Easter 2023

Last year, during the week leading up to Easter, Emily found an egg, and was so enamored with it, that I added a reminder into my phone to pass along the fun this year!  So, starting a few days before Easter, we filled 5 "finders keepers" eggs with $1 each.  On the outside, we wrote "Finders Keepers" then we hid them in very conspicuous places for people to find!  

It was something the little ones really enjoyed doing, but Alice and Emily are at an age, they didn't want to hide theirs at school, so I 'hid' them during my errands.

Easter and the twins' birthday were the same day this year, so we did a lot of celebrating on Sunday!

The girls' dresses were huge (wide) on every single one of them, and Alice's was so short, she wore it as a shirt!  Usually, when I look at the dresses, Alice's is easy to spot, because it's so long, but apparently the dressmakers only used width as a measure of growth. = (  I bought some clips to help them look a little more fitted, but there wasn't anything that I could do for Alice's length.  I did love the colors though!!!

Alice and Emily have aged out of our local egg hunt, but luckily for them, we still have one in our backyard!  (Alice's lack of hustle is why older kids don't get to hunt for eggs; it's not nearly as much fun to watch!)

Our top three speedy egg finders!

Our not as speedy egg finders. 

This will be William's final year for the community egg hunt.  The twins get to have one more!

Grace was one of the lucky ones to win a 'big' prize! It was one of the grocery store baskets that we all wanted when we were kids.  She was slightly disappointed about the goodies to size ratio, but it was a good lesson and she enjoyed the goodies within!

We came home and enjoyed a pleasant Easter meal and reflected upon the reason for the season, and as with every year, I am so thankful for the sacrifice.

At the end of the day (full of so many celebrations!) toothbrushes were finally removed from the table during toothbrushing time.  When I walked into the bathroom, everyone had claimed their toothbrush, except for William.  I laughed so hard when I saw that Alice had claimed William's leaving him with...

...the pink Belle toothbrush!  Siblings are just the worst!  lol.

Luckily, he had some stickers that the Helterbrands had printed off for him this summer, so Belle was covered up by Fred (from Scooby-Doo.)  And in October, he'll get a new one for Halloween.  = )

later days

edit: written 6-15-23 backdated for continuity. 

Easter 2021

Easter Buckets were on the table ready to go, the night before:

We "attended" Easter service online.  The pastor was feeling unwell, so the message for everyone was delivered virtually. = /

After service everyone donned their holiday clothing, while Daddy hid the Easter Eggs.  Emily skipped breakfast and was not in the best of dispositions when it was time to hunt eggs.  Alice had a little bit of the 'tween' attitude, but candy goes a long way when it comes to participating in "little kid" activities.

Grace was hunting for purple eggs.

Juliet was looking for orange.

William was hunting for Blue.

Emily cried and moped about as she looked unsuccessfully for greens.  Once the others finished, they helped her track down her missing ones.

Alice was on yellow.  She could not find her final egg!  It turns out that Juliet had accidentally (but understandably) claimed it.  It was a translucent yellow egg with an orange recees inside, making it look orange. We figured it out when Juliet finished and had an extra.

When Avia came over, she took some family shots for us.

Alice didn't want to participate in our bunny pose, so we all helped giver her bunny ears.

Then, everyone gave me big hugs.  I fussed a bit, and seven was not happy that I'd made a distress noise and tried to "rescue" me.

We enjoyed a lovely ham meal, and then Billy and I headed out to enjoy a date. 

Once Emily had some food in her belly, and was back to her normal self, we headed back outside to take a few "make up" pictures in the evening.  They came out so much better!

The weather could not have been more beautiful.  It was a good reminder of the joy that comes with Jesus' resurrection. 

later days

February 25th

The expected high today was 36F.  It was cold and windy and a snow/rain mixture, so I have no idea if we even got that warm. = (

This morning Emily had student council, so we had to be out the door early.  Despite this, the kids managed to knock out a good chunk of their 'afternoon' homework!

Emily was on time, and the wait in the car wasn't too bad.  After dropping off everyone else, I headed to Walmart for Easter buckets.  They had a large selection.  They did not have many 18" doll accessories, so from there I went to Target.  I bought Emily's small gift (for her to open at her party) and Swimsuits for Alice and Emily.

From there I braved the VOA for some books, and a few other assorted items.  I dropped off part of Sarah's birthday gift, then headed home to put everything away.

At pick up the kids were ready to get home and work so that they could go to the pancake supper with avia at her church.  Billy and I walked to Charlie's as soon as he got home.

It was a fun day over all.

later days

Easter

I didn't take any pictures of the baskets this year (since my phone was already on the charger) but they were simple: a toothbrush*, two small chocolate bunnies, a stuffie and something specific to the personality of the recipient.  

This morning we made it to early service!  It was a nice service, though the kids unexpectedly (and happily) came back to us with filled eggs from a class egg hunt. = 0

After lunch, we switched out of coats and winter protection and took some pictures!  

We walked to the egg hunt, but Billy drove down, so that he didn't have to carry back 5 baskets full of candy. lol. = )

Strategy huddle!

We all donned our bunny ears for a picture with the bunny himself!

Billy couldn't help but appreciate the grass.

So the children feigned excitement too. hahahahaha. lol.

Then Billy threatened to push me in the river!  pah.

We didn't have much of a wait, but long enough that Grace began a whining regimen and William reverted to running around.

Once the whistle blew, the kids were off!  William & the twins were in the same age group this year.

And this was Alice's next to last year of egg hunting.  So, she has only one year left before she ages out.  How did that happen?

Emily was also in her own age group this year.  She was the only one in our famiy who found a special egg, and was awarded a pre-filled basket!

I love our little village.  It was such a sweet event, and much warmer than last year!

For our dinner we had ham, potatoes, peas & Hawaiian sweet rolls.

later days

*The toothbrush assortment at meijer left a bit to be desired, so I had to repeat on Alice and Juliet's from last year.  They were both really disappointed.  Alice didn't open hers, so I should be able to switch it out this week.  Juliet had hers completely out of the packaging before she complained.  So, she'll have to live with Ariel until Halloween. = /