“The greatest day in history, death is beaten, you have rescued me. Shout it out – Jesus is alive!” These are the opening lyrics from one of my latest favorite songs “Happy Day”, and they’re still resounding in my head after leading worship on Easter Sunday. Personally, Easter is my favorite holiday. On Good Friday I always reflect on the fact that if it weren’t for Jesus willingly suffering the cruelties of the crucifixion so that I could know God then I would be one mean-spirited, used up, selfish woman! Ah, but then Easter comes and I’m reminded that the cross wasn’t the end of the story… it’s the fact that he rose from the dead that makes all the difference! Many prophets and saints have died having taught good things and lived fairly good lives by our standards, but only ONE rose from the dead! And that brings me hope. Hope that I too will rise from the dead one day to meet my God face to face. Hope that I will rise from the “dead places” in my heart while I’m still here on Earth. Hope that makes me believe if God can raise Christ from the grave then he can do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g! So, that’s why I love Easter. But along with that celebration comes some wonderful family time, excellent food, and fun traditions!…

The fun began on Good Friday with the coloring of Easter eggs.

Saturday morning we did our Easter egg hunt inside the house. We weren’t sure if Elli would get the idea or even be interested in trying to find the eggs, but she surprised us by finding the first two within minutes of starting the hunt!

The girls showing off their trophies!

Later that night Elli decided there was no sense in waiting for mom to take off her clothes before getting in the bath…

Sunday after church we headed to Mom and Dad Schemanski’s house for a big family dinner and Easter egg hunt.  Auntie Tera with her sweet Ruby Marie… almost 3 months old now.

We knew this would be a nearly impossible task, but we attempted to get all 7 cousins to sit still and look at the camera for a picture… we took like 10 pics and this was as good as it got!

Time for the outdoor Easter egg hunt!…

Who knew an Easter egg hunt could require helmets?! This was a hilarious sight… for some reason our girls decided they needed helmets for this activity!

I don’t want to boast here, but do you love my impeccable fashion design?

“I spy something greeeeeen…”

Nya LOVED the Easter egg hunt!

Cousin Sadie with her basket full.

Papa and Grami came early Sunday morning to get the girls ready for church since Ty and I were practicing for worship.

The girls were quite excited to open their eggs and find the treasures inside! … after a quick horsie ride of course.