Easter 2016

Easter was awesome!

We woke the kids up for a breakfast of blueberry muffins and giant hollow chocolate bunnies. We read the Easter Story and talked about how their bunnies were hollow just like the tomb was empty on Easter because Jesus had risen.

After that we got all dolled up for Easter and went to church. Kevin sang in a few musical numbers and the kids sang The Miracle with the primary. 3/4 of my kids went up to sing so that was lovely :) I think they need to have the kids sing more often in meetings. It is just adorable!

After church we took a few pictures and then once Kevin got home from meetings the kids got to hunt for their Easter baskets that the Easter bunny had left them.

We had a yummy dinner of roast, carrots, potato casserole, and rolls!

Afterwards we went on a family hike to a new-to-us spot on Las Trampas trail that was GORGEOUS!

We finished the night with scriptures, some clean up, and bed!

Easter Sunday

Easter started off with a little iPad time while diapers got changed and breakfast preparations got started.

Then each kid found their own little Story of Easter bag (conveniently put together last year and re-discovered last night... perfect timing). They were SO EXCITED about the bags (cause they thought the eggs were filled with candy) and that made me realize that the Easter Bunny had completely overdone their actual baskets since they were content with just 12 eggs... but, oh well!

We went through each of the eggs (they were numbered 1-12) and each egg had an object to represent a portion of the Easter story (sacrament cup, nail, dirt, gauze, etc.). Our little print out inside the bags had some scriptures on it (mostly for me and Kevin to reference... when the kids are older we will actually read all the scriptures).

It was nice to start out the day talking about the real purpose of Easter and retelling the Easter story. The kids really got excited opening each egg and asked some good questions.

After we did those eggs, we talked about how the Easter bunny had come and showed the kids the baskets that he had brought (they'd been hidden while we did the Easter story).

Catie was especially excited about her stuffed bunnies. The kids each got some useful items, a book, a toy, and some candy.

Ryan's basket

Kevin's Basket

Catie... begging for more treats

Andrew's basket (s)

We kept breakfast simple and just had muffins and OJ...

Then while Kevin went to music practice I attempted to get everyone ready

I was partially successful...

While Ryan and I got ready, Kevin snapped some pictures

After church we drove down to Menlo Park to have Easter dinner at Jessie's apartment. Jessie and my mom prepared lots of yummy food- fruit, chicken cordon-bleu, muffins, cheesy potatoes, and asparagus... plus brownies and cupcakes! 

After dinner we played at the park by Jessie's apartment and had an egg hunt.

The cute hosts!

Egg hunting!

Enjoying her eggs while Andrew kept hunting

Meanwhile Ryan napped the day away swaddled in Jessie's room

Andrew was declared winner of the hunt :)

After playtime at the park and the big hunt we played Uno and had treats and then we made the trek back home.

Everyone was exhausted since we got home after bedtime and went straight to sleep!

Such a fun Easter! My favorite parts of the day included spending time with our family, talking about the Savior, and listening to the beautiful music at church (including the awesome small group number Kevin and a few guys sang).

Neighborhood Easter Fun

I took a hiatus from planning parties and events for our Neighborhood HOA once Ryan was born. Our last event was a Fall BBQ at the end of September. We decided that the holidays were already overrun with events, so we didn't try and squish anything in.

Three weeks ago I realized that it was March and that Easter was actually in March so I chatted with my favorite neighborhood social committee friends and we started planning this year's neighborhood Egg Hunt!

Of course I managed to select the one weekend that Kevin was out of town for our event... just to keep me on my toes.

We advertised and sent our fliers and collected money and gathered up all of the stuff we needed and then today was the big day!

It couldn't have gone more perfectly.

The three crazies and I ran to Target last night to get some last minute items and then I spent the evening stuffing more Easter Eggs. Somehow I thought 400 eggs for 30 kids wasn't enough... so I made it 500. Crazy!

While I was up in the middle of the night with Ryan I made my morning "to do" list and once my toddler alarm clock went off at 7am we were off and running all morning to get things done and ready for the big hunt!

The kids were fed, dressed, and our car was loaded by 9am and then the kiddos hung out watching A Bugs Life in the car while we set up at the neighborhood park. My neighborhood teenage helpers showed up right at 9:50 to help hide eggs- they were lifesavers! We will need helpers every year from here on out... it made the day go so much more smoothly!

People started arriving around 9:55/10am right as Ryan fell asleep in the stroller- hooray!
Neighbors checked in and ate lots of treats and beverages purchased by Kara & Sahar and then the big hunt started at 10:15am!

Of course I totally forgot to reconfigure the start times and groups to work with the new ages in our family, so unlike last year, Catie and Andrew had hunts at the same time on separate fields. Whoops!

I followed Catie around snapping photos and attempting to get her to pick up an egg... she wasn't really into it... and then I took a few photos of Andrew on his field while trying to keep Catie in my sights. She managed to escape and run away and hide several times during the event (maybe her new way to deal with her social anxiety... instead of tantruming? Not sure which one is better). 

Once all the eggs were collected the kiddos checked out their loot and then ate snacks and played with friends.

All the while Ryan slept the day away. He woke up once everything was packed and loaded into our car to go home and everyone was gone. Love this kid!

I managed to convince Catie to sit and eat some snacks so that I could chat with a few friends and meet several new neighbors. There are several kids in the neighborhood that are starting kindergarten with Andrew next year so it was fun to chat and visit with familiar faces that I had seen earlier this week at kindergarten orientation.

We finally had everything loaded in the car around 11:30am and we went home and just sat on the couch for an hour watching TV and hanging out. We were exhausted!

I get energized being around people and meeting new friends so today's egg hunt was the highlight of my week! I am so grateful for amazing co-social directors who work with me to create such fun events in our neighborhood!