Spring Break: Easter with Keri!!

Easter Sunday the kids woke up to hoppy, happy treats and surprises.

We got dressed and headed to Palm Desert to go to church with Karen and Roger (Keri's aunt and uncle.) 

Keri and Jason met us there for a minute before church. Jason is a giant!! I think he said he is 6'2"!! He's fifteen. He'll get taller! The kids were super excited to see Keri and Jason. Even more excited than to go to Disneyland!! They wanted to see Nicole too...but she is living in New York. 

After church we headed to the house to have Easter dinner and Easter fun with all Keri's family. It was so, so  great to just hang out with everyone. Chris and Keri worked their tails off in the kitchen preparing an Easter feast!! Delicious! There was a jellybean guessing jar...I think maybe Logan was calculating the number of jellybeans in this pic.

Ellie got to show off her tricks for a new audience.

Keri had adorable Easter buckets for the kids full of fun stuff including Disney character figures and new watches! 

Chris had stuff to decorate cupcakes and the kids really got into it. Somehow they decided to have it be a decorating contest. (Logan's idea, I'm sure.) And in the end Karen was the judge. She verbally awarded some great winners such as; "Most flowery". "Bunniest". "Most colorful". 

Jason and his older cousins helped hide eggs. Then Logan, Ellie, Connor, and Holly were on the hunt. Connor and Holly are Karen and Roger's kids and they are also adopted. So awesome to have that adoption connection within our adopted family. 

The kids great-grandparents, Bonnie and Gene, came for a few hours. It was so fun to see them and chat. They are such gracious, giving people who clearly have kind hearts. They have recently moved to an assisted living home and are still trying to get used to it. It sounds like they are the most friendly, caring couple in the place.

We have always told the kids about when we met Bonnie and Gene in the hospital the day after the twins were born. They talked about the beautiful babies and shed tears. And Gene called Logan "Jake the snake" since Keri had named him Jacob.

Bonnie gave all the grand-kids (including Logan and Ellie) an Easter card with $20 in it!! The kids were ecstatic! And I love it that they have an Easter card from their great-grandparents! Such a keepsake.

And here's Logan and Ellie's family (Nicole is missing.)

I don't know who was happier....Ellie and Logan to be around their 'big brother", or Jason to be see his "little brother and sister". They all feel that way about each other and it is really sweet to see. Makes me wonder why we don't see each other more often!

 

 

Karen. (Keri's aunt who played a role in our family coming to be, by being there for Keri and encouraging her to go to LDS Family Services ten years ago.) Keri. (The amazing woman who made our family possible.) And me. (The luckiest mom on the planet!)

Grandma Chris. (Keri's mom.) The hands behind the scenes that made our Easter dinner and festivities so perfect!

We brought Keri a gift box full of fun little things that made us think of her. We gave her a copy of her favorite childhood stories. Here Ellie is reading one out loud, "Humbug Witch". It's a darling little story that I had never heard of before Keri told us about it. 

HOW WE LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!!! One day when Logan and Ellie are old enough, they will realize the lesson they can learn from their birth mom, Keri. Lessons like life will knock you down, but somehow you can still find the strength to get back up. And life might not turn out quite like you had planned, but it will still turn out right. And taking a wrong turn (or lots of wrong turns) does not have to determine your final destination. That the reason we celebrate Easter is real.

 

Happiest Easter Ever!!