Easter 2019

The Easter Bunny left the kids a note this year, sitting out on the table by their filled Easter baskets.  Sophia grabbed the note and headed into our bedroom to read it to everyone.

They listened intently as she explained that there were 30 eggs for each child hidden around the house.  They were only to find their own designated egg color -- and not to tell anyone if they saw one that wasn't theirs. 

This was SO fun for everyone -- even us, parents -- because the Bunny really made it challenging for Sam (and a little for Sophia).  Long after the boys had found their eggs and after the kids had checked out their filled baskets, Sam and Sophia were still searching for a few elusive green and pink eggs!

One would think that bright pink eggs would be easy to spot, but not always ...

Obviously, Jack's eggs were orange.  Some were filled with coins and some were filled with candy.

Puzzled over her lack of progress.  Ha!

A BLUE egg!

We laughed because later, when it was time to head down to the park for the Easter Egg Hunt there, he started out only picking up blue eggs!

All of the baskets lined up and waiting to be dug through for their goodies:

Samantha's basket:

(The "Hamster Mom" mug was my favorite thing there!)

Sophia's basket:

(Those shoes!)

Jack's basket:

(Jack's two favorite things right now -- Batman and Pokemon)

Jimmy's basket:

(Jimmy could do stickers and play doh all day long)

Lot of smiles all around!

Easter Egg Hunt 2019

The annual Easter Egg Hunt at our subdivision park was rescheduled again this year (like last year) to Easter Sunday instead of the day before.  The weather was not looking favorable for Saturday and, honestly, it was nice to do that with our family that was over to celebrate the holiday with us.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL -- almost 70 degrees -- and the kids never stopped smiling.

Getting ready to head down to the park with her face all painted and ready to celebrate:

Jimmy was off and running -- he's a real pro at this now.  And I managed to snag his attention just long enough to capture a quick picture.

Jack spent a lot of his time searching for one of the illustrious golden eggs and managed to find one!  The golden egg earns you the choice of one of the "bigger prizes."  He chose a large bucket of sand toys, which we can certainly use!

So much candy!

Taking a little break before heading over to the activity table for cupcake decorating, games and snacks.

In the meantime, Sam found the kites and enjoyed flying them down at the park.  Later, she took one home and it managed to blow away ... halfway down our street and get tangled high up in a tree.  I am pretty sure that it will be there all summer long!

Coloring Easter Eggs

As is our tradition, we colored Easter eggs (4 dozen of them!) the day before Easter by setting up a table in the back family room, covered with a disposable tablecloth.  This is the BEST method ever, as the clean-up is minimal.  We even included our neighbor in on the fun with us.

This year, we added something new into the mix where we let the kids use sponges to decorate some of their eggs, if they wanted to.  Of course, the girls were ALL ABOUT THAT IDEA.

I suggested that Sam try making a flower on one of her eggs and I was so impressed with how well it turned out!

Sophia began with some traditional coloring, but was patient and suspended her eggs for a short time so that she could make a stripe pattern on some of them.

I started out helping Jimmy (worried that he would be a tad too aggressive with the fragile eggs) ...

... but soon learned that he didn't need my help at all.  He totally understood the concept and never broke a single egg.  Let the record show that the one person that did break an egg was my oldest, Samantha.  Ha!

As much as Jack is a complete 'rough and tough, outdoors kind of boy,' he is just as much a 'gentle, careful, crafting-loving boy.'  I just love that about him.

Oooohhh -- but note: I once told him that I love how much he loves to "CRAFT," and he was very quick to correct me and refer to it as "DOING PROJECTS."  Apparently, crafting is not a 'manly enough' phrase.


And a group shot of our egg colors that morning, showing off their masterpieces for the camera:

The Local Fire Station

The fire station in town consists of volunteer firefighters that make themselves available whenever they can for parades and field trips... and in our case ... a family visit to tour the trucks inside. 

One Saturday morning, went as a family but Jack opted to sit in the van for a good portion of our time there.  We still aren't sure what his "issue" was, but are finding that if we just give him some much-needed space, he usually calms down and voluntarily chooses to partake.  Such was the case at the fire station and it didn't take long, once he came inside, to realize what fun he was missing.

Jimmy came prepared, all decked out in his fireman coat and hat (that he received from Aunt Minnie for his birthday this year):

One of the old-fashioned trucks that they use in the local parades:

The girls climbed from one truck to another, checking out the insides and all of the extra gear stashed inside:

The perfect-sized steps for a 3-year old to sit on:

Sunglasses and all:

After a while, we headed into the adjacent building where the ambulances are stored. 

The kids found the stretcher right away (and much to my concern), took turns pushing Jimmy around on it for a bit:

It was at this point that Jack (finally) decided to join us.  Not the best lighting, but the only "group shot" that I was able to get that morning:

But the real highlight of the morning was going for a ride all through town (and north of town) in the firetruck.  Yes, all 6 of us piled in, along with our neighbor that was there as our tour guide, and we got to ride in the big truck.  Jack's smile says it all!