Happy Easter!

 

Promised Pictures

Remember when we had Easter like 2 months ago?  Well, I am finally getting around to posting these pictures of my kids.  Here they are sporting the coordinating ties and skirt I made for them. 

 I think these pictures might actually make it up on the wall—if I ever get over the love/hate relationship I have with the hammer.

Easter

Our Easter weekend was great! On Saturday, we went to our church for the nursery egg hunt. It was so much fun! They had all the little kids (3 and under) look for eggs outside on the lawn, while the older kids each had a bag of goodies with their name on it. Caleb loved looking for the eggs, but wasn't as fast as some of the older kids. He was happy with what he got and finally decided that it was more fun to open and eat the candy than find more eggs. Kelsie and Brandon had fun searching for their bags and couldn't wait to break into them and see what surprises they got. It really was so much fun! Later that night, we dyed our eggs for the Easter Bunny and then sent the kiddos to bed.

Brandon couldn't wait for Easter and all that candy. He woke up really really early. He found his basket, ate some candy, looked for his eggs, then came in and woke me up. When I realized what time it was, I told him to go watch Veggie Tales until 7:00. He came in a couple more times before 7 and even woke up Caleb and brought him into me. Caleb, as it turned out, had a fever and wasn't feeling very good, so he got in bed with me and went back to sleep. By the time Kelsie woke up and Brandon came in to wake us up 3 more times, we were up. Kelsie and Brandon were more than excited to find their eggs and eat their candy. Caleb didn't want anything to do with finding his eggs or his candy. He just wanted to be held and would drift off to sleep until something woke him up again. Poor little guy.

After a quick breakfast and showers, we headed off to Stake Conference where we were able to hear from President Monson and Elder Oaks during a regional broadcast. It really was nice to hear from them on Easter. We then came home, took some naps, watched Finding Faith in Christ, roasted a chicken for dinner and called it a night. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get those pictures of the kids I wanted in their nice new clothes since Caleb wasn't feeling well and Brandon was bouncing off the walls from the sugar rush he had from eating candy all day (and I made them take off their clothes to keep them from getting stained with chocolate). I'll try to get those pictures taken soon though!

Kelsie helping Caleb check out his candy!

So proud of his goody-bag!

Caleb just wanting to be held instead of searching for eggs.

Those eggs have to be around here somewhere!

What a goofy kid!

This is how Caleb spent most of the day.

These are the pillows I made for Easter. They were a big hit!

I also wanted to add that Easter, for us, is so much more than candy and plastic eggs. We are grateful for the atoning sacrifice that was made by our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through him and his resurrection that we are able to be together forever. This is the real reason why we celebrate Easter. I loved Elder Holland's talk from General Conference about the Savior. If you didn't get a chance to hear it, or don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

I LOVE PEEPS!

Now that Easter has come and gone, it's time to start thinking about what to do with all those leftover Peeps. Most people (including RP) can't stand the unnaturally colored marshmallow ducks and bunnies, but I'm actually a big fan. Besides eating them, here is my 2nd favorite thing to do with them (narrated by our oldest):

Another 30 seconds and these things will actually start on fire, but since I was doing this on a paper plate, I didn't think I should push my luck.

Anyway, Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

We had a pretty fun Easter this year, besides the fact that is was so early and I didn't quite feel ready for it. We took the kids to go see the Easter Bunny at the mall, well, really wave at him because I wasn't going to sell my soul to him for a picture. We did our traditional dying of the eggs, which both of the kids really enjoyed this year. Kelsie got really creative with the wax crayon and would draw pictures all over the eggs and then would color them with well thought out plans. Brandon also really enjoyed the wax crayon and made a few tie-fighter eggs in honor of Star Wars (no matter what we do, it always comes back to Star Wars). The thing that was especially nice for me was that both of the kids are old enough to dye the eggs without too much help, which meant that I didn't have to do it. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about dying the eggs, but if I don't have to worry about eggs getting thrown around and dye splashing all over the place then I am happy to take my seat as far away as possible and just watch them having fun.

Easter morning was fun, but hectic. We decided to have our egg hunt before church (which started at 9 a.m.) which took more time than we thought, so we rolled into church just in time to wait in the foyer until the speakers started. Brandon pretty much found all the eggs before we even started our hunt since he's always the first one up in the morning. He showed great control, however, when he didn't touch any of the eggs and instead went for his basket. We heard Kelsie start to get upset with him for eating some of his candy to which he replied, "but it's so good!". Caleb even enjoyed the egg hunt long enough to realize that there was something in the eggs worth getting out. It didn't take him long to figure out how to throw the eggs (they were plastic) just right and out popped some jelly beans. Kelsie, our eternal planner and helper, made sure that everyone found their eggs but would not let anyone help her find hers. All in all it was a great morning and the kids were happy and we went to church on a little sugar rush.

After church, we tried taking some pictures of the kids in their clothes and then started to talk about why we celebrate Easter. We turned on our movie, Finding Faith in Christ, and Brandon was asleep in the first 10 minutes. Kelsie was really into it this year and had a lot of questions afterwards. The kids also watched The Veggie Tales Eater Carol which we do every year as well. We cooked a ham and potatoes and spent the rest of the night relaxing and having fun.