Happy Easter

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." 

Psalm 106:1

HALLELUJAH!!  HE IS RISEN!!

“Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Corinthians 15:55-57

We started Easter Sunday out with Easter baskets and an egg hunt at home.  ( If you get my blog by email, you'll have to go to my blog website to see the video http://vandenberges.blogspot.com/)

Then we got all dressed up and headed to church.  The girls went to Sunday School, then we brought them to the worship service.  Emma fell asleep... I guess we wore them out on the camping trip!

There's a beautful flower cross in the courtyard, but neither of them would go near it to take a picture.  Emma wanted to go to her Mother's Day Out classroom.  This was the only pose we got all morning!

Tony got them to look out the window at the cross.

We finally made it out there.  Tony wanted to be sure he got in a picture.

There's the cross!!

Still no posing, but sweet...

And a tour through our prayer garden before heading home.

I love to see this view...

Back at home with a great smile.

We dyed Easter eggs and the girls decorated them with markers.  This was all that was left by the time I got the camera out...

Here's a  cute video of Anna and Tony playing soccer Saturday night.

"I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me."  Psalm 13:6

Anna's First Ride in the Kelty

So Jessica wanted a picture of Anna's first ride in the Kelty Backpack since I posted the last time she'll likely be in it.  I'm pretty sure the very first time was at the REI store and then at Palo Duro Canyon, neither I have a picture of.  This was on the same trip as Palo Duro, in Colorado.  She was about 9 months old.

I couldn't resist putting this picture of her in the tent on that trip.  It was super cold so she was wearing Tony's socks on her hands. She thought it was hilarious and was waving her hands all around.

This was her first camping trip at 3 months old.

Thank you for making me look for this Jessica!!

We went camping in Huntsville on Good Friday and Saturday last weekend.  It was a little on the hot side, but there was a nice breeze making for a beautiful weekend.   Setting up the tent is always so exciting!

Tony made a little swing out out of a rope.   Emma was a little wobbly on it, but she could do it horsey-style.

Anna was a big fan!

We went over to the boat dock late that afternoon.  We were too late to get a canoe, but we found lots of shells off dock.

I could see our campsite from the dock.  That's our tent in the trees.

Hot dogs for dinner!

Can you see how dirty Emma's face is?  She loves picking up handfuls of dirt/sand and I guess she ends up rubbing it on her face.

Pretty sunset light.

Fishing on the pier Saturday morning...

After fishing we went and got a canoe.  It was exciting to do this - for the first time I felt comfortable that my children would be able to contain themselves well enough to stay in the boat.  Emma loved it and crawled all over and splashed her hands in the water.

Anna stayed put and seemed nervous and kept asking to get out of the boat.  Later when we were looking at pictures at home she said she wanted to go back in the boat, so there's hope!

Anna wanted to try out our Kelty backpack.

I think she's at the weight limit, or at least Tony's weight limit.  This will probably be the last time she rides in it.

Emma found some more dirt to rub on her face!!

This is what Anna's face looks like when she's talking. :)

After we got packed up, Tony went to ride his bike and we headed to the little beach by the boat dock.  It was so crowded that we would have had to park a mile from the beach.  No thanks!!!  We opted for the air conditioned nature center instead, and I was thankful for the crowd.  There was a nice lady there who explained to the girls what kind of animals all the skulls belonged to. 

Praise God for his beautiful creation and State Parks!!!

Good-bye Elizabeth

Our sweet friend Elizabeth will be moving to Japan this week with her mom, dad and baby brother.  Her mom Jaci threw a fun little going away party.  She had an Easter egg hunt...

 I could tell Emma had some experience hunting eggs at school.  She got just as many as Anna.

Then they played "pin the tail on the airplane".  She managed to do this in a very orderly manner, considering the average age of the participants was probably just under 3.

Then somebody got all the kids to sit down and watch after they took their turn.

There's the whole crew!

And pizza and cake too!!!  Thanks for a great party!  May God bless the Zahn's in Japan!!!

Here's another cute picture of my girls at home.  The car has been hanging in the garage since Christmas I think.  We needed to get it out of the way for some reason and just never got it back down.  The girls asked for it the other day, and they have since passed lots of time taking each other to the hospital to fix a broken leg.  Tony had recently told me a story of a childhood friend who got his leg broken by a car in a parking lot, and they were around to hear it.  We think that's why they made up this game.  :)