Easter Activities!

Saturday we had an Easter Egg Hunt and party at Malvern Hill.  The girls (especially Anna Kate) were so excited about it!  It is a big outreach that our church does every year.  Anna Kate was very enthusiastic last week about stuffing eggs with invitations and taking them everywhere we went - the library, the park, etc!  It was such a fun and easy way to involve her in outreach and evangelism.  She absolutely loves to tell people about Jesus and invite them to church.

Saturday arrived and it was pouring down rain.  And cold.  Very cold.  But we didn't let it put a damper on things!  The hunt and all the other activities were moved inside (including a huge bouncy house!) and the morning was a great success!  We were able to meet a number of families from our community who don't have a church home and we are hoping that they will join us this weekend for our Easter services. 

And of course, the kids had a wonderful time!  The four and under group had their hunt first.  I wasn't sure if Caroline would get the hang of it, but oh she did!

 

Anna Kate was a pretty good egg-hunter herself!

She even found the golden egg!  The finder of the golden egg got to pick a special prize.  She picked a bubble-blowing lawn mower and has been waiting patiently for the sun to come out so that she can mow the lawn with her Daddy!

 

And as usual, it was a little difficult to get a picture of the two of them together.  Such is life with a 3 year old and an 18-month old, I guess!

They also had a great time doing crafts...

And decorating cupcakes!

 

And then it was time to don our rain jackets once again and head home!

 

Oh, and speaking of Easter eggs, we have been doing a family devotional called the 12 days of Easter that goes along with the Resurrection Eggs that you've probably seen.  I found it on the blog "2 Teaching Mommies" and it has been great.  We did it last year too, but obviously the girls seem to understand it a little better this year.  I know we're already half way through, but here is the link:  12 days of Easter.

We have really enjoyed it so far.  It is accessible enough for even little ones to understand, but it doesn't gloss over the sadness of what Jesus went through for us.  It has been really neat to see how God has been using it to prick Anna Kate's heart and to hopefully begin drawing her to himself.  We can't wait to celebrate the joy of the Resurrection together on Sunday!

Animal Sounds

Caroline has been working hard on learning all of her animal sounds!  Her favorites are the doggie and the lion (or tiger, or bear, or anything that roars).  Here's a little video I took this afternoon of her doing a few of them.  It was cut short by Anna Kate coming in and distracting her.  But seeing her reaction to her sister is pretty cute too!  Enjoy!


Oh, and it kind of reminded me of another video taken in May of 2011.  Big sister at almost the exact same age!  Other than the hair, I see quite a few similarities.  And their voices sound almost identical to me! 

Sweet Sisters

Oh how these baby girls love one another.  They really do.  I mean, of course they fight over toys, but other than that, their days are spent just loving being together.  They read together...

They learn together...

(They are working on their fine motor and counting skills here with dried pasta)

They ride together...

And they dance together.

Anna Kate loves to teach Caroline everything she knows about life and Caroline loves taking it all in.

Caroline has just started to figure out humor lately and she loves to make Anna Kate laugh.  Anna Kate just cracks up hysterically when Caroline does something silly - like puts a bowl on her head, or makes a funny face, or tickles her toes and says "Ticka Ticka Ticka".

These sweet girls are such a blessing to my life and I hope that their relationship continues to grow and blossom into a deep friendship that lasts a lifetime.

I love this quote from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen about siblings:

"Children of the same family, of the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply."

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

I know this post is a few days late since Dr. Seuss's birthday was actually on Saturday, but that day was overshadowed by the birth of my new nephew, Colton, so I didn't get this post up until today!  But, we had a lot of fun doing some special Dr. Seuss activities last week, as well as wearing our Dr. Seuss outfits.  A sweet lady in our church made the girls these precious Dr. Seuss pillowcase dresses which they wore to the library on Thursday and then again on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take their picture until bedtime on Saturday night and they weren't really in the mood.  But I did get a couple of cute reading pictures.

And then they wanted to dance...

And lastly, I'll leave you with Anna Kate's rendition of the Cat in the Hat.  I cut out the pieces, but she did all of the gluing of the pieces and drawing of the mouth and whiskers!