Egg hunt practice v.2.0

our final egg hunt practice

(before the real deal at my parents' house)

was held at a beautiful church in our neighborhood

they had a 2 and under category

(Go Cutie Cakes!)

and an over 2 category

(Go Cutie Face!)

the girls had so much fun running up and down the hill

searching for eggs buried in their thick lush grass

Remarkably, Cutie Face found about 20 pieces of chocolate

& Cutie Cakes found 8 bottles of bubbles and 3 bubble gums

J and i found the free coffee and cookies

donated by San Francisco and Alon's

fancy!

we also found cute junior high girls

with painted-on mustaches

who happily painted flowers on Cutie Face's hand and cheek

(she double dipped on the face painting session because 

Cutie Cakes forfeited her turn...

don't know why she was scared but Cutie Face didn't mind!)

i also found my newest fave photo...

if only Cutie Pie was wearing her matching dress

and looking at the camera...

can't have it all, i suppose :)

Cutie Face managed to fall asleep

maybe she was dreaming about the Easter bunny...

and maybe the sight of him was keeping Cutie Cakes awake...

the girls definitely have the Easter egg hunt thing

down pat

so here's to the real deal* on Easter Sunday

*clearly, hunting and gathering the most eggs is

NOT

the real deal 

but it is a fun game!

truly a Good Friday

every Friday is mommy/daughter breakfast dates

that is always good in my book--i cannot wait for Fridays!

this Friday was a bit different

Today is GOOD Friday

it was even appropriately dark and chilly today around noon!

Speaking of chills, I had the privilege of reading the girls

the story of what happened leading up to Jesus' arrest

and then what happened on Good Friday

It gave me such major chills to share it that

i got goose bumps

enough for Cutie Face to notice 

and run and get me a blanket!

after describing a kid-version of the brutality of the cross 

and how much Jesus loves us all to endure it

I took a cue from this blog

and drew red dots on their hands to symbolize the nail wounds

and wrote their names across it

(names smudged out for privacy!)

He died for Cutie Face

He died for Cutie Cakes

Cutie Face knows that even if she were the only one in the world

Jesus would still die for her--that's how much He loves her

she says that if she believes that He alone can save her from her sins

She won't go to Helen 

(the opposite of Heaven apparently)

we also made Easter and Spring cookies today

the girls picked out the cookie mold for me at Target

thanks girls!

they had an absolute blast frosting and decorating

even J commented on how nice and Springy they looked!

about half the frosting and sprinkles 

were on the floor, table, or in their mouths

(as clearly indicated in their crazy antics!)

Even Cutie Pie got into the decorating spirit!

today is the first day that i've noticed her eyeing food

she's growing up so fast! eek!

ahh, this mound of purple sprinkles on one tiny cookie

cracked me up

Cutie Cakes just couldn't get enough!

both girls were allowed to pick one from the pile cookie

and eat it

they definitely didn't need any instructions on how to do that!

then, during dinner, J finished reading the Good Friday story

following that, we made a Calvary hill and cross on top of a grave

Cutie Face drew an image of Jesus

and placed it inside the tomb

i forgot that i wanted her to wrap him in burial cloths

next year...

then we stuck a huge piece of our sidewalk in front of the tomb

and Cutie Face placed her 

awesomely drawn soldier

in front of it to guard it.

complete with sword :)

there was a reflection on the image so it might not look like it 

but it's a really neat drawing that i love!

i cannot wait to see what happens when we roll away the rock 

and she sees an empty tomb on Sunday! 

Dyeing to Color

...color-dye eggs, that is!

the cousins and the cuties trekked up

to the beautiful farm country of Alpharetta

for an Easter egg dyeing session and picnic

The kids were allowed to hunt for

FIVE eggs

to turn in for two prizes

the older girls definitely got the number

FIVE

done pat and had no issue finding just five

Cutie Cakes, though...

let's just say she tried to redeem herself from last Saturday

while the other girls finished hunting

Cutie Cakes stuffed her basket

we had a hard time convincing her that she needed to pare it down!

Thankfully, the eggs were empty so they weren't

that alluring

before it was time to dye the eggs,

we explored the farm and nursery

it was really fun to watch the girls discover everything.

we tried to do an older-cousin photo-op but it didn't last long:

thankfully, by then, it was time to head back down to dye the eggs

the girls all found and claimed their spaces

 

and could not wait to get their four eggs into the dye

the girls were SO patient as we waited to get instructions

poor B-man...not feeling well and not too keen to wait

finally the girls could dunk and drop

their eggs into the cups

they had so much fun watching the color seep in

and figuring out which color combos they wanted, etc

the twin and i were definitely impressed by the older kids

who made "sunset eggs"--red then orange then yellow stripes

and other elaborate dyeing patterns

but, truthfully, we were pleased with our girls' efforts, too!