Easter Weekend 2014

This is always a busy weekend for us with Doug working a bunch and this year he now has the service on Saturday night at Oakland, but thankfully we still got a nice long morning family time.  The weather was gorgeous, so we decided we would spend as much time as possible outside.  We headed to Frick Park for a little hike in the woods.  The boys LOVED it.  And I loved seeing the boys enjoying nature and it was exciting to see the bright green sprouting from the grass, to the weeds, the flowers to the trees.  

Doug made up a game for the boys that they had to stand on these logs and not fall while giving each other high fives.  So cute.  The boys thought it was great.  

After awhile in the woods, we went up to the playground.  The boys played around for a little bit, but then remembered about the big blue slide and that's what they did the rest of the time and they had a blast.  

Doug decided that it was time to initiate Penn into this Pittsburgh kid tradition, so he had his first slide ride with Daddy.  

He loved it!  I took a video.  It's tough to tell, but yes, he is squealing with glee!

Now, you can tell how much he loved the ride in this picture when he went down with me.  Doug caught such a great moment of sheer pleasure and fun!!

After our fun at the park we grabbed some food-to-go at Chick-fil-A down at the Waterfront and then took it down to the riverfront to eat in the grass overlooking the "Mon" (the Monongahela River).  It was a beautiful picnic (and even better since I didn't have to prepare it!).  After that we got the boys home for naps and they slept hard!  Koen and I had another relaxing afternoon (well, I multi-tasked).  I woke Tav up at 4pm and he played for a bit and then he, Koen and I did our annual Easter tradition of making Empty Tomb cookies.  I don't like the way these meringue-type cookies taste, but I love the activity of making them with the boys.  With each step there is a part of the Easter story to share from the Scriptures.  It was Tavin's first year participating which was exciting to me.  I just love these hands-on opportunities to share the Gospel with the boys.  Here are a few pictures I caught amidst the cookie-making.   This is when they "beat" the pecans with a wooden spoon.

Tav got to dump in the "sweet" sugar.

They whipped the mixture until it was "white as snow."

Folding in the nuts.

After everything was mixed, the spoonfuls of batter were dropped onto a cookie sheet (and looked like rocky tombs) and we sealed them in the oven.  Koen and Tavin each put a piece of tape on the oven door to seal it.  Then we talked about how sad the disciples and other followers of Jesus were when He had died and was buried and sealed in the tomb.  Here are the sad faces (Tavin was more serious about it than Koen obviously).

On Sunday morning, we got to open the tomb (although don't tell the boys that Doug and I made pizza after they were in bed, so we had to borrow the tomb for a bit).  

I forgot to take a picture of the empty tomb part of these cookies, but when you take them off the cookie sheet or break them in half, the insides are somewhat hollow and you can proclaim that the tomb is empty.  He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!!

We got out of the house quite quickly this morning and it was amazing, the boys were really cooperative and pleasant (Sundays can be our roughest morning for some reason), it was a special Easter blessing for me.  I checked the big boys in downstairs and Penn stayed up with Doug (he usually hangs with me during worship before going down to nursery).  When I came back upstairs I found Penn, the cutest church greeter in the Burgh, outside with Pastor Daddy.  

We also attempted a few family photos for Easter 2014.  Here's our pre-service try.

And after service.

Then the boys ran away into the tunnel, which was a lot more fun apparently than posing with the family (big surprise).

The church service was beautiful...so reverent, so worshipful, so celebratory.  I loved it.  Oh, and Douglas had a great sermon.  =)  After church we headed to the playground as it was another glorious Spring day.  Uncle Nate and the boys joined us since Aunt Megan did nursery at the service and stayed to attend the 11am.  It was fun having him there as the boys loved rough housing a bit with him.  Here are the few pics I got during our time there running around with our 5 boys altogether!

That wasn't all our Easter fun with these friends though, for the second year in a row (we are hoping it's a new tradition) we had Easter dinner at Nate & Megan's.  Koen and Tavin were so excited to get to go to their house and be with them and their boys.  All 5 boys got along so well.  I was especially proud of Koen for playing well with kiddos that were all younger than he.  The boys came up with all sorts of total boy games outside (tearing up grass, playing with trucks, rolling down the hill, etc.).  

Alex and Andy had a really cool visitor for Easter break...their school pet...a bunny!  How appropriate!  The big kids liked it.

Penn loved it.

I missed the opportunity to take a picture of the beautiful meal that Megan prepared.  Ham, mashed sweet and white potatoes, green beans, an apple and brussel sprout warm salad and a toasted coconut carrot cake.  Yum!  Thank you, Nate and Megan, for the lovely meal, but more importantly the special time with you all.  We looked forward to it all week, getting to be together as a family with your family after such a busy season.  We love you guys!  It was a great end to our Easter weekend 2014.  Happy Easter!