I'm a good bit behind on posting, but my good reason is that I've been having heaps of fun on vacation! While we don't go out and do something every day, on the days we just stay home we typically take a walk or a swim in the pool (or both), and just take it easy. This means I've been keeping my laptop closed more days than it's open!
Anyway, today we celebrated Easter and so I wanted to be sure to post about that. I have a few other posts in the works about other things we've been up to, but they'll have to come as I make time.
This year Easter back home was covered in snow, while our Easter was nice and warm. It wasn't super sunny, though, and by the kids' nap time this afternoon we got a good rain that cooled everything down creating a really misty evening. We started the day nice and early, as in right after the kids woke us up at 6am, with Easter bunny gift baskets and a chocolate egg hunt inside. The kids' gifts were a nice blend of things from the USA and Australia...Hershey's bunnies and Maltesers bunnies, combined with some activity books and small toys. The centerpiece was a giant chocolate egg for John and the kids to share. :)
Gifts set out, and chocolate eggs are hidden around the house.
Sorry it's blurry, but it gives some perspective on the size of this egg!
After the kids emptied out their basket contents, it was time to find all the chocolate eggs. They had already spotted some around the TV stand, and then they were off finding others. Evan found the mother load that were dribbled around in the shoes by the door, while Emma found the mother loads hidden behind pillows on the couch. Then there were some harder to find ones... that bunny sure likes to bounce up and leave eggs in high places!
Soon after all the chocolate eggs had been found (and counted), the kids' cousin Eva came over for some egg hunting too. The plastic eggs (and a few more chocolate ones too) were hidden outside and the kids all had a ball finding them. The most amazing thing happened while the kids were outside...a box of small plastic eggs that had been sitting on the dining table was found empty when we returned inside after the hunt! I asked the kids what could have happened, and Evan exclaimed "The Easter bunny hid them!" They then went on searching inside for all of those eggs.
A post-hunt photo opp
After all of this, Emma kept saying she wanted to find more "Easters" and I could tell Evan wanted more hunting too, after all, he'd been so excited for Easter to "go hunting" for weeks now! So I "pretended to be the Easter bunny" and hid two more lots of plastic eggs outside. This time, however, I hid them differently in different parts of the yard. One area for Evan, one for Eva, and one for Emma. I tried to hide them to their skill level, which made it more fun for each of them (Eva and Evan had more challenging hiding spots, while Emma still had some to find, etc). It was all great fun.
We didn't have any other super special plans for the day after this, so we all just relaxed around the house. I took a morning nap, to overcome the early wake up and a mild headache that had come on, and the kids played Easter bunny some more among themselves (hiding eggs for each other to find). We ended up not getting dressed up nice, like I normally have the kids do on Easter. I had planned nice clothes for them, but since we were just taking it easy, it felt better to just keep them in casual clothes (aka pajamas nearly all day long!). We'll save the nice clothes for another day.
The kids were having so much fun with Eva. (In fact, we had been to her house last night for a roast dinner, and Evan and Eva were in her backyard swinging together and laughing so hard. She taught him how to jump off the swing too, which he was really excited about...us not so much, but he managed to not break his ankle, which he made sure to tell us after each successful jump!). Anyway, this morning after all of the egg hunts, Evan asked Eva if she wanted to have a sleep over. She said yes and so we planned for Eva to stay overnight tonight. Evan was over the moon about this. He's been asking about sleep overs for weeks now. I don't know where he heard of them from, but he's been dying to have one. She's several years older than Evan, but I think that's good so we don't have to worry about caring for another 4-year-old under our roof. Plus, she's family, so that makes it a little less overwhelming. So that's where we're at now. The kids are settled in the living room watching a movie, and soon it will be bedtime. Eva has a little mattress laid out in the kids' room for their sleepover. Here's to hoping they all sleep good tonight!
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