Easter 2011

I absolutely love Easter! Out of all the holidays, Easter is my favorite by far.  There is nothing sweeter than celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.  This year, the girls and I had the incredible opportunity to participate in the Resurrection dance with our church.  Over 2,000 members of Second Baptist gathered together at Discovery Green Park...smack dab in the middle of downtown Houston where we danced for Jesus that Sunday morning. To our disbelief the video was put on YouTube and instantly went viral!  Spreading the word all over the world!  I even had a friend tell me that she was in Okanawa, Japan visiting her son when it came on the TV news program they were watching. What an awesome blessing to be a part of!

After all of that fun, we celebrated tradition in the Higgins house.  Beginning with the Hoenerhoff "Easter Water" where I sprinkle water on each of the kids to wake them up on Easter morn. Every year it's excitedly anticipated the night before...kind of like the Easter Bunny.  The kids know it's coming, they just don't know when.  James sat straight up after being sprinkled and asked for his Bob the Builder umbrella because it was "raining in my room." So cute!

After the kids are awake the next tradition is to dig into the Easter baskets to see what the Easter bunny brought, shortly followed by the first hunt of the day.  The Easter bunny always hides the dyed eggs we created the night before throughout the house just for Ashlee, Sydney, and James to find. 

 After church, lunch and a much needed nap, we invited the neighbor kids over for another egg hunt.  These plastic eggs each containing lot's of candy, but the ultimate prize... CONFETTI EGGS!!!

James' First Fish!

We always have a blast at the Baughman Bayhouse and this day was no exception.  Everybody, friends and family, gathered together the Saturday before Easter to celebrate Travis' birthday which happened to fall on Easter this year. While the girls and I dyed Easter eggs upstairs, the boys decided to do a little fishing.

Darrell made sure he explained all the ends and outs of a fisherman.  Beginning with the appropriate bait for the environment...

 

Then Dad made sure James understood the importance of patience and concentration, never letting your guard down...

It didn't take long before James was able to yank up not one, not two, but three fish! ... all by himself! 

National Junior Honor Society

 

On April 14, 2011 we attended the National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony where our beautiful Ashlee became a member at her middle school.  This is a high honor for any 7th grader and we are so proud of her.

 Certain requirements had to be met and an application had to be turned in for her to even be looked at by the Officers. Ashlee was accepted on the basis of her achievements as well as her participation and service within her community.  Ashlee is expected to keep all A's in her honors classes and remain on the Leadership Committee of her youth group at church.  She will also be expected to do service hours within her community next school year.

Several of her friends from church were inducted this evening also. So we got them together for a group shot. From left to right; Madelaine, Ashlee, Marissa, Manzi, and Koen.