:)

Easter Saturday.

This year, we asked the Easter Bunny (via email) to visit our house on the Friday night before Easter.  It's definitely something we'll continue to ask...it made our morning so much less hectic, and on Sunday we were able to focus solely on Jesus.

The big kids made sure all the baskets were placed by the door and even left a little lettuce and a mug of water out for the Easter Bunny.

I'm thinking the Big Guy was pleased with his snack.

 And the kiddos (even Emmy) were thrilled with their treats!

This baby double-fisted everything. :)  Thankfully, the Easter Bunny left her goldfish crackers and yogurt-covered raisins in addition to candy.

It was so much fun to spend the morning huddled together, in our pjs, camped out in the hallway by our front door, gorging ourselves on candy.

Seriously can't wait until next year!

Fearless Monkey.

This girl.  She's not even as big as a minute, but she's fearless.  And now that Pop has taught her how to climb the ladder, she goes straight for it whenever she gets the chance.

The girl is covered in bruises. :)

"Diving" Eggs.

According to Babe, "diving" eggs this year was "so much fun!"  I'd have to agree.

Because Friday was a school holiday, we spent the afternoon boiling eggs, wearing Easter bonnets, and counting the minutes until Ben got home from work so we could start decorating our Easter eggs!!!  Seriously...Babe and Harry waited outside for Ben to pull into the driveway.  We're serious about our egg dying over here!

 Poor Ben...he didn't even get to take his gun off before the kids were ready to get started.  He's such a good sport.

We don't really do much with our colored eggs besides sticking them in the fridge and eating on them for a few days.  When I was a kid, we would leave our dyed eggs out on Easter Eve for the Easter Bunny to hide around the house and then have a race in the morning to see who could find all of "their" eggs first...it was tons of fun and makes for a great memory, but it's just not something we've incorporated into our own traditions. 

 

I love sitting around the table, though, and talking and laughing and creating messes with our crazy brood of kids.  I can't wait until Thatcher is old enough to join in. 

For us, it's a great way to spend time together as we prepare for Easter Sunday!

First Ponytail!

Easter Parties.

We had to divide and conquer this year. 

Ben spent the day with Hadley's class celebrating all things "egg."

He was supposed to drop the camera by my office on his way back to work so I could have it to take some pics of Harris' celebration.  Unfortunately, his translation of that conversation resulted in him leaving the camera in Babe's cubby at Primrose.  Thank goodness for smart phones. :)

Fun times (and sugar highs) were had by all!

Stomach Bug.

My sweet Harris came down with a nasty case of the stomach bug last weekend.  He went to bed extremely cranky after his baseball game on Friday night and woke up about two hours later (and every two hours after that) as sick as a dog.  I can't really think of any reasons why this is actually blog-worthy other than the following:

-it's the first time any of our children have ever experienced a throw-up type bug, much less the dreaded North/South.

-it's the first time I can remember washing 11 loads of laundry in one weekend.

-it's the first time I think we've ever stayed home for an entire weekend.  Harris and I skipped out on Olivia's birthday party on Saturday night and church on Sunday morning.  It was a loooooong couple of days. :)

-it's the first time I've ever quarantined one of my kids.  Harry spent 48 hours sleeping in his bed or hanging out in the "dog's room" (our guest room) watching home videos.  Nobody else was allowed in and he certainly wasn't allowed out.

-it hasn't spread to anyone else.  Yet.  :)