Easter Day!

What an AWESOME day! We had a blast hunting for her Easter basket and eggs this morning. The Resurrection Cookies were finished with the same level of enthusiasm as the prep. . .maybe we will try a different recipe next year:) I will say, the tomb was empty! I'd call it a high altitude success. We actually made it to the first church service and Gracie enjoyed playing with her friends. When we left it was snowing. . .again. We got just enough to make sundresses and sandals out of the question. They say it will be almost 70 degrees tomorrow. . .you've got to love Colorado weather! After church, it was off to Amma and Poppy's for lunch with Aunt Sue, Uncle Gary, Aunt Amy, Uncle Jeremy, Alyssa, Uncle Chad, and Nana. We enjoyed talking and (over) eating while the girls played. They had so much fun together. I love watching their relationship develop! So, it's just about bedtime and Gracie is exploring all of her loot. . .including a variety of candies:) Sleep should be interesting. . .but rest easy, my precious child, for you are loved by THE King!

P.S. I will upload video soon. . .

The Easter Dress. . .

Do they really need an introduction?

Basket. . .round 2!

Gracie and Poppy watching Barbie Swan Lake:)

Look at those smiles. . .when do they grow out of this phase?

Singing "Jesus Loves Me" immediately followed by "You better watch out, you better not pout. . .", thanks Alyssa. . .that was priceless!

Dress up is way more fun with a cousin!

One tired little Egg Hunter. . .

Easter Week...(UPDATED!)

This year we have done several things to celebrate the Resurrection. . .
Here are a few photos (and hopefully videos) to show you what we've been up to. . .

On Monday we took a full fledged field trip! Fortunately, we live in the country and our local Farm and Feed Shop had baby chicks, ducks, geese, roosters and rabbits. It may have been the first time we were able to leave Big R with out buying something:)

A Baptism (of sorts). . .
Wednesday brought a real swimming lesson! Funny that Ms. Claire was actually much less "pushy" than I was! That was a lesson learned:) Once again, she did great. She is working on keeping her legs straight when kicking, blowing bubbles, paddling arms and laying on her back. The biggest challenge was FOCUS! She was very interested in the other kids swimming lessons. She is very excited to go back to the pool. . .not so excited about another lesson:( (before you press the play arrow on the bottom left , you'll want to mute the playlist at the bottom of the page ~ press II).

Yesterday, was Daddy's birthday and Easter Egg Day! Not quite as exciting as I thought. She enjoyed telling me which cup to put the egg in and when each egg was the perfect shade. . .maybe it was too rushed or just not enough freedom (go figure:)). I guess next year we will try to do them outside. On the upside. . .we only broke one egg!

HUNT! 2009

This is a national "community event", in which our church was a participant. 6 local churches sponsored a 20,000 egg hunt this morning. Yes, it was freezing cold. Yes, it was almost canceled due to rain AND snow. Yes, we actually found her best friends, Trinity and Amber. And yes, we had an awesome time! She actually went out there on her own and came back with a full basket! She loved using the basket Nana made for her and we received MANY compliments on it. . .thanks, Nana!

The hunt. . .

The Girls. . .

Friends forever. . .

Tonight we will make Resurrection Cookies. It is a GREAT recipe to make the night before Easter. Each item that goes in to the bowl represents an item of the Easter Story (for example, vinegar ~ which is what they gave Jesus to drink while He was on the cross). After each item is added you read a specific scripture that goes along with that item. At the end, you put the unbaked cookies in to the oven and tape the door closed. It helps kids understand how sad the disciples must have been when they put Jesus in to the tomb. Then, in the morning you come down and open the oven and the cookies are finished! When they bite in to the meringue type cookie it has a hollow center that represents the empty tomb! Praise God for the empty tomb and Praise God for saving us! May you all have a blessed Easter Day remembering not the eggs or the candy or the food on our tables, but the Risen Lord that died for you and for me!

UPDATE:

Here is a photo of Gracie making the Resurrection Cookies.

She is beating the pecans with a wooden spoon to symbolize Jesus being beaten by the soldiers. Sadly, she looks like she is really enjoying herself. She made it through the entire process but did ask to go watch television a couple of times. I think the story is a bit scary (as it should be for all of us), even though I've tried to keep it as mild (but accurate) as possible. Last year we did not talk about the tomb at all, whereas several of her books this year went in to full detail. I don't think she has a reference point to be able to comprehend, but I am still glad she is starting to learn the reality of what happened. Here's to hollow cookies. . .I'll let you know if these worked at high altitude:) Something I still have not figured out!

What was I thinking?

Do you ever have one of those moments where you think to yourself "Why did I just do that?". . . I just did!!! As I am typing, Gracie is "cutting" my hair with her plastic scissors! It started out as a simple doctor's exam (in preparation for her visit on Wednesday) and is now a beauty treatment (think blood pressure cuff hair tie and stethoscope headband) . . .I instantly realized what I had done and began backtracking. . ."You only do this with mommy, right? You know you NEVER put real scissors on someone hair? The only time you would do this is with your pink play scissors, right?" So, does anyone want to place a bet how long it'll be before I'm posting about Gracie and her real hair cutting skills?

