Easter Weekend

***Though this little disclaimer is written at the beginning of the post, it was actually added at the end. So this is my first real post and HOLY COW it took so long! Next time I will have to include less pictures and make it a lot shorter. I'm sure it will go faster as I get more used to it, right? Any tips!?!?


We had a fun little Easter weekend and I thought I'd share a little about it. We started Friday morning with the cousins when we met at Grandma's house to color eggs. It's amazing how fast 6 kids can color 90 eggs and the mess that can be made in the mean time! My mom insists on lots of eggs though. This is a tradition of my mom's that she started when the first grandchild was born. It's lots of fun and I love that it's at Grandma's house!

Ella and Kenzie

Grandma even helped Ava color an egg and then

let her play with them before she went down for

a much needed nap.

Then I took the girls to Going Bonkers. It was our first time there and I didn't really know what to expect. My friend described it well by saying it's like a McDonalds playground, but bigger and bouncy. It was lots of fun and a great way to burn some energy!

Ella, Kenzie, and Kylie

My little monkey!

We ended Friday by having a girl cousins sleepover at our house! The girls thought it was so super cool to campout in the living room in a tent! They were such big helpers to Dave when setting it up too!

Ella may have actually been a better observer!

All ready for bed! Don't you love Ava's post

pony tail mohawk!?!

Saturday was busy getting ready for Sunday. We had to do shopping for our part of the Easter dinner and of course finish shopping to complete the Easter ensembles. For as long as I can remember growing up, I always had a new pretty Easter dress to wear. My favorite part of it though wasn't just the dress. In true girl fashion, it was the accesories to go with the dress...the shoes, the purse, the jewelry, and most importantly, the HAT! Yes, I loved loved LOVED Easter hats. Sadly to me, my girls don't quite care for the hats just yet. I'm hoping that will come later though. But here are a few pictures from Easter Sunday in their dresses (my first time to buy matching dresses and it was SO MUCH FUN for me!) And then a few from the festivities at my parents' house. (I'm actually not going to include pictures of it all...my mom goes overboard...coloring the eggs, egg hunt for the kids, baskets for all the kids, big dinner...but here are a few)

Okay, so this isn't the best pic of me or

my girls, BUT it was the ONLY picture of

me with them on Easter Sunday. I

totally forgot to get a family pic when we

were all dressed up nice. Oh well...this will do!

My pretty girls!

Hunting for eggs...

Ava is too small this year to participate in the outdoor egg hunt so Ella put some of her eggs in a basket for her. She is such a good big sis'...she even voluntarily emptied the eggs since Ava can't have the candy yet (or maybe that was because she wanted all the candy!) Regardless, she is so good to Ava and such a big helper. Ava thought it was great; my little stinker still managed to find a few jelly beans and try to eat them. She did get one in her mouth and she was pretty angry when I got it back out. Good thing she's easily distracted...

The Riska cousins minus Rees (unfortunately my

camera wasn't quick enough to keep up with his

running off).

All in all, Easter was a great fun day. I was grateful for 8:30 church and the opportunity to start our day off by thinking about the true meaning behind it all. I was also very proud of Ella this year; she is such a good example to us and I know that even though she can't quite express it, her testimony of Jesus is growing and I know she felt of the importance of this special day.