Easter

We dyed eggs (and decorated cookies) a few days before Easter so my mom could join us. The kids did 18 eggs and not a single one cracked. They would have done 1800 if I'd let them. Glad we had cookies as a distraction.

Garrett made sure every sprinkle got in the right spot. 

Addie made sure every sprinkle got in her mouth. 

On Easter morning we did a little hunt at home and had breakfast before heading to church.

I'm not great at planning ahead for Easter outfits.  And I guess I don't really care that much either, (because they're either be dirty or off in about an hour).  I bought Charlie's dress a few months ago for $15.00 at the OC swap meet. Then I did great at a consignment store for the older two and spent a total of $5.50 for everything they're wearing. Hats are from the Target dollar spot. 

I'd been pinning cute little bunny ear hat and diaper covers on Pinterest, hoping to get a set for Charlie's newborn pictures. My super talented and sweet friend Carlie, in Utah, saw my pins and text me offering to make me a set. It was such a sweet gift and they were absolutely darling on Charlie.

Bapa bought a bounce house for the kids. They played in it for a couple hours and sweat through their outfits before I got smart and put them in cooler clothes. 

We had the extreme basket hunt (that included prize money). 

And then an egg hunt. There were probably 150 eggs for these two to find, and then they re-hid them and found them again. (And they didn't want anything that was inside.)

I struggle with all the 'stuff' that comes along with Easter, even though its fun to see the kids enjoy it. It made me happy to be together at church. And then after, I asked the kids if they wanted to go see what the Easter bunny brought to Bapa and Gaga's house and Garrett said, "No, I wanna go see Jesus."

I hope you all had a great Easter too! 

I love Easter...

The kids loved these A-frame tents I made for each of them and they both loved hunting for eggs.  I bought a truck for Garrett and a wagon for Addie instead of baskets.  Both beach toys, because our beach supplies are kind of lame right now.  Garrett raced around the living room and would run one egg at a time back to his truck.  Addie pulled her wagon with her everywhere she went.  It tipped over a couple of times, but she'd carefully pick each egg up and go on with the hunt.  Even when she was getting the eggs from my elliptical, she tried to pull her wagon right up there with her.  (I expected that Garrett would be the careful one, and Addie would race around like crazy. Wrong.)

Paul and I had a conversation the night before Easter about last Easter.  How tiny Addie was, the dark place I was in, how Garrett was just kind of getting the idea.  We both remember saying how fun it would be to have two kids walking the next year and getting into the fun.  And I remember thinking, I hope I can pull out of this and really enjoy my kids and motherhood more.  I'm in such a better place now than I was a year ago.

We headed back to the White's for lunch and another hunt.  It's serious business over there.  There was even a basket hidden on the roof, and a $30 prize.  (I won this year!)

 It looks like basket hunting was rough on Addie this year.

The kids found all the hard boiled eggs in Poppy's yard, and that was just as fun as candy-filled eggs.

 She's challenging herself, trying to find eggs with her eyes shut.

Paul's cousin, Austin, taught Garrett a new game.  Trying to move the ball around the yard, but throwing hard-boiled eggs at it.  Tons of fun, but lots of sacrificial eggs.

Garrett and I grew wheat grass in plastic eggs a few days before Easter.

 We also made treat boxes and nests for everyone.

After lunch and a failed nap attempt for Addie (kid WILL NOT sleep at my in-laws house for some reason), we headed home to straighten up, take naps, and then we head to the airport to pick up my mom.

It was a really good weekend.  I love that holidays are so fun again, now that we have little kids, and I love the chance to teach them about Jesus, and talk about the Resurrection.  (Even though right now, they give us about 4 seconds before they run off.)

Easter eve...Poppy's birthday party.

Paul had an uncle here from Colorado and a cousin here from Chicago, so we spent most of the weekend with family.

Paul's grandpa turned 87 on the 26th of March, so we had a birthday party for him Saturday night.  He wanted sandwiches and almond cake, so that's what he got.  Paul and I each only have a grandparent left, and the two we have are our moms' dads.  When we met each other grandpa's, we both said each others reminds us of our own.  Just the sweetest, kindest, hard-working...est, men you'd ever meet.  My grandpa will be 94 in a couple of days.

 Playing ball over the balcony.

 I love this picture of Garrett doing pull-ups on the railing.  Muscle man!

We play this game with the kids to get them to take more bites.  It's called 'food cheers'.   Garrett ate his whole dinner by running around the table and 'cheers-ing' his food with everyone. 

After his birthday dinner, Poppy wanted to talk about Passover and have communion.

                                   
                                     
 It was a bit challenging (and entertaining) to make it through with the kids, (think Addie running laps around the table and Garrett slurping grape juice) but they did alright.

 This was the first cake since Garrett turned two, that he didn't want to help blow out the candles.  They had a fun sparkler-like feature, and were a bit too flashy for him to want to get too close.

And later we colored eggs with crayons.  Really hot eggs, so the wax would go on easy.  Really cool, but really hot.

When we got home, Garrett and I made nests.  Like rice crispy treats, but with chinese noodles instead of cereal.