photo shoot at church

Everyone arrived at the church early enough to get some family photos before the service. We took some after church too...cause you always need more photos...right?? ;)


The Ruddick boys in their ties. Tate's is part of his onesie. :)
Griffin, Tate & Ronan

Our family

Dan, Kara, Summer & Brooke Murphy-Hecht

The Ruddick family

The Chase family

Another family shot...cause the first one didn't show our (my) Easter clothes.
(I know I'm ridiculous. :P)

Sadie & Summer in matching dresses.

Kara matched too, but wasn't up for a group photo. :P

The Murphy-Hechts with Memaw & Papa

And one of the sisters...we missed you, Erik!

I really enjoyed our Pastor's sermon & was thoroughly impressed that he didn't use any notes! It was a beautiful message of how Jesus bridges the gap between us & God (using a beautiful wooden bridge made just for the sermon).

I am so thankful for the peace I have in knowing that Jesus died so that all may be forgiven. But the reason we celebrate is that He is bigger than death & he came back to life. His life served as an example of how we should live & his death & resurrection make up for the fact that we could never live up to his example...he paid the consequence for our sins & gives us forgiveness & hope! Happy Easter!

easter morning

Our Easter Bunny brought some much needed socks & Easter shirts for the boys! As well as some fun art supplies & treats. :)

What a good sport!

Finn noticed the hidden eggs right away, but he was patient & waited for Cedar before going after them. :)

Using all sorts of maneuvers to find the eggs! ;)

More eggs!

Checking out what's inside...

Mmmm...nothing like Easter candy, first thing in the morning!

Great work, boys! :P

After the egg hunt, we ate breakfast & opened the Resurrection Eggs that Finley received from our church last year. There are 3 eggs & each egg holds several small objects that represent portions of the Biblical Easter Story. It was a little lengthy to go through each egg (for young kids), but Finn really enjoyed checking out each little object & in the end he told me "That was a cool story!" He knew parts already & was excited to hear it all again...especially when it involves tiny objects to play with. :)

I'm excited to make Resurrection Eggs a part of our yearly Easter Celebration, to teach our boys the real reason we celebrate Easter - Jesus rose from the grave!

***

A few photos before heading to church...

Family photo, self timer...always "fun". :P

Another one for good measure...
Now off to church!

big kid egg hunt

Later, we went to Gretchen & Josh's house for dinner & for a big-kid egg hunt.

Cedar, Ronan, Cohen, Griffin, Finley, Sadie
(not pictured: Tyler, Summer, Kara, & Tate)

Finn was assigned the yellow eggs!

They searched on the Ruddick's second & third floors. :)

Cedar found markers & was happy to color while the other kids were on the hunt.

Finn's loot!

Baskets for the kids.

Finley & Memaw

A new hat!

Ronan got one too! :)

Josh used a torch to light candles on Aaron's birthday cookie.

Not done celebrating yet...

Finn, Griffin & Summer, enjoying their dessert.

What a fun, full day! Whew. Time to head home & get the kids to bed so that the Easter Bunny can come to our house! ;)

coloring eggs

Saturday afternoon, my cousin Dan, his wife Brooke & their daughters Kara & Summer came down from Portland to celebrate Easter. We started by coloring eggs!

Finley & Griffin
(Notice Finn's new, green cast! Long story, short: he got the blue one off, they took an x-ray, decided it needed more healing, he got a green cast. I'm sure I'll share more later, if needed.) :\

Memaw calmly helped Cedar. She handled the potential messes better than I did! :P

He wasn't content just coloring the table cloth. He wanted to dye eggs like everyone else!

Finn stuck with it from the first to the last egg. He really enjoyed the process. :) I hope to enjoy it again, someday. ;) I'm mostly kidding...it just is a lot less stressful when I'm not worrying about eggs cracking & dye spilling. But I'm sure when I look back in the years to come, I'll realize these were the good years, right?? That's what I hear. ;)

Looking for more eggs!

Gretchen & Tate

While we waited for the eggs to dry, my parents put on an empty plastic egg hunt for the 1-2 year-olds. Cedar got the hang of it, with a lot of help from older cousins. :)

Kara & Summer were running for the eggs!

Kara & Summer

Cedar's cheering squad/coaching team. :P

Cedar, Summer & Kara
Cedar is about 9 months younger than the girls, but he's just about the same size as them. He happens to be closer to my camera, making him look like he towers over them...but he's close to the same height. Probably heavier though. :P

I love the look on the girls' faces. What is he doing?? I'm pretty sure they were happy to clean those up for him. ;)

happy birthday aaron!

On Saturday, April 23rd, we celebrated Aaron's 37th birthday!

Birthday boy!
Meatball subs/hot dogs for lunch. :)

Cuddles with Tate.

My turn!

Finley discovered that my parents' Praying Mantis egg had hatched. 50-100 baby Praying Mantises filled their little habitat. So amazing! They hope some will survive in their yard to protect their garden.

Present time!

Work shirts from us.

Happy happy birthday, Aaron! Turning 37 wasn't so bad...right? ;)