Easter Eggstravaganza

Last Saturday, our HOA sponsored an Easter Egg hunt.  Last year's hunt didn't turn out too well (they started early, resulting in lots of angry parents), so our expectations this year were minimal.  We arrived extra early, just in case, and were rewarded with the first truly beautiful and warm spring day of the year.

There were three different egg hunts, divided into age categories: 3 & under, 4-7, and 8+.  That meant that Aubree and Bryce were together and Thane got to go with me (or I got to go with Thane...).  After reading news stories all week about aggressive parents trampling kids at egg hunts, I was impressed with how calm and happy all the kids and parents were able to stay over the course of the event.

When the "Go" was sounded (a minute late, just to be safe), Thane had no problem figuring out what to do with the eggs and quickly filled his basket.  We even managed to find the golden egg, which earned him an extra prize - an Easter basket with a big rubber ball.  

As I helped Thane, I tried to keep an eye on the bigger kid section to see how Aubree and Bryce were doing.  Aubree ran off with the herd of kids and was busily filling her basket.  It took me a while to locate Bryce, and when I finally did see him, I noticed that he was still at the beginning of the egg hunt area.  Concerned that he'd gotten overwhelmed alone in a crowd of big kids, I called him to come over to join Thane and I (reasoning that he'd just barely turned 4).  However, when he got closer I noticed by his overflowing basket that he hadn't been overwhelmed at all - just methodical.  I think he got the most eggs of all my kids.

After the hunt, which was absolutely wonderful and far exceeded our expectations, we stayed at the park with friends enjoying the weather as long as we possibly could without completely missing lunch and Thane's nap.

Easter morning when the kids woke up, I took them to the table to show them gifts that had been left.  We don't really do the Easter Bunny, per se, and haven't made a big deal about Easter baskets before. This was evident in Aubree's response, "what are those for?"  I didn't have a great answer, but they were thrilled with their church themed gifts and that's a tradition I think we'll keep up (because, honestly, the last thing my kids need is more toys or stuff).

Then we went downstairs for our traditional home Easter egg hunt.  I forgot that we usually do that on Saturdays.  Oh well.  It's fun for them to search through familiar play places to find eggs and again, Thane had no problem figuring out what to do.

Then we had a specially requested breakfast of cinnamon rolls and got ready for church.  (That's Captain Moroni with the Title of Liberty looking on. His sword didn't last much longer...)

Thane wouldn't stay in his seat...

And unhappily suffered the consequence.

Mark had the opportunity to give a talk in church on the Atonement and did a great job, even though he hates public speaking.  We had friends over for a big Easter dinner, and, according to tradition, I totally spaced taking pictures of the kids in their Easter finery (I think I remembered right after they all fell asleep).