Easter Celebration and Dan's Homecoming!

While Dan was traveling through France on his school's Senior Trip, we celebrated Easter in Virginia! One of our local parks has a fantastic Easter event and egg hunt, so I took the girls there the Saturday before Easter.

We got there a few minutes before the event started, and there was already a crowd of families

They had several bounce houses, and one inflatable obstacle course where two kids could race at a time, and Emma beat the older boy she was racing!  This is her victory pose. Heh!

There was a toddler area with toys, small slides, and tunnels, which Hallie loved.

The girls had a blast at the Easter egg "hunt".  The event coordinators just dumped eggs all over the grass in a fenced off area of the park, so the kids didn't have to find the eggs at all.  Hallie picked up two and was completely satisfied with having one in each hand, but Emma grabbed as many as she could carry in her bag before all the eggs were claimed.  

Then they played a giant game of Connect Four

Until Emma realized that the game pieces made terrific bracelets!

We watched Emma play in the bounce house, then headed home for Hallie's nap time

On Easter morning, we had bunny and egg-shaped pancakes for breakfast

And the girls put on their fancy dresses for church

Hallie kept asking for a bow in her hair, and then she'd rip it out as soon as I put one in. Oh well.

Emma insisted on a glamorous pose to match her dress. Ha!

Easter picture at church

After church, we headed to Dan's parents' house to spend time with the family and have Easter dinner.

It was a full, fun house!

After dinner, we hid eggs all over the backyard, and let the younger kids find their eggs first. Each kid  was allowed to find a certain number of eggs, and then they left the rest behind for the other kids to find. Mom Jester is talking to the kids about Jesus' death and resurrection which paid the price for our sins - the source of our hope and salvation as Christians!

After the younger kids found their eggs, the older kids hunted for the harder-to-find eggs.  

A group shot of all the cousins on Easter. We had the best time together!

Top row L to R: Benjamin, Nathan, Dylan, Tucker, and Aaron

Bottom row L to R: Miriam, Naomi, Micah, Josiah, Emma, Chloe, and Hallie

 And then ... Dan came home!!!!!

His flight was delayed by a couple of hours that night, but despite his bedtime arrival, we were SO happy to have him home!

Emma celebrated Dan's homecoming by asking for a baguette, just like they eat in France.

 Hallie celebrated Dan's homecoming by falling face-first on the sidewalk.

Dan and I are taking turns giving each other a break here and there, and we're just appreciating being together as a family again. Those two weeks apart felt like forever!