“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He is risen!” Luke 24:5-6
My very favorite passage when celebrating Easter!
Because Easter is one of those holidays we have the liberty to celebrate all year round (and probably should) I don’t feel so bad posting this a couple of weeks belated.
This is the first year neither Tad nor I had made plans to celebrate with family. We were having everyone come to the Asayplacey to celebrate with LL for her birthday the following weekend post Easter, so we decided to stay put. But after thinking about how much more meaningful it is to celebrate with others, and how we have this oversized dining room that we don’t know what to do with yet, we decided to invite some friends over for an Easter feast… and it was joyous! So THANK YOU friends, for joining us!
I wanted it to be pretty (always!) but have lots of meaning (always) and this is what we came up with:
The three vases represent the three crosses that Jesus and the other two were being crucified on; the rocks represent the stone from the tomb Jesus’s body was laid in being rolled away; and the linen cloth beneath represents the strips of linen Jesus’s body was wrapped in for burial being for laid neatly aside in the tomb… no Jesus. And the lilacs… they’re pretty and smell just lovely. 
The Crucifixion of Jesus
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’[b]
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[c] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[d]”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[e] When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
The Burial of Jesus
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Jesus Has Risen
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
This is the wall of photo streamers we made to celebrate in-utero through 11 months – ‘Celebrating Linley Louise’ (two nails, twine, linen, tape, photos, card stock, markers, hole punches, needle and thread). It’s difficult to see, but the birdie in the top left was a part of her shower decor before she was born, and the little red sparkly hand print on the left about 5 photos down was made for her when she was just one month old: 
LL’s ‘ONE’ cake:
She thought it was the sweetest thing when we lit the candle and everyone began singing to her:
I made her mini cupcakes of the same cake with a different frosting. I made whipped cream and attempted to dye it with blube juice (juice from heated frozen blueberries). It was working, but it was last minute and I didn’t make enough juice so it was more of a light purply grey. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do at first…
So she said, ‘please?!’ and explored
I wasn’t prepared with a bib, so we took the cardigan off because with nearly each bite she kept signing, ‘please’, smearing cake and cream all over her chest.
*side note: thank you Lindsey Nims of Babble4Baby for making us her sweet bow! She has far more than what is currently listed on the website and makes everything custom!
Then we cleaned up sweet messy hands, everyone else had cake, and LL played with tissue paper and cards (i.e. opened birthday gifts)
reading her cards:
I loved her expression when holding up her new swim halter: 
Whenever I would take a drink from my water bottle, LL would go crazy, so for her day, she received her very own Camelbak bottle:
Another please?
yeah! she got the paper off:
Score!
This is how you clap your hands, Grandpa:
Miss Cori piling all available animals on LL’s lap:
Hey Uncle Z:
This was so sweet. I looked over, and LL was sitting on cousin Mag’s lap hangin out: 
Buddies
mmm fruit and cheese – thanks Grandma A and Great Gram Elaine 
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the balloons: 
Including us after everyone left!
We’ll end with the best and most recent family photo we have to date (pay no mind to the finger prints). Thanks everyone for helping to celebrate LL’s birthday with us! She DEFINITELY had a great time with a full house. 
The Asay Placey 