Easter 2012

Easter this year was the typical Easter.  We colored eggs on Saturday. 

Then Saturday night we told the kids they couldn't come upstairs and see what the Easter Bunny brought Sunday morning until Cedric was up (usually he's the last one up).  However, Cedric got up at 7:30 and I was not excited about getting up that early, so I just quickly carried him downstairs and told the other two to watch him.  I promised them we'd get up in an hour.  Well, Cedric kept coming upstairs to get a drink or a snack and I don't think he even realized there were eggs hidden everywhere.  But it kept making me nervous so I didn't sleep well since I kept getting up to take him downstairs.  8:30 came and went, and I just kept hitting snooze on the alarm (yes, I have to set an alarm to get up at 8:30.  I'm not a morning person.).  So just before 9:00 we heard the kids downstairs trying to make as much noise as possible so we would get up.  Well, it worked.  Sophie also got up about that time so she too got to get in line to see what the Easter Bunny had left.

First, they had to find their baskets.  They were good to leave the eggs alone until after they all found the baskets and we got a picture.  Their baskets included books, kites and the big candy items.

Then they were allowed to find ten eggs each.

Once they all found ten, then they could get five more. 

Once they all  had 15 it was a free-for-all for the rest (I swear we had 50 eggs hidden).

After the egg hunt we got ready for church.  

Side note: I had a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon in a month.  I had finished it for the umpteenth time exactly a month before Easter, so I decided to challenge myself and read the 17 pages a day it took to finish it by Easter.  I read the last chapter that morning before church.  It really was a neat way to experience the scriptures.  It wasn't as hard as I thought either, I just premarked what I needed to read each day on my IPod so I was able to read it wherever I was, or listen to the audio while doing my housework. 

This was the first year I didn't buy any new Easter clothes.  Lily still fit in her dress from last year, Sophie wore a dress that was once Lily's (she reminded me a lot of Lily as a baby in that dress), and the boys wore bow ties that Nana had made for them to wear at their Uncle Eric and Aunt Carlee's wedding two years ago.

The sun was too bright on the grass, so I got a good picture of them all next to the fence.  I love how this picture turned out.  :)

The girls!

Later that day we headed over to see my mom's grave.  The kids had not been back since the funeral.  The whole Easter day was emotional for me.  I thought a lot about my mom, but mostly I felt tears of joy that I know our Savior died for us, and was resurrected so that we can all be resurrected someday too.  I know he also suffered for all of our pains, and knows exactly what I'm feeling.  Having Easter to reflect upon these things made for an emotional day.

After visiting Mom's grave, we went over to Tom's parents house.  We had all 17 (only one was missing) grandkids line up in age order before heading out to the backyard.

There was candy EVERYWHERE and the kids easily filled their baskets to the brim.

The weather was just perfect!  Not too hot, not too cold and no wind.  Perfect for 3 1/2 month old Sophie to enjoy the outside.  

After the egg hunt we had a big turkey and ham dinner outside.  It was the first year we were able to stay at Tom's parent's house instead of trying to rush over to my parents as we usually did.  We decided to do my families Easter dinner next Sunday to make things less complicated.  

It was such a perfect Easter!