The Tomb is Empty!

On the Thursday of A Team Week 184 I spent the evening packing up our stuff for Easter weekend in the U.P.  Since my brother's family was going to be up there as well we decided it would be easiest to leave the Easter baskets at home.  Before the boys went to bed that night we all wrote some of our sins on pieces of paper and but them in our baskets.  Then we brought the baskets into the "Tomb" (aka the basement workshop).  We "sealed the tomb" (i.e. locked the door) and then headed back upstairs to read the first portion of the Easter story before heading to bed.

The next morning, we loaded up the van and had some breakfast.  Then Eric got the boys into the van while I secretly got the baskets and hid them in the house, making sure to leave the "tomb" door wide open as it was on Easter morning.  Then we all headed north for the weekend.

The night before, I'd hoped to get a good night of sleep.  Instead I was up for a good portion of the night with Avery who was once again getting sick and coughing a lot.  On Friday morning, he seemed to be feeling a little better but as we drove north that changed.  His little cheeks grew more and more red as the morning passed on and by the time we reached Marinette, Wisconsin to get some lunch he was coughing more and more and had a fever. :(  We headed to Mickey-Lu's for a family first!  This restaurant has been around forever and is a family favorite for their charbroiled burgers and handmade malts/shakes.  It is full of character and memories and always brings back great memories for me.  Unfortunately though, Eric isn't a big fan and that combined with the fact that our time is always limited and rarely correct for a meal we have never taken the boys there.  This time though, since I knew we would be in that area around lunch time, we made it happen.  We had a great lunch there together...if only Eric was as big as fan as I and Avery was feeling better (he only drank his chocolate shake and never touched his cheeseburger).

From Mickey Lu's we continued on to the Upper Peninsula and then to Grandma and Papa's house.  When we arrived, my brother's family was already there.  Asher and Eric immediately grabbed their rockets that they had been looking forward to launching and got to work.  All of the boys watched in wonder as the rockets blasted off one after another.

Video: 3 - 2 - 1 - Lift Off!

Avery watched the rockets too for a little while but then came in to hang out with the girls as he was feeling worse as the day went on.

While we were in the house, it started to snow and by the time we went to bed there was an inch or two covering the ground.  The next morning, after a rough night with Avery (coughing and wheezing) and very little sleep we woke up early to find it had just started to snow again.  This time, it snowed for most of the morning and by the time it was finished we had almost a foot of snow on the ground.  I couldn't help but sing Christmas songs for Easter weekend.

While no one was really crazy about the snow, it did give the boys something to do outside of the house (yay!).  They headed outside to play while my dad fought to clear the driveway (but each time he would go down and then back the part he had just plowed was covered with another layer of snow).

When the boys had had enough of the snow, they came  in to warm up for a little bit before heading back out  for the Lion's Club Egg Hunt.

The drive into Carney was not an easy one as the plows had not yet come through on the side roads and they were completely covered in snow.  We did make it to the Town Hall though.  Usually, the egg hunt is at the Nadeau park near my parent's home but because of the snow it was relocated this year to the Town Hall pavilion.  With limited places to hide the eggs were easier to find this year but that didn't stop the kids from having fun running around and collecting them.

Avery was a bit smitten by the Easter Bunny

After the egg hunt, we headed back home and the boys were quick to get their winter gear back on to attempt sledding.  This time I went out with them and we made a valiant effort to create working sled runs but the snow was too powdery and too deep.  Instead, we settled for a (VERY cold) trailer ride behind the Gator.

While we were trying to sled, Gabe sat happily in the snow playing and eating.

When I went to visit him, he started throwing snow at me!  Little Stinker!

(2) Videos: Gabe Playing in the Snow

Bringing back the '90s in my mom's old coat.  I used to have one just like it! :P

<3

After a not-so-quick Gator ride around the "block" we headed back inside to warm up with some cocoa.  Then, I headed off for an afternoon nap while all of the boys worked on a project making air-powered rockets with my dad.

When the rockets were finished, we all headed outside to watch them blast off and then went back inside to color Easter eggs together.

Video: Blast-Off...

