I survived!  This weekend was EPIC – it was just crazy busy.  We had a friends birthday party which turned into an Easter egg hunt in the dark at our house with a dozen kiddos and then LJ’s birthday, a baseball game, and then Easter and all its goodness.  No big deal.  EXCEPT I ALMOST DIED.  Not really….but it was that stressful.  Seriously though – I wouldn’t have changed a thing….even with the pressure and the craziness and the self-doubt of whether I did enough to make the boys understand that they are so loved and so blessed.  Jeremy and I are trying to tell and show the boys at every turn that we have so much to be thankful for…..that our hearts should really overflow with gratitude and that we should do our very best to serve others.

Which leads me to my next point – I get it that not every one believes in God or Jesus or even the spiritual world.  But I will say this for me….I can not possibly imagine waking up every morning without hope.  Hope in the eternal.  Hope in the fact that one day I will be able to meet my Creator and I will hear that I was made…my children were made….very specifically.  very intentionally.  and that He always wanted me.  He always wanted us.  He wanted us so much that He did whatever was necessary to make sure we were pure enough to be with Him forever…and that it wasn’t anything I did…nothing I could earn or be or do…because I am OH so flawed….but through the most profound act of sacrifice.  And that is what Easter is to me.  It’s such a relief to teach my children that it is more than Easter eggs (even though they are pretty awesome), and more than matching outfits (again….all the heart eyes) and more than even time with family (which is probably the closest thing for me when it comes to paradise) …. that it’s about celebrating Jesus and what’s more – the fact that death couldn’t hold Him.  I hope they get that.  I hope that one day they can truly get a glimpse of the depth and breadth of God’s love.  It’s so good.  OH soo good.

Okay so grandparents – this is for you!  Here is a little look into our Easter festivities!  Love you!

Weston cracking me up….

I ordered the matching Sunday best outfits before Christmas from Gymboree.  We already had the socks and shirts so we just ordered the jackets and shoes and shorts (that had a sewn in belt).  And yes, it was a miracle that everyone fit in their shoes.

Sadly – this will probably be the last Easter for complete matching….someone hand me a tissue because that is just so sad.  I will have to develop some mad ‘coordinating’ skills but yeah….Will is in the top size available for most stores so this was kinda a final hoo-rah for Easter.  Sweet Maxi Knight was showing how we all felt about that fact 🙂

Earlier in the week we dyed eggs….thank goodness for drop cloths and my mom who helped!  They did glitter eggs this year and loved it!  Now we get to eat eggs for DAYS 🙂  Link up your favorite way to eat them because dude….egg salad, deviled eggs and salad toppings are getting kinda boring!

Some of our friends asked us if I would snap some pics of them right after church.  Meet the Pedrazas….

These are our people.  They are so fun and helpful and just the sweetest.  They are going through the adoption process right now and I am so excited for them.  I can not wait to meet their little baby!

Their kids are favorites for my kids.  Natalia is LJ’s favorite person and she takes care of him whenever the kids are all playing.  He seriously can’t get enough of her 🙂

And Nicky is Will’s & Weston’s best little bud.  He is very different than my boys but in a way that balances them out.  He is such a little defender of his big sister and also ridiculously handsome for a five year old.  Watch out ladies!

After church they had an Easter egg hunt in the lawn and the kids thought it was so fun.  I just liked watching that man right there with the babies walk around 🙂

This was the first year that LJ really understood and he was so cute!  He would say WOOK MOMMY WOOK!  AN EGG!

I asked Will if he wanted to take a picture with his friends Wyatt and Ben and Weston turned on a dime so he could be in it too!  It was so cute because truly Weston does believe that these big boys are his buddies too.  It’s so bittersweet as a parent to see Weston (my painfully shy kid) cling to Will (my social butterfly) and his buddies.  I tell myself all the time that I don’t know what is best – all I can do is create opportunities for Weston to make friends his age – but it’s so hard!  Any veteran mama’s have advice?  I don’t want to say that Will has his friends and Weston needs his own because I honestly don’t believe that…I think well rounded children should be able to play with a variety of ages!  But it’s increasingly hard because Weston doesn’t have those buddies yet and forming those relationships right away is harder for him.  Also – I definitely believe that the Bower boys should be best friends first and be defenders and playmates with each other before any other kiddo comes into the mix.  It’s just hard!  I mean…just look at his sweet face…

Easter morning was really sweet.  We sat in bed all together and talked about the story of Easter and how Jesus is still alive!  Then the boys went downstairs and found their baskets on the table.  This year Jeremy made me a basket (I helped him by giving him lots of hints!) and it kinda surprised me how he arranged it in a Halloween tub 🙂

And it was Maxi Knights first Easter!  I loved doing his little basket full of non-candy items 🙂

He got his favorite snacks, some socks, a new car book and a sweet little bunny!

The big boys all got the same thing….it’s so much easier to do it that way!  Just buy multiples!  Next year I think I might not buy any candy – they had SO much that they haven’t even touched 99% of their baskets!

They got all the generic treats and then a scratch art pad and a movie to share.  I haven’t watched it yet so we shall see if it’s age appropriate – there might be some fast forwarding in order 🙂

Jeremy had a basket too but he already took out the underwear and ate half the candy before I had a chance for a photo….so he said just show y’all an old photo of his baskets 🙂  Stinker.

I can’t be mad though….not when he makes me an Easter basket full of goodies!

He got me an awesome tank shirt that says Every Moment Matters (which is basically my photography mantra!) and then he bought some goodies for me to enjoy!  I am obsessed with Tervis cups after a sweet reader named Heather sent me one….now I collect them because they are amazing.  And I bought that Martha Holiday Book and told him to give it to me when I wasn’t expecting it.  He sure did that!  He also picked out some stuff that smells good (candle and sorbet lotion!) and crafty stuff that I hinted at in the clearance section of Target 🙂

Overall it was just such a wonderful holiday and I can’t wait to burn some wood and eat CHOCOLATE!  And I also made this slider with links to stuff we got so that you can shop for your own loved ones 🙂

I gotta go run!  I have to finish shooting the basement kitchen for you guys and I can’t wait to share that tomorrow!  Come back then to see the reveal!  And happy Easter to you guys!  I truly am so thankful for you all!