He is Risen

we had a great Easter this year. we enjoyed time with our sweeties and the start of some new traditions. quinn is starting to get into the egg hunting this year, but we tried not to make that the focus of the weekend since it's not.

on friday morning, we headed up to this beautiful park to celebrate Easter with the children from the new church we've been going to. the weather was perfect in the morning and they had an awesome playground, open space for running, and a pond that quinn loved. he sat for a while with gigi and looked at the water.

jumping is quinn's new favorite thing and he's getting really brave. he will jump off of just about anything.

caroline enjoyed watching the big kids play on the playground, and then spent the rest of the morning napping in the stroller.

quinn stood for a few minutes and watched a big boy hang and swing from this bar. i watched him study the boy, knowing he was trying to figure out how to do it himself. sure enough, the big boy left and quinn was up the stairs and swinging from the bar himself! he was so proud of himself for doing it, too.

gotta stay hydrated

the 1-3 year olds had snack time while hearing the Easter story and singing Jesus loves me. Quinn was only mildly interested in this part and really just wanted to go look at the water a little more!

and then it was time! it wasn't so much an egg "hunt" as it was just a free for all race to grab your eggs (12 for everyone) when the whistle blew.

he's off!

he did a great job collecting his eggs and then stopping when he got his 12

and obviously, the best part is checking out what you got! he got a lot of chocolate. unfortunately he also picked up 3 of the eggs that we brought which were filled with candy i was trying to get rid of. what are the odds???

brief crash after the sugar rush? if so, it was very brief! we enjoyed a picnic in the sun before heading home. it was a really fun morning and quinn had a blast. the event was really cute and there were lots of little ones around his age. this will definitely be something we do again...and it's crazy to think that next year, caroline will be toddling around and picking up her own eggs with the other 1 year olds!

on saturday morning, quinn headed down to one of the ponds in our neighborhood with papa and daddy to participate in his first fishing tournament! the event was really neat with lots of kids there to fish, free breakfast, food trucks for lunch, and live music. unfortunately, though, quinn quickly lost interest in fishing because nothing was really biting. we stuck it out as long as possible until we finally caught something! to everyone's disappointment (except quinn's i guess since he really didn't know what we were trying to catch to begin with...) it was just a turtle. but we called it a day anyway and walked over to the playground. even though it didn't go quite as we had hoped, it was still a fun morning and will be a fun tradition to continue as quinn gets older.

and then sunday finally arrived! i was so anticipating being able to worship our God, knowing he had fulfilled his promises and Jesus was no longer in the tomb. what hope that brings to us! and this year was even sweeter knowing that not only did he die for me and for john, but Jesus also died for our sweet babies. i just pray that they will someday trust in him and follow him and understand the true meaning of Easter. we really enjoyed our church service and were so thankful to have kathryn and bryan come with us!

and, can i just tell you how super talented my friend katie is?! she made these adorable outfits for quinn and caroline and surprised me with them last week...shipped to us from boston! not only did they look absolutely precious, it was a great reminder during the day that our boston family was with us even though we couldn't be there to celebrate the resurrection with them as we did for so many years.

check out the matching shoes...just an updated version of this look!

quinn hunted for Easter eggs one more time before lunch...this time inside since it was raining.

Easter baskets for both of the kiddos. caroline was sleeping so she didn't get to take a picture with hers.

so awesome! a thomas the train puzzle!!

and this goofy little hen that lays eggs that was oddly intriguing to quinn...

how blessed we are to get to celebrate our RISEN king. he overcame death that we may be reconciled with God and enjoy an eternity with him in heaven. i'm so grateful.