Asher's Rocket

Avery's Rocket

When the eggs were colored, we finished off the day with simple food and relaxation.  We had a family dinner together, then enjoyed some birthday cake for Aaron's upcoming day and then most of the boys and Grandma watched a movie while Eric, Aaron, Dad, Micah and I watched the Michigan game downstairs.

I love how Avery's little cheeks are puffed out while Aaron blows out his candles.

Avery came down during the movie to play in the basement while we watched the game.  Seeing him snuggle and feed my childhood babydoll was too cute! ;)

After an attempt at a good night of sleep (it was better than the previous night but still not great with a sick little boy), it was Easter morning.  I woke up before everyone else and snuck out of my room to hide all 37 eggs that the boys had colored the day before.  As soon as they woke up they began to spot the eggs but we made them wait to collect them until everyone was awake.  As soon as we gave them permission they were off in search of their eggs.

When the boys had found almost all of the eggs they discovered that Grandma and Papa had also hidden baskets for each of them in the house so they headed out with new gusto to find their surprises.

Once everything (well all but one stubborn egg that we couldn't find) was found we had some breakfast and then got ready for church.

Cute little Gabe showing of his Easter duds... 

Video: Happy Easter from Gabe

Pictures with 6 little boys are never easy, but we try...

When we were all set to go we headed off to my parents' church.  They didn't have any childcare since it was a holiday so the new activity books that each of the boys got in their baskets came in very handy!

I don't normally get anything too fancy for the boys to wear for Easter but since Eric's brother is getting married this Spring, I figured I could splurge on a cute outfit that they could wear for both Easter AND the wedding. ;)

After church, I grabbed the opportunity for a few more photos..

ALL of the Smith and Klingenmaier boys together...

The Entire Klingenmaier Family...

(For some reason my mom was barefoot when we took this picture and she suggested that I could just Photoshop some shoes on her feet...)

Another Family Photo...

When church was done, we finished out our weekend up north having lunch at my cousin Michael's with family...

The Easter Bunny showed up!

...with more surprises for the all of the kids!

The kids also did a piñata...

Cute little Jameson <3

Avery had quite the swing!  ...I may have to consider signing him up for baseball after all!

From my cousin's home we drove back to Kenosha, arriving around dinner time.  We stopped and picked up some dinner and then headed home.  The kids were both super excited to see if their baskets were where we left them but I made them wait until we ate our dinner.  We sat at the table eating and as we did so we noticed a squirrel sitting IN our birdhouse.  Over time she and her friends had chewed the hole big enough to fit in and now had apparently claimed it has her own.  We believe she was making herself a nest in there and while Eric continually tried to scare it away, she would come right back minutes later.  At one point I looked out the window to see something in her hands that looked like an animal...that she was eating?!  I pretty much lost my appetite at that point so Eric went outside and screwed a piece of wood over the opening so she could no longer get inside.  That night he was awakened in the wee hours of the morning by a noise.  He went to investigate and found the squirrel chewing at the wood trying to get back inside her claimed home.  Annoyed, Eric grabbed his caulk gun and filled the birdhouse with caulk to get rid of the critter once and for all.  It seemed to work and the next day the birdhouse was taken down for good.

When the squirrel incident was over and our dinner was gone we finally let the boys check the "tomb" to see if our baskets were where we left them, but just like Jesus' body on Easter morning when we checked downstairs we found the "tomb" to be empty with the "stone" (door) "rolled away" (wide open).

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved,and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

  

Like Mary in search of Jesus, we then went off to find our baskets and when we found them our "sins" had been taken away and replaced with abundant blessings! ;) 

I got an ice cream toy that I've wanted from Toys R Us for years...kind of a now or never deal! ;)

When all of our baskets had been found we got a family photo and then finished the night with the full Easter story.  That night as I but Avery to bed he was talking all about how Jesus died on the cross and then after the tomb was empty Jesus was alive!  It seems my Easter Basket/Tomb Analogy worked great and really hit home for the boys.  I will definitely be doing it again! :)

The boys baskets (before they had been hidden, discovered and emptied)...