Easter 2021- Schut celebration.

We celebrated Easter in Des Moines this year at my parents house. Always special and even more so after Covid! We had a fun time all being together.  Sweet Uncle Kley is reading an Easter book to the girls!

Family egg hunt!

The best whole fam shots we got. Family photos with everyone are my favorite!

Our niece/cousin Averie is getting so big! Unfortunately, the girls and I had colds so we had to admire her from afar, but better than nothing!

So thankful for amazing grandparents on both sides!

Aunt Kayla is awesome! We are sad that she graduates college in a month and won't live in the same town as us anymore, but are excited for her in her next adventures as a nurse.

Nephew/cousin Murphy is getting so big too! He was loving hitting golf balls and it was adorable. He's actually quite good for a one-year-old!

Norah is such a great cousin! Lucy and Ellory are too, but Norah's bond is a bit different because there is more of an age gap. I hope to always make intentional time to be in each other's lives!

Yay for a family picture with everyone smiling!

Our three beautiful girls!

Always love a visit from my good friend Stephanie too! I also got to visit with my friend Lauren from high school, but I forgot to take a picture with her. Thankful for our little hometown, but also grateful to not live too far from Des Moines to keep the connections there also when we visit. (Stephanie doesn't live in Des Moines, but her family does, so it's nice we get to see each other on some holidays when we are both visiting family.)

Happy Easter! What a glorious reason to celebrate. Forever grateful for forgiveness and the promise of eternal life for those who believe. He is risen!

Easter 2021- De Jong celebration.

Celebrating Easter is always special! So thankful for the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life! It was great this year to celebrate with family, since we didn't get to last year because of COVID. The De Jongs do a scavenger hunt with clues in eggs every year. So fun! My MIL ties each clue to a Christian aspect and then a place to find it where they get a little gift and the next clue. So fun!

Testing out the new jump ropes the girls got!

The girls gave cousin Will a bubble machine and it was a hit!

Happy Easter! Our family and cousin shots didn't go so great, but oh well! My MIL snapped a bunch and these were the best of the group (who wants to take pictures when you have Easter toys to play with?). 

Easter fun 2021.

Holidays are so special with little kids! Watching the joy on their face to learn and celebrate is so special. All three of our girls got to sing on stage with their Sunday School classes and wave their palm branches for Palm Sunday and it was so special! Extra special since this was the first year Lucy and Ellory were old enough to do it, and also because we didn't have Palm Sunday or Easter services in person last year. The sweetest sight to watch them sing for Jesus! Norah thought it was really cool that Kley was playing guitar that day also, so they were "on stage" together. They were thrilled to wear their Easter dresses. I curled Norah's hair and she wore one of my hair clips, and she looked in the mirror and said she'd never been more beautiful. The best!

We celebrated as a family early since we were visiting my family over Easter. The girls enjoyed dying eggs!

The cutest three bunnies in all the land!

Opening Easter baskets.

It was really wet outside the morning we celebrated, so we had our egg hunt inside, but we had just as much fun and the girls loved it!

We also did Resurrection Eggs together, which was special also (where you open an egg a day for twelve days leading up to Easter and each egg has something that tells part of the Easter story). The best reason to celebrate- Jesus is risen! Hallelujah! 

Recent reads.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware- The main character, Lo, is a travel journalist who gets to embark on a small cruise ship's maiden voyage to write about it. While on board, she witnesses someone being thrown overboard, but no one believes her due to some personal issues she's going through that make her not seem credible. All evidence seems to have been wiped away. What follows is a suspenseful story of how she tries to prove that what she saw was true and how she keeps herself safe. I thought it was entertaining!

The Simplified Life: Tactical Tools for Intentional Living by Emily Ley- This was a fun read if you are into simplifying, planning, and organizing. She offers practical tips and tools for making space for what matters most. Each chapter is about a different topic, like meal planning or finances, and how to make that process easier. I don't feel like I personally learned a ton, because I am an organized and planned person by nature, but this would be a great read for someone looking for tips.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman- This story is about Nina, who loves books and prefers to be alone. She grew up with a single mom who was gone a lot, and learns as a young adult that her father that she never knew has passed away and finds out she has siblings and nieces/nephews. She starts to learn to let people in- both her family and a love interest. I didn't love this book, but it was good enough to finish.