Easter

Easter was a wonderful day. 

In the morning we went to our old neighborhoods Easter Egg Hunt. We've done this hunt for years now and it's part of our family tradition. It was so nice to see friends that we haven't seen in close to 2 years catch up and act like time hasn't past by. Our kids were shy at first, worried that their old friends might not remember them. And surely some didn't remember them. But that's ok. It gave them a chance to restart a new relationship. So within minutes shy kids were chasing each other on the playground. And I was way too busy chatting with friends to take photos so one day when my grown kids ask me about this activity they are just going to have to use their imaginations. 

After the hunt was over Mike and Mason went to do some work together. These two guys should start their own business :)
While the boys did that I went home and worked on some errands. 

When they returned we went out to dinner at our kids favorites place, McDonald's,  and seen Batman Vs Superman. It was such a disappointing movie! But I won't get into that. We were happy to spend quality time together as a family.

But the following day we attended church then went home to celebrate Easter with our traditional adults/kids egg hunt. 

                                                        (sacrament selfies)

Several years ago my visiting teacher at the time shared this tradition her family had. I loved it so much I adopted it into my family's traditions. Our kids filled eggs for Mike and I with our favorite candies. PB M&M's for him and Swedish fish for me. While they went outside to hide them we started filling up their eggs. 

Within minutes our kids were back inside yelling, "You'll never find my eggs!" Mike and I went outside with our baskets and found all our eggs within a few minutes. Now it's time to munch on our candies while we continued to fill up their eggs.

When we were ready I had everyone sit in the bathroom (only room without a window) so they don't peek and take a mental picture of where we hid the eggs. While Mike started the egg hiding I got the prizes ready. 

This year instead of the prize basket that we did last year I just put everyone's Easter prizes on their beds.

 Lily's prizes. Unicorn pillow pet, Frozen stationary, playdoh, and cookies.

 Cati's prize. Seal pillow pet, cookies, play doh, and Frozen stationary.

 Mason. All this boy wants now a days is snacks that he doesn't need to share. So we gave him exactly that.

I can't find the photo I took of Hailey's. I must of deleted it then forgot to retake it. But we gave her the Frozen stationary, playdoh, cookies, and a make-your-own jewelry kit.  

( I know their gifts seem random. No bunnies or candy eggs. I got everything on super sale or free. So they know their gifts will be whatever my couponing finds were recently. But no one complained since they loved their gifts)

After I set up everything on people's beds I went outside to help with the egg hiding. 

But from the looks of it Mike got it under control.

Then came the 10 second heads start for Cati. 

 Then came Lily, Hailey, and Mason. Each 10 seconds apart.

Mike and I now stood back and watched our kids run wild.

Within minutes of Ducati filled her bucket up and started using one of my plants. So I quickly grabbed my basket and traded her. 

Then everyone was giving up. So Mike started his guided tour showing kiddos where he hid the eggs. So everyone followed him.

Then the opening of eggs. The prize eggs each said, "Go to your bed!" Which confused people thinking they were trouble but when they went to their bed and found their prizes. They loved them! 

Lily loved her pillow pet!

Cati loved her pillow pet!

And Mike liked Cati's pillow pet.

As for our tradition of dates our kids look forward seeing what they won.

Mason-Movie Date.

Hailey-Dinner Date again.

Cati- Boondocks

Lily- her choice. So this means it'll be whatever she's feeling like doing at the time. 

But soon after all the excitement faded from the egg hunt it was time for a small nap, playing with the prizes, and preparing for dinner. 

I cooked a french dinner so we could finish up our lesson of France. Funny thing to know our kids are not fans of french food.

 But besides the eggs, candy, and toys we talked about our Saviors Resurrection. We usually will do resurrection eggs but this year when I opened the eggs they were all empty so we just talked instead. We talked about how Jesus came back to life today. How Mary went to the tomb to find it empty. But what touched our hearts most were talking about the promise Heavenly Father gave not only  Jesus but all his children; that we will all be resurrected again. So that the loved ones that once passed before us we will meet again- the ancestors we are learning about doing genealogy; the babies I miscarried; grandparents our kids never met; and maybe dinosaurs according to Ducati- we will see,  be with, and share our lives with these people again. All we need to do is have faith (John 3:16) and wait. We know our Savior rose today. We know that he sacrificed himself to help each one of us get back into heaven. Easter is such a special day for us all. Happy Easter for we know He Has Risen!