Easter Happenings

Our Easter felt so crazy busy this year.  I guess that's just the way it feels with five little ones, even if you have no plans, eh?  Well, we had a few plans but not as many as usual.  Now that my parents are gone and several of Anthony's sisters have moved away, the family gatherings have diminished significantly. 

At any rate, my mom's family had an Easter Egg Hunt at my grandpa's house.  It's tradition.  Only this time, Grandma wasn't there.  It was different for sure.  Last year she was out there with us, sitting in her wheelchair.  I'm not sure that she knew exactly what was going on but just her presence was all that we needed.  She was a special lady to say the least! 

Even without her there physically, we had a great time.  My aunts and cousins went NUTS on the candy filled eggs.  We brought about a dozen play-doh filled eggs.  I figured my cousins would either love me for not adding to the sugar highs the kids were all bound to have or hate me for the mess on the carpets at home.  Hmmmm....

My kids had no shortage of sugar in those buckets of theirs.  And they were just about overflowing.  Everything from Starburst to Sweethearts to Krabby Patties to M&M's were in those eggs.  And many other sugar loaded treats. 

Below are the pics of that event.  We don't do commercial egg hunts.  Call me crazy but I absolutely hate them!  Besides, they don't need any more candy.

(All these pics were taken on Anthony's phone since my camera is still no bueno.  Sorry about the blur and haze in some of them)

Notice B's hair here, then notice further down...

All five of our kids are in front of us, the one you see the most clearly just behind is my cousin's little girl.  Isn't she adorable?

My Aunt visited DisneyWorld last week and brought the kids souveniers.  Doesn't C make a great Mater?  It's his favorite movie ever!  He watches it every. stinkin'. morning!

We like to start the kids off with sugar highs early in life. 

This is just from the egg hunt at Grandpa's house.  (the eggs are empty but each one was about that full)

Time to color the real eggs!  Isn't this every kid's favorite part?

We went very simple this year.

Did anyone else make Easter Story Cookies?  Here's C 'sealing the tomb'.

The finished product, although I think I did it wrong... I started beating the eggs before adding the sugar.  Whoops!

The girls each made a card for the Easter Bunny.  K has been asking lately whether he is real or not.  It breaks my heart!  Did it bother anyone else when their kids stopped believing?  It means the innocent naivity is leaving... sad!  But no worries!!  I got her believing again, probably for the last time **sniff**

See how cute she is?  K wrote a letter to E.B.  She wanted to know what his real name was and told him if he'd like some carrots or boiled eggs to help himself.   

I failed to take a picture of the reply good ol' E.B. left but it went something like this.  "My real name is Easter Bunny (why I didn't think of Peter Cottontail, I'll never understand).  Thank you for your letters.  I took a picture of them so you can keep them."

The loot!  Speaking of loot, we got more from you-know-who.  But that's a post for tomorrow. 

We don't hide the baskets, although I think I want to do that next year.  Do you hide the baskets?  We just hide eggs in the front room and kitchen areas.

B's pile looks like nothing.  He's barely one, he doesn't need anything else.

Ok, this was the year Anthony and I agreed to have very. little. candy!  It was a great plan, until... someone brought a grocery sack full of candy for Easter.  Reese's Pieces Eggs (2 pkgs), Lindt chocolates of all sorts and Idaho spuds (weird for Easter maybe but...)  Ok, great!  Now we don't have to buy the little bit that we would allow.  It's already done.  Mind you, every time I went to the grocery store, I was soooo very tempted by that purple bag of Easter candy.  Cadbury Mini Eggs!  I looove those things so much.  I was very good and never bought them.  They weren't part of the candy that was brought to us but we didn't need them.  Want?  Yes!  Need?  No!  I knew it wouldn't bode well for my eating plan. 
And then... another relative called and said they had a few things for us for Easter.  This was about a week ago.  We feel so loved!!  They brought over a bag filled with Easter goodies.  Colored pencils, crayons, yoyos, and of course more candy.  In just sneaking a peek inside the bag, I was fooled.  I thought there was just a couple things of candy (Kisses, M&M's, a chocolate bunny per kid and a package of Peeps per kid).  I hid the bag and didn't look again until Easter Eve...  and on that night I discovered how fooled I had been.  There was a bag of Williams and Sonoma jelly beans (oh they are good), a package of cinnamon bunnies, chocolate covered marshmallow eggs, two packages of Dove Chocolate Eggs (another hard one for me) and guess what else... two packages of CADBURY MINI EGGS!!  I knew I was in trouble then.  I had tried so very hard to stay away from it. 
But, just before that we got a package from my mom and dad.  We really feel loved!  They had bought dresses for the girls, and outfits for the boys (all pictured above) along with the flip-flops and a few other things.  Among the 'few' other things was the basket you see below.... Filled with more CANDY!  And yummy candy I might add.  Those darn Dark Chocolate Covered Powerberries are delicious!!

What I'm trying to say is, the one year we decide to go less on the candy, we end up with more than we've ever had... EVER!  And we didn't buy a single penny of it!  Is that crazy?  I think yes.  The sugar gods are against us!  I'm sure the scale won't be liking me much this week.  Then to top it all off, someone brought us a bag of those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the egg shapes.  Oh man!!!

The pic below doesn't do it justice.  What you don't see is the open candy bags (opened for the mini egg hunt indoors) that the Easter Bunny asked us to share!  We took a small basket over to our neighbors that night but couldn't think of anyone else to share with.  Who needs more candy on Easter?

The girls decorated their flip-flops with some fun flower sticker things.  They didn't stay on long (I keep finding them all over the floor) but they had fun with them anyway.

After all the hoopla with all the goodies, it was time for breakfast.  EASTER PANCAKES!!  Really it's just regular pancakes (wheat for us, of course) dyed all different colors.  The kids thought that was great! 

Then it was time for haircuts before church.


This was B's very first hair cut.  Nothing fancy, just a buzz like the big boys.  It's the easiest and cheapest way to go. 

He thought the whole process was fun.

And now, he's a whole new kid!!  Isn't it amazing that a simple haircut can change a baby's look entirely.  He looks so big to me now. 

Hoola hooping in the yard before church.  They weren't great at it Easter morning but I'm telling you, they can hoola those hoops with the best of 'em now!

Does he have you fooled?  He looks so innocent!

Family pictures, minus mom.  Someone's got to take the picture.  Do you love that C and B are both looking backwards?  What are they looking at? 

That's better!  And in Anthony's defense, he did offer to take one with me in it but my hair was tied in a knot on the top of my head as I was waiting for the straightener to heat up. 

I hope you had a great Easter!  We sure did!