Hunting Easter Eggs

After dessert was enjoyed by all, the kids grabbed their Easter baskets and headed to the backyard to begin their much-awaited Easter egg hunt! Given the age differences of the kids, we decided to let Jackson, Olivia and Jillian to go first and get a few minutes of hunting before we released the older kids. We knew Oliver, Sofia and Chandler would zip around and pick up most of the eggs, so we wanted to be sure the little ones collected their fair share. Jackson, Olivia and Jillian had so much fun looking for eggs and did a great job noticing some that weren't very obvious. They were so cute to watch!

The older kids got the all clear to go and raced around the yard looking for eggs. Of course, there were so many eggs for each of the kids to find that they all were busy for awhile looking and finding eggs. They did a great job and once we were sure that all the eggs were found, the kids sat at the outdoor table and went through their eggs, finding candy, toys and numbers to use to pull from the prize basket that Connie put together. The kids had so much fun picking out goodies from the prize basket as well as going through and trying out all their candies and toys. Despite all the kids looking and even most of the adults taking a final look around, we somehow missed finding the grand prize egg! We all looked again and still couldn't find any other eggs around the yard. Finally, CK put the numbers into his hat and had the kids pull out a number with whoever picking the highest receiving the grand prize of the chocolate bunny. Chandler ended up winning it but then decided he didn't want it because he didn't want the chocolate. Instead, he picked out another prize and was happy.

Just as we finished, it was time to say goodbye to Cynthia, Jay and the cousins and we all gave them hugs and kisses goodbye. The cousins had such a great time together and I really love watching Chandler and Sofia together as well as Sofia and how sweet she is with Jackson. Of course, Olivia and Jillian are best buddies and have such a special bond. We had a great time with them all and were sorry to say goodbye! That night both girls fell asleep extra early and slept great after such a fun weekend with cousins!

The kids are ready to get started!

Easter girls acting goofy!

Olivia adding an egg to her basket

Jackson finding an egg

Sofia finds several eggs

Jillian and Olivia sticking together, as usual

Oliver even got into it!

Love this picture of Olivia!

Buddy even helped looking for eggs!

The prize basket Connie made up for the kids to chose from! So cute!

The girls checking out the yard after all the eggs have been found

Chandler going through his eggs

Happy Easter!

The girls woke up around 7:15am to check out what the Easter Bunny had brought them and they were soon joined by Chandler, Jillian and Jackson. Just before they all showed up, I was able to take pictures of their cute baskets that were set up on the dining room table and labeled so no kiddo was confused on which basket was their's. The kids had so much fun going through their respective baskets and playing with their goodies (and eating candy).

Sofia's Easter basket included a large chocolate bunny from See's, a sheep stuffed animal, a container of bubbles, a Star Wars bank, a few ring pops, a brand new swimsuit, Star Wars erasers, a new skirt and top outfit, a paintable bunny craft, a container of See's chocolate eggs with white chocolate chicks inside and a container of Peeps. Olivia's Easter basket included all the same goodies, except instead of a sheep stuffed animal she received a bunny rabbit. She also got a different skirt and top and a different swimsuit, which she later wished was the same as Sofia so they could match. The girls loved their new things and were excited to go through it more fully after Meeting.

After everyone was up and dressed, we headed off to Meeting and then hurried home to get back to get the Easter meal prepared. We'd invited Scott, Brenda, Oliver, Kyle and Annie to join us for our meal which is pretty much the same thing we have every Easter. We bought a Honey Baked Ham, made the delicious crockpot potatoes au gratin, brussel sprout salad, rolls and green beans. We'd also made a carrot cake from scratch that was amazing and Brenda brought two flan she'd made as well as guacamole and chips for us to snack on before the meal was ready. We'd also asked Annie to take photos of each family as well as a group photo of the Grandparents with all of their grandkids and another of all of us while we got the finishing touches ready.

Of course, Annie took just incredible photos of everyone although she tried and tried to get a really good one of all of us together and Jackson was not willing to sit still and smile. He was done and despite promising candies and all sorts of goodies, he was done and ready to eat his Easter meal, as most of us were. Annie finished her photographic work and we all enjoyed our Easter meal. It was all delicious and we had more than enough food, as always. After a relaxed and delicious meal, we enjoyed flan, carrot cake and coffee while CK and Scott headed into the backyard to hide the hundreds of eggs we'd stuffed. Connie helped me stuff them with candy and toys and also came up with a great idea of putting numbers into about 25 of the eggs so that kids could pick out a prize from a beautiful prize basket that Connie put together. It was full of all sorts of toys and goodies that the kids would love. There was also a grand prize egg that would allow the finder a prize of a chocolate bunny.

Cynthia and her family were due to leave on a 5:45pm flight out of DFW, so we had to hurry the afternoon along so everyone could enjoy the day without rushing too much.

The Easter Bunny was here!!

Sofia's Easter basket

Olivia's Easter basket

Olivia checking out her goodies

Sofia loves her new sheep

All the kids checking out their baskets

Olivia checking out her new swimsuit

Sofia, the wild animal!

Dying Easter Eggs

On Saturday afternoon, after the kids went swimming/played in the pool and had lunch, we set out everything for dying Easter eggs. I hard boiled four dozen-and-a-half containers of eggs, figuring Jackson either wouldn't be terribly interested or would dye slowly and soon learned I should have hard boiled five dozen-and-a-half containers so each kiddo could have their own 18 eggs to dye. All the kids were in their swimsuits which made it perfect for dying eggs and washing off after. Each kiddo had their own color cup set so they could dye on their own and they all had a ball! Olivia seemed to plow through her eggs and was done before anyone. Sofia took her time and wanted just the right color and really enjoyed it. After they were all done dying their eggs, they picked out eggs to "paint" from "paint sets" brought by Connie. They worked surprisingly well and Sofia and Chandler really got into it, spending at least another hour at the outdoor table carefully painting eggs. The kids really had a fun time and the eggs were beautiful!

After they were all done dying and painting their eggs, Olivia suddenly noticed that her hands were dyed along with the eggs and got upset that the color wouldn't wash off. Olivia really loves having clean hands and so I googled how best to get the color off of hands. I rubbed baking soda onto her hands and then poured vinegar on them. It bubbled up and the color came off very easily. Who knew?! She was happy and ran off to play in the pool once again. Since I know we won't be eating any of the eggs, I put the most colorful ones into a glass bowl for display during our Easter meal and left them out for a few days for us to enjoy them.

Sofia is very focused!

Having fun.

Cynthia showing Chandler how to dye eggs

Olivia is very focused and busy!

Chandler is focused and having fun!

Working away!

Jackson

Jillian

The beautiful finished products!

Grandma watching the girls paint

Sofia painting

The finished egg!

Olivia painting

Jillian working away on her egg

Happy Easter!