Easter 2016

Grateful for the Easter promise.
The entire week before Easter we had been reading Riley stories about this wonderful holiday, educating him on the real reason about Easter. That it's not about the bunny and candy, just like Christmas is not about Santa and presents, but it's about Jesus. As simple as we could, we told him what had happened to Jesus and what happened three days later. So on that Sunday as we were driving to church he said, "Is Jesus alive now? Is He all better?" Aw, it really made me happy hearing him be so concerned about Jesus. I know that the bible stories we read to him are really impacting him and I pray that we, as his parents continue to strive to live honorably and to rear him {and his siblings} the right way. A way you can help me {us} is to pray that we can stay levelheaded especially during those trying times when our children are being challenging and stubborn. That's always a real test for me, to not get overwhelmed with any of them. To remember to take deep breaths and excuse myself if I have to so I can cool off. I've improved big time in keeping myself calm but one can always work harder at it.

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It was a cloudy and very windy day on Easter Sunday. It totally felt like I had stepped back to the middle of Fall. It definitely had a weird feeling to it, not eerie but just weird.
Had a nice time at church, about ten people got baptized. We stayed after the service and partook in some light lunch. The ham croissant sandwich was quite good.

Given that we don't have family near us we tend to change how we celebrate certain holidays each year. Sundays feel like solemn days to me most of the time and at times they also feel boring, this is why I do not like to be home on Sundays. To me, it feels like once we get home from church the day is over when it is not. That can put me in a sour mood real quick.
After church we went home to change into something more comfortable then we headed out to spend the afternoon at the zoo. We recently renewed our membership a few weeks ago, when we were here we didn't get a chance to see the entire zoo because we got here with only an hour to spare before the place closed for the day. This time Riley and Jacob wanted to make sure that we got to see the bears and the monkeys.

I like the big cats myself. I think they are gorgeous animals.

I don't know why we've never come across this bird feeding area before. Well, glad we came across it now. Riley enjoyed feeding the parakeets. After a few minutes I had to step out and get some cool air. This place was too warm for me.

It was a nice surprise that Sydna's job closed for Easter. Happy that she got to spend this wonderful holiday with us. We all agreed to eat at the Spaghetti Factory. It had been a year since we last ate here. Wow! We do love eating here. Whenever we're craving pasta we come here.

Once we got home Riley got another chance to hunt for eggs. He was excited to open eggs that had money inside them.

I guess I failed to post Riley's picture with the Easter bunny on here back when it was taken. I know I posted it on my Instagram feed. So here he is. {it's a picture of a picture, too lazy to scan it}

He was really excited about taking a picture with the Easter bunny but unsure about sitting on his lap. He probably thought he would stand next to him just like how we take pictures together, lol, because when the lady sat him on the Easter bunny's lap he looked over at me with a concern look on his face. I told him it was fine. That's funny.
This was the last year for Riley to get a picture with the Easter bunny.