Easter Pre-parties

Easter is one of my favorite holidays!  I love this time of year...of course, I just love the changing of the seasons anytime.  But, spring really is such a beautiful time.  It's a time when all things are made new.  How appropriate that Easter is celebrated during this time!  Our Father makes all things new!  It is because of His cruel and unimaginable death on the cross followed by His beautiful resurrection that we are made new.  Like the song says, "Then, the world was broken, fallen and battered and scarred.  You took the hopeless, the life, ruined, wasted, and marred...and made it new."

"He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then He said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'" Revelation 21:5

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 

As you know by now, Russ and I love spending time with family!  We are blessed with close relationships on both sides and lots of events for every holiday and occasion!  We began our Easter holiday with the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Jimmy and Roan's.  We were late, because my mom cooked a huge breakfast, and we don't pass up good food! Ha!  So the egg hunt had already started, and Russ and I drove down the - what seemed to be - 1/2 mile driveway with our windows down waving and talking to everyone as we passed.  We joked that we were on the parade route.

This is one of two times we get to see Russ's extended family...including Russ's cousin and my dear friend growing up, Season.  My first stop was to pick up her sweet baby boy!  I hogged him just like I did at Christmas, and she was happy to rest her arms.  Ha!

Me, Hunter, and Season

Ryan and Russ

While the kids finished finding the last of the hidden eggs, the adults stood around, ate, and visited in the beautiful sunny weather!  It was a perfect day for an egg hunt!

Leanna and Stephanie...two more of Russ's cousins

Roan filling us in on her recovery

This isn't just a family egg hunt.  Jimmy and Roan's family invites their church friends, homeschool friends, work friends, family friends, neighbors.  They have lots of friends.  The reason is because they are such good friends to others.  I think I heard the total count was about 60 children.  Add the babies and adults...and I'm sure there were close to or more than 100.  I'll have to ask Roan about the final head count.

Some of the kids with Nelson...a preacher their church supports in Africa visiting for a month

Once the guests began to trickle out, family members lingered to visit, laugh, play, and enjoy the wonderful day!

Brothers

Russ and his mom

Party of Two

After Russ's parents left, Russ and I hung around for the rest of the day.  Jimmy and Russ ran a few guy errands and got a smoothie while I joined Roan on her weekly grocery shopping trip.  As always, it was a nice day with family!

Julie, Russ's parents, Russ, and Olivia

We left Jimmy and Roan's around 4:30 so that we could be back in town in time for Kristin and Lee's cookout.  They decided to cookout for everyone, including Lee's mom.  We claim her as a Smith most days.  Ha!

Lee and Russ lighting the fire pit

When the sun went down, the air began to cool.  I was very happy to stand by the fire pit.  In fact, I was happy to sit by the fire pit while I ate too!  Lee has been working feverishly in his yard since spring began.  It was lovely!  He topped it off with tiki torches, a new dogwood tree, and other plants Saturday.  They have the perfect back yard for a PAR-TAY!

So we had one!

We spent the entire evening on the back porch enjoying the cool air and fire.  The food was delish!  The company was great!  The conversation left us with side splints from laughing, as always!

Since their back yard is the perfect place to party, you can't expect anything less from this family!  The next few hours were filled with music, dancing, silliness, and lots and lots of FUN!  I'm just saying...How many of you did the Cupid Shuffle with your preacher before your Easter service?  I did!  

Overall, I'd say our Easter pre-parties were a success!  Not a wasted minute of time.  If you're home for the holidays...you gotta make good use of it!