Our Easter Celebration 2009

We had a wonderful fun-filled Easter full of friends and family and trying new activities. The week of Easter we started with doing an Easter egg hunt with our ROCKstar playgroup at the park. It was REALLY fun! Lots of friends and food. Everyone brought 12 filled eggs (for 2 and older kids) and so everyone got to take 12 eggs home after the kids found them all. It worked great! Dallin caught on really quickly and really cleaned up. He had 12 eggs in NO TIME. Kate...well...she took longer and after she collected about 5 eggs, she started putting them back. In the end, she was one of the kiddos who ended up with "mercy eggs" to get her 12.ROCKstar 2 and up Easter egg hunt! Dallin is the red headed kiddo in the middle of the group!Kate found an egg! ALERT THE MEDIA! Kate taking a break from hunting Easter eggs to "bust a move". Hmmm...hence the "mercy eggs"Dallin with his haul after the hunt. Kate with her HEAVY load after the hunt!

I LOVE this picture! I had to put it in. We stopped by my mom's before the ROCKstar hunt to pick up some Easter baskets to use. Kate REFUSED to leave without Nana and started to cry, so....Nana quickly got dressed and came with us! Kate was in HEAVEN! She and Nana spent the whole time together swinging and throwing rocks in the little brook. Nana gathered the rocks and Kate would throw them in one by one just giggling! She really has a special relationship with her Nana and it is so fun to see these beautiful moments!

The next big Easter activity was trying out the flashlight Easter egg hunt put on by the city. The kids were WAY excited to look for easter eggs in the dark with their flashlights (with mom and dad, of course). It didn't turn out as well as we had hoped. It was $10 for both kids to participate. Then there was nothing to do while we were waiting (except dance...and my kids did that!) . Finally when it got dark enough, the paren't assisted hunt kids lined up, but they didn't separate the age groups so when they yelled GO my kids barely picked up 2 things each and the hunt was over. They were a little bummed about the lack of treats (especially after the wildly successful ROCKstar hunt) so we went out for ice cream. There are so many city activities. I pick some to try out and then we can try new ones the next year or repeat if we liked it...this one was not a repeat.Daddy and Dallin at the flashlight Easter egg hunt. (The yellow around his arms, neck and legs are the glow sticks I made him wear so we wouldn't lose him in the dark. Yes...I am a paranoid mom.)Kate and Mommy at the flashlight Easter egg hunt. (Yep, she is fully robed in pink glow sticks!)

Then we went to Tammy and Will's and did the traditional Easter egg coloring. It turned out really fun. We tried doing speckled eggs, which you paint with sponges. It was actually WAY less messy and MORE fun that I thought it would be. The kids were able to do it quickly and easily and the eggs were TOTALLY bright colored and RAD! Only later did we find out that the paint does not dry well, so we weren't able to use these to hide on Easter Sunday, but we have sure enjoyed eating them!Kate coloring Easter eggs. She was very careful with the sponges and painted pink, purple, and yellow on the eggs. Dallin painting Easter eggs. Yellow...and only yellow. Is there any other color? Our family on Will and Tammy's tarp-covered porch coloring Easter eggs! We DID eat them ALL this past week too! We LOVE our hard boiled eggs! Tammy coloring her egg--we voted it "coolest egg". It looked like a purple dinosaur egg. (The adults got to color the cracked eggs! Yippee!)A close-up of Tammy's rad dino egg! The Easter eggs that the kids colored. Hmmmm...can you guess which ones Dallin did? LOL...yep...the whole bottom row of ALL YELLOW "golden eggs" is Dallin's and the top row of pink/purple/yellow is Kate's. The adult Easter eggs. The top left 2 are mine (blue/green speckle and pink/pruple speckle) and the bottom pink/green speckle. The pink and green stipe on the bottom is Will's. The purple dino egg up top is Tammy's.
Finally, it was Easter Sunday. We had explained to the kids the reason we celebrate Easter, but I am still wondering how much sank in. I am looking for ideas to drive this home more next year. The kids put out carrots for the Easter bunny the night before, and sure enough...he brought LOOT! Kids putting out carrots for the Easter bunnny!
Dallin came downstairs the next morning saying "WOW! OH WOW!" They got some things to use at the pool this summer and to use in the garden and outside. They were so excited! Dallin was especially excited about his spider-man stuff. The kids' Easter loot---pre-discovery. Kate finds the carrots that we left the Easter bunny--or what is left of them!Dallin on Easter morning with his Spiderman pool stuff! He was WAY excited!Kate shows off her Easter chalk

Then we got ready and went to church with Nana and Papa and the WHOLE family. That was really neat. We stayed for Sunday school since Papa was teaching. Dallin kept "helping" with the lesson. "He said baptism! He said Joseph Smith! He said temples!" After church we came back to Nana and Papa's house and had an Easter egg hunt for the little kids. They had a great time and made out like bandits-lots of animal crackers, teddy grahams, princess/spider-man fruit snacks, pringles, even a couple of little toys! Even Maddie got in on the action. Dallin and Kate on the Easter egg huntDallin hunting for Easter goodies! Running after goodies on the Easter egg hunt!Kate scores some animal crackers on the Easter hunt.
Kate is on the hunt!
Maddie on the hunt (with help from mom and dad!) I know it is hard to tell from this picture but she and Kate had matching dresses and bows(I made the bows!) I think I put a picture of all 3 kids matching together in my Family Update post in March. Maddie is my lil joy! Love that little girl!

Then they got to come in and get even more goodies from Nana and Papa. They were in heaven! Kate got ponies and Dallin got a viewfinder. Dallin and Kate getting Easter gifts from Nana

Then came the big kid hunt...oh yeah...it was ON! We were running around in the backyard looking for stuff everywhere. I think I may be eating Easter candy FOREVER! YUMMO! I love the candy they make for Easter! TReeses eggs, cadbury minis, sweettart chicks and eggs....it is manna from heaven! Then we had a big family ham dinner and called it a day.

Daddy and Dallin on Easter SundayMy beautiful gifts, Kate Alivia and Dallin Christopher on Easter Sunday. My little man-Dallin Christopher on Easter Sunday My princess, Kate Alivia, on Easter Sunday A close-up of Kate's Easter hairdo. I'm afraid it doesn't do it justice. It was really cute! Also, I made her Easter bows this year! (and Maddie's too!)

It was a really wonderful Easter season but the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is what really made it beautiful. I am grateful for His perfect love and for all of the blessings I have each and every day. My uncle passed away this Easter. It was sad, but something about the fact that he passed away on the day that the Lord overcame death and made it possible for us to live with Him again as a familiy forever through His atonement made it seem so fitting and gave us much comfort. This year more than ever, the true meaning of Easter has stayed on my heart as I hope it has for all of you. Happy Easter!