Praise Report. . .

What a crazy 24 hours. Yesterday morning we were all having a great time at the Pinecrest Mom's Group. . .fast forward 12 hours and I am sitting with my dear friend at Denver Children's Hospital waiting for her daughter to come out of surgery. About 2 p.m. yesterday, Corina had a terrible car accident with 2 of her 4 children. These 2 girls are Gracie's best friends, Trinity and Amber. Amber was taken by Flight for Life to DCH, while Corina and Trin were rushed to a local hospital. I received the phone call yesterday while Gracie was napping. As she came down the stairs she obviously overheard my conversation with a friend that was also with us earlier in the morning. The crazy part is she had taken her girls to her brothers house (which happens to be in Corina's neighborhood). He is a volunteer paramedic in Elizabeth and a fireman in a nearby town. He was not on duty but had his radio on and was able to be on the site in 2 minutes. I firmly believe God had him ready and waiting, as Amber had sustained severe cuts and trauma to her head. After the call he went home very disturbed. He felt like he knew them but could not figure out why. When he said her name to my friend she almost passed out. The paramedic's daughter and Amber are good friends and they had ALL been at the same BBQ the weekend before. After the call Gracie began to ask questions and I tried my best to explain in a simple way that they had an accident but they were going to be o.k. Her face was full of fear and the tears welled up in her eyes (and mine, too). We cried and we prayed and we trusted God. Oh, how thankful I am for that time with her. It still makes me sick to my stomach thinking of an alternative conversation. She is doing o.k. now, but pray for her to be able to be a good friend when she sees Amber. Pray that she will be able to handle the wounds and not be afraid. Pray that I will know how to prepare her for the reunion. I could go on and on about the number of times God orchestrated people being in the right place at the right time but the post would probably be denied for being to large. It was an amazing day. One of the gals that helped her at the hospital was talking with her son last night before bed. They were discussing how many people were at the hospital with them. . .our pastor, an elder, friends, family. . .and then James replied "and God was there, too". He said it so matter of fact that it took her breath away. She said "what?" and he said "God was in the room with us. . .I couldn't see Him but I could feel Him." Mind you, this boy is 6. I have always believed that children's innocence allow them to experience things we are too cynical to see. So, after a helicopter ride and many hours of surgery to remove glass and repair lacerations on Amber, a night in the ER observation for Trinity and a horrific time for two parents and two older siblings, I am so thankful to report everyone is a home together, safe and sound. I know they have a lot of healing to do ~ more mental than physical, but I pray that God's goodness and glory will be able to shine through this experience. I don't know what He'll do, but I do know that I will not let it pass in vain. Instead of being fearful, I will be grateful. I will use this as an opportunity to stop taking the little things for granted and I will remember the fear in my friend's eyes each time I start to snap at Gracie or over-react to a situation. I pray that these words will touch you and that you, too, will find some way to glorify God through this. Is there someone you need to call? A behavior you need to abandon? Do you need to spend more time with God? Whatever it may be, please do it. Do it for these girls that God choose to spare. Do it to honor Him. . .especially considering He loved us enough to NOT be spared. Thank you, Father!

Sledding!

This season has been unusually dry. Our "blizzard" last weekend was the first opportunity to get out the sled this year. We had a blast! I am trying to get video uploaded, but for now, here are a couple of pictures of Little Cool Breeze "taking the hill". . .

Gracie's First Swimming Lesson. . .

We have been trying to have Gracie's first swimming lesson since last Friday when it snowed 16 inches! We re-scheduled for Monday, which is when it snowed 6 inches. We were going today. . .regardless! The funny thing is we also are getting 4 inches of snow today and seriously, have hardly had any this year! So, we arrived at the rec center 30 minutes early to give her some time to get suited up and observe. There were two classes (each with several kids) going on as we sat and waited for our neighbor, Claire, to arrive. It was a perfect opportunity to show her what was supposed to happen. Next to the "lesson" pool is a kiddie water park with every imaginable sprayer and slide available. I decided I would let her play for a while since we still had 25minutes until her lesson was supposed to begin. At 10:50 we went back out and waited (and waited). She was having a blast just dancing around and dipping her feet in the pool, the time seemed to fly. At 11:15 I assumed something was wrong. I knew I would have to take matters into my own hands. . .we were going to have a lesson today! So, yes, Mommy taught the lesson:) We learned "motorboat" bubbles and even got to the point she would put her entire face in the water. We learned to monkey crawl around the edge of the pool and finally, she practiced floating on her back. She did not love it, but she did it. . .several times. I am so proud of her! Not just for doing things I know made her uncomfortable, but for doing them for me! No arguing or whining. . .just the perfect little student. I am so excited to see what happens next week when she has an actual teacher that really knows how to swim! Here are a few photos. . .