the sun was a little bright for ruby. 

i refashioned her headband from the one she wore in her newborn photos. 

and then there is my nine year old.

somehow i have a nine year old.

sweet, handsome boy. 

inside and out.

and then he wanted to do a hand stand.

typical avery. :)

i brought fin out to take pictures.

i had to start saying silly words and calling him goober head to get him to smile.

it was such a wonderful day, i didn't want it to end. 

i just love being with my family. 

we are so happy.

not perfect . . . by any stretch . . . but we love each other and we love journeying this life together. 

thankful for them.

thankful for easter and all that it means.

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easter twenty twelve, part 1

we had a great weekend.

between fin's birthday and easter, we had a bunch of good family & friend time.
we also had a good amount of relaxed time at home with just our little family.
i took tons of photos that i can't wait to share with you this week.


we enjoyed a low-key saturday that involved aj's chocolate chip pancakes and hanging out in our jammies for way too long.
the boys and i dyed easter eggs.

this is aj's hands on approach. :)

i enjoy dying the easter eggs.
immediate results, short time commitment, deviled eggs for a week. all good stuff.

i love having a house full of kids who are easily pleased.
they make holidays so great.

aah! i can hardly stand the cuteness of three-year-old hands!

these boys. pure joy right there.

almost too pretty to eat.
almost.
but then they would rot and that would be gross.



i'll be back tomorrow with more easter goodness... i took a bunch of pics in our easter get up. :)



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easter preparations

we've been preparing our hearts.

we observed lent again this year.
growing up baptist and mennonite, we weren't raised observing lent.

last year we started the tradition with our family.
choosing to say no to our selves.
die to ourselves.
take up our cross in a very minuscule way.
focus on Jesus and learn to be more like him.
learn, again in a very small way, to sacrifice.

we talk and read and talk some more about the true easter story.
about our sweet savior who took on all the pain and sin and suffering in the world so that we could be made right and whole and spend eternity with Him.
we read from the Jesus Storybook Bible this morning.
i cried all the way through the story of the night in the garden of gethsemane and Jesus' cruxifiction.
i can't wait to read tomorrow's story.

we're watching this video again . . . Glory to God, Sunday's coming.






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a sweet morning.

 this year, easter was extra special because our two oldest boys were baptized.

 this is a very important day in their lives.
they are giving a public testimony that they love and want to follow Jesus with their whole hearts.

what made it even more precious is that their daddy was the one to baptize them.

 our children's pastor talked about each of the boys' favorite verse and then AJ asked each of them, "have you committed to follow the Lord and to serve Him and glorify Him with your life?"

they said, yes. :)

then he said, "I baptize you, my son and also my brother in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. "

it was so precious. 
such a gift to watch my husband baptize our boys.
we also have it on video. so thankful for that.

to commemorate this special event in their lives, we gave each one a nice leather Bible with their name embossed on the cover.
i look forward to those Bibles being worn out with the study of God's word.  Pin It