Easter Sunday

So every year the Easter Dress/new clothes is something I love and loathe at the same time. I love when I find what I'm looking for and it all comes together. I love feeling beautiful in a new dress and love to share that with my kids. I love having nice new clothes to wear our very best as we enter the Lord's house to worship him.

What I don't love is trying to find something that is long enough, that has sleeves, that is modest. Yes I am talking about the girls dresses but I'm also talking about mine. I really struggled on all our dresses this year. I wanted something that I could feel beautiful in that was new and pretty, that was long and modest and comfortable but really attractive. Did you know those things don't really exist in a woman's dress in my opinion.

For the girls, as Rachel is getting older she wanted a more older girl dress, one that hangs more straight not such a "princess little girl dress". But I want something with sleeves, not just a shrug that will never stay on through church, but actual sleeves. I also want it long enough that she can wear it for a while. That I don't feel uncomfortable looking at her thinking that is getting so short no long after we bought it. Ellie, well she was pretty much the easy one. We found lots of options for her.

As for the boys, when John got put in the bishopric all the boys were in desperate need of new ties/shirts/pants/suits etc. So I didn't even try to find something for them as they just got new stuff in February. So no time and energy was spent on them...well except Matthew who has shot up again and the pants from Feb are now too short. So he got a new pair of church pants.

I added up the hours I spent shopping for clothes for the girls and I. Drum roll please......34 hours. Actual hours shopping, not just that many days but actual hours in and out of store after store. It is a bit ridiculous. If we all didn't just need a new dress anyway, I would have long since given up. But all the dresses the girls had were getting small or very wintery. So I kept on shopping. As much as I love coordinating easter clothes. I gave up on that within the first four hours of shopping.

My dress ended up being not what I was looking for but I like it. It is pieced together from 5 different stores. Can I say right now how much I missed my Brooke!!! I need to fly her out every spring and winter as I do my shopping.

As for the girls, I found this dress. To get it long enough for Rachel I had to buy a size 12, but luckily it is supposed to be so tight, that getting it so big makes it hang much prettier too. Ellie loved the dress and wanted one coordinating. They had it so that finally finished the Easter shopping. Well except for trying to find flowers for the girls hair. Which I never found, but did find the cute butterflies so I went with those.

Doesn't this make all you mom's of boys jealous of the fun of shopping for girls? I know it would me. But it was all worth it when I pulled the dresses out to give to the girls and Rachel squealed and spun in circles because, "it's the most beautiful dress I have ever seen in my life".

Yep, it's all good when they are excited to get up and get dressed for church. So much so, that we went and snapped some pictures in the wind before church. It's so worth it when Ellie keeps saying..."I'm a princess momma" It's so worth it when your husband says, "You look absolutely beautiful in that dress!" It's so worth it when we are doing the pictures and Matthew says, "Let me take your picture with the girls, you all look so pretty together. " He is a boy so we will let him go since we totally clashed and our dresses didn't look so great together. Yep it's so worth it when Harrison wants to sit by me church and reminds me how much he loves me.

So here are our Easter pictures this year. I am so glad it's done and everyone is happy. Next year however I will find a friend who loves to sew and pay her to make a modest dress for the girls. The dresses could be sewn for less time than I shopped for them.

Happy Easter to everyone. Hope your Easter was a wonderful one filled with a desire to do better, and remembering of Christ and what he sacrificed for us.