Easter 2011

We dyed Easter eggs this year with Sam and Lily. I didn't want them to get their clothes dirty, so I had them put on some of John's old t-shirts- they were so cute in those giant shirts and they reminded me of when I was a little girl and wore my dad's shirts as nightgowns. I had a plan to keep Charlie occupied but also out of the dye and luckily it worked! I put him in his high chair with his own eggs (plastic) and bowls (empty) and he was so happy! He felt just like one of the big kids. I had Sam and Lily decorate their eggs with stickers to keep them out of the dye and we got some interesting results!








We planned to have our Easter egg hunt on Saturday. As we were waiting for Charlie to wake up from his nap, I went outside to check to see if the Easter bunny had visited yet. As I was "checking" in the backyard, I heard a loud rustling under the porch. It freaked me out so I went in and had John and Steve go out to investigate. Sure enough, my fears were realized and they found a huge, injured raccoon under the porch. Yuck. We obviously couldn't have our egg hunt outside with a possibly dangerous and/or rabid raccoon wandering around so I talked to the Easter bunny and he agreed to move all the carefully hidden eggs inside to the living room. Meanwhile, we called everyone we could think of to help us get rid of our guest. Let me enlighten you all- animal control, the division of wildlife, the fire department, and the police department, and Terminix will all NOT be willing to help you and will keep re-routing you to the other agencies. Without going into details (to protect the parties involved), we ended up taking matters into our own hands and the poor creature wasn't a problem any more.

The kids didn't care about being inside anyway and we had a great time watching them hunt for eggs. Charlie was a little bit sad and frustrated having to compete for the eggs but he got over it once we opened a few candy-filled eggs for him.






On Easter Sunday, we went to church and enjoyed the great lessons, hymns, and talks that focused on the Savior. After church we met up with John's family for a yummy dinner and money hunt. All John's siblings are grown (and some have kids of their own) but his parents still hide money all over the house for them to search for. It's so much fun and everyone is really into it. They best part is that the money is mostly in coins and it isn't hidden in eggs- picture quarters balanced on door frames and hidden between books. John and I didn't rake in the cash this year because we were hunting with Charlie but it gave us both so much joy to teach him the game and then watch him search the house for the coins.

It's been fun to start traditions of our own with Charlie and incorporate some of the ones of our childhood. From my childhood, I remember Easter baskets and candy but I mostly remember getting new Easter dresses and my whole family going over to my grandparents house to show them our outfits. My grandma took a picture of our whole family together each year and I love those photos now!

Here's a one of our Easter portraits

We had a nice celebration, what are some of your Easter traditions?