We had a wonderful Easter! The kids woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had, indeed, arrived at our home sometime in the night. Of course, Ali now knows that there is no such thing as the Easter Bunny, but she played along quite well.
She was very excited with the things that she received. She got this Bolt movie, a couple of electronic games, a certificate to download something from ITunes, Berenstein Bears book, and candy.
Meghan liked her kaleidoscope that she received. She also got some sidewalk chalk, bottles & diapers for her babies, a Wonder Pets book, Word World movie, and candy.
Here is Josh showing off one of the five monster trucks he received. He was in heaven! He also got a Transformer book, Hot Wheels movie, and candy.
The kids got to play with their goodies some. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Not from scratch. Just the Pillsbury refrigerated kind. I also had to fix the broccoli salad for Easter dinner, and get myself ready, as well as three kids. Thankfully my mom showed up early and helped get the kids ready. What a lifesaver!
After all that rushing around, we went to church, and amazingly enough we arrived early. Here is my mom and Ali before the service started.
Here are Jeff and Josh beforehand. They had childcare for Meghan, which was a huge relief. I was worried that Josh wouldn't behave well, but he surprised us all. He was such a good boy, and he made his momma proud!
After church, Meghan drove home. Okay, she didn't drive all the way home. We only let her drive down our street. No major roads for her...until next year. ;-)
When we got home, my mom took pictures of the kids outside, while I worked on getting the glazed baby carrots ready. She got some good shots. Don't you agree?
When they came inside, I forced them to take a few more. What can I say? I love capturing things on film. (Side note...can I still say that, if I technically take digital pics? Hmmm?)
I also got my treats ready to take over to Jeff's sister's house. Don't you just love this plate? I bought it at Hearts at Home in March, and I think it is the best thing ever. You can change the ribbon, and you can write on the plate with Sharpie markers. The marker comes off with fingernail polish remover. So, here is how I dressed it up...
and here is how I dressed it up with my goodies. I will have to say that the chocolate covered peanut butter eggs were not as good as expected. Next year I will use milk chocolate to cover them, instead of the bittersweet dark chocolate that the recipe called for. Then I will enjoy them more.
Finally, it was time to head over to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's home. Jeff's grandma used to host Easter, but Abby took it over about 3 or 4 years ago. Here is a picture of her super cute kids, Gavin and Emma.
Being the picture person that I am, I had to get a couple family shots. Here is Jeff's parents with all the grandkids that were there. They have two other grandkids, Cole and Madison, but they live in Ohio and weren't able to be here. Maybe they can make it next year!
Then I got a shot of Jeff's grandparent's with the kids, but Gavin had already snuck away. He was being a picture fuddy duddy yesterday. Must be his age. Maybe 9-year-old boys are too cool to have their picture taken.
The girls finally got to change out of their Easter outfits, and then dinner was served. We had ham, lasagna, rolls, potato salad, broccoli salad, glazed baby carrots, and baked beans. For dessert we had peach pie and baklava.
After dinner, the kids got to play, and the adults got to talk. That is my favorite time! I love chatting with the family, and learning what has been happening in everyone's life. The kids get along so well together, so it makes it that much more enjoyable. :-)
Meggie is such a ham! She was lovin' having daddy push her in this swing.
Abby always puts together a pretty big Easter egg hunt for the kids. She has a big yard, so it is the perfect spot for one. There were tons of eggs to hunt! The kids were anxiously waiting for the hunt, and they were quite pleased when it finally took place. Meghan wasn't sure what to do at first. Well, she saw an egg open, and knew enough to put the candy in her bag, but she didn't know she was supposed to pick up the eggs too. She caught on quickly though.
Ali and Gavin had no problems figuring out what to do. They were old pros, and probably the most competitive.
Josh enjoyed himself, and I enjoyed watching him in his cool new hat that the Easter bunny left for him at Aunt Abby's. Each of the kids got a basket filled with cool things. Josh's had all army stuff, Meg's had a stuffed bunny & pinwheel, and Ali's had a cheerleading Barbie doll with some cheer stuff. Of course, they all got candy too. What are we going to do with all this candy???
Emma enjoyed the egg hunt too, but she wanted her mom to do it with her. Abby obliged her.
When we got back inside, the kids enjoyed checking out their loot. More candy of course!
Josh thought it was cool that some of the Easter eggs looked like dinosaurs. Aunt Abby had some plain ones, dinosaur ones, fairy ones, Dora ones, and I think sports ones. Meggie loved the Dora ones.
The kids got to play outside again.
And I forced them to get their picture taken again. We had to take this shot three times before Josh would smile. I think he was tired of picture taking.
Emma never has a problem smiling though. She is just too cute!
The kids even talked me into getting on the trampoline. I was out of breath in 2.2 seconds, and I think that was mostly because I was laughing so hard. When I first got on, I was jumping around and yelling, "I feel like a kid again!!" It was a blast!
All the fun had to come to an end. Or did it?? Nope! We took Emma home with us, and the kids got to play outside some more. Then they came in, ate dinner, and we watched Bolt together.
It was cute seeing Emma & Ali all snuggled up in Jeff's chair together.
Of course, I got to snuggle with a cutie patootie myself!
All in all, it was a wonderful Easter. Good church service, good family time, and good food....You can't ask for more than that! I hope all of you had an Easter that was just as wonderful!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
