Easter 2012

Our Easter started on Saturday with a fun lunch date with the Buie's!

 Such sweet cousins!!

Then we made it back home in time for some naps before our 1st Annual (right, Erin???)

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

There were 6 families with 2 kids each (apparently that's the number you have to have to live on our street =)) that participated.  Aren't the kids so cute and "spring-y"?!?

 Love B's faces in these...a piece of her wicker basket came off.

 Chandler is on the back row being held by one of the VERY helpful neighborhood children, Sarah.

In fact, I'm not sure how I would have pulled off this egg hunt without her!  We ended the egg hunt at our house with a grill out so Eddie was home cooking the food.  With a 1 and 3-year-old, I definitely needed an extra pair of hands!

Thank you, Sarah!!

 My neighbor, Erin, organized the whole thing and did an amazing job.  Eggs were hidden in the front yard at 7 different houses and were color coded by child.  Whew!  Did that take some serious planning or what?!?

 On top of that, she organized "prize eggs" at each house so they children all got special surprises at each house.  She did the different houses so that the egg hunt would not just be over in 5 minutes.

 And it was DEFINITELY NOT over in 5 minutes.  7 front yards to canvas at 7 houses wore this little munchkin OUT!!  Can you tell how red her face is in this picture.  The rest of us were not that hot, but I guess with her little legs, that was A LOT of ground to cover.  Chandler started out pretty good and seemed to grasp the concept of finding the eggs and putting them in her basket, but by the end, she didn't care so much about finding the egg as she did about discovering the delicious treasures hidden inside.

 Here she is with one of her "prizes,"  They were these really cool balls that lit up when you bounced them.  Of course, leave it to Chandler to try to find a way to make us laugh.  Silly girl!

 Then at the end back to our house where the kids had a blast eating hot dogs and playing in the backyard.

 The big kids sat at the big table and the little ones sat together at this little table.  So cute!!

 And, sweet Eddie grilled all hot dogs for all 12 kids and brats and hamburgers for all 12 adults.  Everyone else brought a delicious side dish and it really was a perfect night!!  (minus 1 little fight/bloody nose between 2 of the little boys who were wrestling.  =))

Then finally on to Easter Sunday morning.  The girls were not very cooperative for pictures.

 The photo shoot at the house before we left for church was a total bust.  I finally went to my "go-to" move to try to get a decent face.  I have them go through each emotion.  In the picture below, they are supposed to be making surprise faces.  Good job, Chandler!!

 And now, happy faces!!

 The best part about these little dresses were the backs, but neither child would stand still for me to catch it on camera...hopefully these kind-of give you an idea.

After church was nap-time, then Easter Bunny time!!

 There is no one on Earth more thankful for each and every little gift, then Brooklyn.

 She L.O.V.E.D. everything the Easter Bunny brought for her.

 Like couldn't bare to neglect one of her gifts so she did her best to appreciate them all at the same time.

 She got to pairs of glasses and couldn't wear them both at the same time so I love that the other pair went on her feet.  Hilarious child.  Of course, she wasn't trying to be funny at all.

 Then she wanted to wear or hold up each gift one at a time for me to take a picture of her to show how much she appreciated each one individually.  I'm not posting each and every picture here as that would be a bit monotonous.  =)

I'm telling you.  If you ever just want to feel good about yourself, buy this kid a gift and she will be SO THANKFUL!!  I love this about her.  And it can be anything.  You really can't go wrong.

Chandler was mildly interested, but didn't put on near the show.

Honestly, she was more interested in just going back to caring for her baby dolls...she's such a little mother.

After checking out all of their new loot, they opened a very special electronic Easter card that from Gie-Gie and Big Bird (Eddie's parents) and I was so entertained by it as well that I forgot to get any pictures to document it.  =(

Then finally, that night when most of the excitement of all of these things wore off (at least for Brooklyn) I gave them the last of their Easter treats from Mimi and Doo-Dad.

Once again, notice how Brooklyn is totally treasuring even just the card.  She kept saying, "Mimi got this for me???"  Like she just couldn't believe someone would be thoughtful enough to give her a card.

Blesses my heart!!

 With their cards, they also received Easter picture to color.

 And stickers and paper to put them on.

Can you tell whose is whose???  Ha!  Ha!

I don't want to lose sight of the real meaning of Easter, but at this point the girls just seem to young to grasp it.  I tried doing this Easter egg thing with Brooklyn that simply went through Jesus, the cross, death, the empty tomb and rejoicing, but it didn't seem to make any sense.  She doesn't understand death or tomb or grave which are crucial to grasping this story.  So for now, it is just a happy day for them and an even happier day for those of us who understand it's real meaning!  Praise the Lord!!