Easter Sunday

Our kids are so lucky.  They get 2 easter egg hunts every year.  The first is in our basement, you never know what Utah weather will be like on Easter, and the second is at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Every year I color code the eggs for each child so that no one gets more eggs than anyone else and so the little kids can find their eggs without too much help.
This year we had church at 9:00 so we decided to wait until after church for the Hunt.  We had a couple of unhappy kids, but I was not going to wake up little sleeping girls when they could do it later.  After church I made them take a family picture before they trashed their Easter clothes.  I made skirts for the girls and ties for the boys.  Love how they all color coordinate with each other without being too matchy matchy.

Then it was on to the Hunt!

Hunter was just a wee bit excited.

 First they have to find their baskets.  Hunter and Michela's are getting harder to find each year.  Love making them work for their stuff!  

They got shirts or skirts in their baskets, a book (of course), a big bubble wand, and some chocolate.  Laina's eggs were all in plain sight.  After finding one she just wanted to open it, she didn't really care about finding more.  Most of her eggs had puffs or yogurt bites, but one had jellybeans.  She tried to cram the entire pile of jellybeans into her mouth at once!

Chase found his eggs quickly.  I think he and Hunter
sneaked down for a peek in the morning.

Time to open the Eggs.

After a few short hours it was time to go to Grandpa and Grandma's for dinner.  Of course they couldn't wait for the Easter Egg Hunt.  The Dads all go out and hide the eggs.  And then it is time to let the cousins loose.

Chase found a Golden Egg.

Hunter finding some eggs hidden in the bushes.

Aria is trying so hard to reach the eggs in the trees.

Laina adores her Daddy.

Michela searched high and low for the eggs.

Mindy, Grandma Peggy, and Laina.

My sweet kiddos.

 Thanks to Peggy and Lynette for the awesome Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids were in candy bliss the whole ride home.

Easter Eggs

This year I kind of handed over the Easter Egg dying duties over to Michela.  I told her how to boil the eggs and gave her the food coloring and instructions.  I then went downstairs to keep plugging away at the Easter skirts and ties for the kids.

I periodically came up for air and ventured upstairs to see how they were doing.  Except for a few spots of dye on some clothes and the counter, and a couple of cracked eggs, they did an awesome job on their own.  I had to snap some pictures of them working on the eggs and of their creations.  I was totally impressed with how well they had worked together and with how little arguing I heard from them.  They tried a new technique this year by taping off sections with masking tape.  I loved what they came up with.  Way to go kiddos!

Easter Sunday

The kids were so ready for Easter this year. In the morning I heard Chase and Hunter downstairs. They were camped out in front of the basement stairs laying on pillows and talking about the candy they were hoping to get. Luckily the Easter Bunny posted this sign. In years past we have had problems with certain sneaky children going downstairs before Mom and Dad are up and finding where everything is hidden. Here they all are posing for a group shoot before going downstairs. The kids love scouring the basement for their eggs. Hunter, being the tallest, had to go to new heights to get some of his eggs. Laina's eggs were all on the ground and she was determined to get them. She also wasn't above trying to steal eggs from her siblings' baskets. Aria was so excited to see what was in her basket. Hunter and Chase had fun putting together their new lego guys. Michela and Hunter loved their new shirts. If you can't read them, Michela's says "Homework Kills Trees" and Hunter's says "Do Not Disturb unless you have pizza". Ha, Ha, ...

After church I tried to get a picture of all the kids in their Easter outfits. I made dresses for the girls and ties for the boys. They looked so cute in their matching colors and fabrics. The picture didin't go so well, it was pretty bright outside and they were all wanting to get out of their clothes, so I had to settle for two shots and a little headswapping.

We then went to the annual Easter dinner and Peggy and Larry's. Peggy and Lynette always fill tons of eggs and then the dads get to go hide them in the backyard. Here are the kids decorating their bags to take their goodies home in. The kids were everywhere all at once. Michela was darting all over and I could hardly get a picture of her. Luckily we were just finishing when the storm started rolling in.

I got one picture of me and Laina together. It was a beautiful day spent with family and friends we love dearly.

Easter Egg Dying

We ran out of time on Saturday so we decided to dye Easter Eggs Sunday morning. We made some custom colors, like purple, turquoise, neon green, dark pink and sunset orange. Chase kept cracking me up calling the orange "sunset orange" everytime he wanted to use it. I let them draw on the eggs with crayons first and then set them loose. They had lots of fun experimenting with rubberbands and different colors.