Looking Back at Easter Weekend-First Egg Hunt & Almost Blowing The Bunny's Cover

Well here we are, another holiday under our belt with so many great memories made this year. Is it crazy that I'm already looking forward to next Easter? Probably. It's one of those weekends that was so good that you can't wait for more. I should probably back up a bit though. Why don't we start with Good Friday.

We started the day off with decorating some eggs. I've shared before that I'm not a fan of the smell of vinegar but decorating Easter eggs still needs to be a tradition. For the past several years we've been using paint markers that have worked out really well for us. We learned from past years that it's better to leave the eggs out for a bit or wipe them really dry so the sweat from them doesn't make the marker run.

We talked about wanting to host an egg hunt for the boys and some of our closest friends. It seems like each month the weekends fill up so fast and coordinating with each other becomes harder and harder. The boys had off on Friday, which most kids did, so we threw the date out there to some of our friends and thankfully it worked for everyone. If you know me or you've been reading this little space for sometime, then you know I cannot resist an opportunity to put any type of party/breakfast/throw out some decorations together–little event on. This time it was no different. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect with putting an egg hunt together since we've only attended them or done a small one for just our boys in the backyard. Now that we have some space to work with, we knew that being able to share in this with our friends and family is important to us.

The boys were so excited to help me with getting things together and couldn't wait to stuff over 150 plastic eggs with some treats and goodies. Although, I'm pretty sure they wanted to have a leg up on knowing what was inside of them. I was onto them, though. I had a little something up my sleeve too and waited until those little buggers went to bed and filled my own stash of eggs with some treats they hadn't seen yet. I wanted them to have some surprises, too.

I knew I wanted to do special seating for the kids and have always loved the idea of a pallet party. You mainly see it done for adults so I had to improvise and come up with a way to pull it off for kids. The key thing is, pallets are obviously made out of wood and I didn't want anyone to get hurt. So how do you pull a pallet table off for kids, you say? Wellll, when you have a husband that's a quick thinker and gets things done, it makes being able to bring your creative ideas to life a little easier. We had an extra piece of drywall in the basement and used that as the table top so the kids wouldn't be touching the wood. We covered it with a basic plastic table cloth and then got out brown packing paper and let the boys draw anything Easter related on there to use as a table runner. I love how it came out and the kids had a blast sitting around it.

We had lunch for everyone complete with carrot shaped pb&j, bunny mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, chicken salad, egg salad sliders and some veggies and fruit as well. Oh, and who could forget some peeps and cupcakes for the kids.

We had such a nice time visiting and catching up with our friends, and it was so great to see the kids having fun hunting for eggs. We had so much fun that we're hoping to make this a yearly tradition.

Saturday we spent the day with our friends that stayed over night with their two little boys. A was supposed to have a tball game but it was rained out. Thankfully the rain only lasted part of the morning and the rest of the time we sat outside around the fire pit, roasted up some peeps (I forgot to get regular marshmallows, or my kids ate them all), and my mom and sister came over to cook and prep things for Easter. Baby C also turned 5 months and I seriously can't believe how fast it's been going.

Easter Sunday is always a special time filled with so much hope and gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus paid for us. Ever since A was a baby we made the decision to wait and do Easter baskets after church instead of having the kids wake up and get them. For us, we just want to really try and focus on the important meaning and not have it be all about candy and goodies. We also read some of our Easter stories during breakfast before heading to church.

When we got to church it was such a nice surprise to see they randomly had some animals outside that of course the kids loveeeed seeing. They had a sheep, a few goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and a llama with an awesome scarf on.

After church we headed back home to get ready for everyone coming over. I snuck into the house and tried to grab the boys baskets to set them out before they got inside. I usually do it before we leave for church while Eric is getting everyone in the car, but it didn't work out like that this year. I thought Eric was in the basement with the boys while I was upstairs. I jetted across the downstairs with three baskets in hand only to stop dead in my tracks when all of the sudden I hear, mama?? Sure enough I find A standing next to me with a confused look on his face. I didn't realize he ran into the house to use the bathroom and caught me red handed with baskets in tow. I wish I could have seen my face but I know it was a cross between shocked and a what the what am I gonna do now. I quickly said, oh hi buddy! Look what I found in the back room that the bunny must have left you guys! I wanted to carry them over so you can see what's inside. He kind of gave me this look of confusion and then got sidetracked with getting a glimpse into his basket. I let out a sigh of relief and wondered if he bought my excuse or not.

We went outside for some family pictures because the blooms around our house have been beyond beautiful and we couldn't pass them up. It almost feels like a dream when I walk outside and find myself continually giving praise and thanks for where we're at.

The boys wanted to bring their baskets outside which we thought was a great idea because it was seriously the perfect day weather wise.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of eating too much, spending time with family, and actually being able to sit down and relax. That doesn't always happen when you're hosting but this time around it did. And you better believe both Eric and I took advantage of it.

We took a bunch of family pictures together and my grandpop had us cracking up. He's 92 and is one of those people that you can't tell him anything because he's been around so long he somehow knows it all. My dad was taking this picture of us and he refused to look at the camera. He was yelling at my dad telling him, don't you know, it's a rule, all good photographers will tell you to never look into the camera. Come on now, that's old school, you have to look away and capture a candid. Well ok grandpop. I told him he'd be perfect for blogging and then I completely lost him.

Later on that night when I was tucking A into bed, he decided that Easter basket sighting wasn't good enough for his logic. He asks me, mama, how did the bunny know I wanted certain things or that I like baby chicks? He tells me, he isn't Santa and he's not Jesus, so how does it work? Here I am again, practically a deer in headlights trying to figure out how I'm going to save the Easter bunny for this kid. He then says, I think I might know. Now I'm thinking, Oh, thank God, this could be ok. I ask him, what do you have in mind? He says, I think he drops all the stuff off for the Easter basket outside and then you have to carry it all in and decide what we want, but what happens to the things I don't like? Ok, ok, I can roll with this. I go along with his idea and tell him that the other things the bunny drops off that I didn't think they would like we donate to other children who might not get baskets. He then rolls over and says, that's a kind bunny. And you know what, I can't disagree with him ;)