Easter 2015 is in the record books!
(In case you're wondering - THIS is the record book)
Our Easter preparation began with the official egg dyeing. Brian and I had a blast. We did the traditional dipping in color...
...painted with a brush...
...and even sponge painted some. Brian's first (and favorite) egg was this cross he painted.
And I made a special blue egg for Gavin's basket.
We had a lot of laughs...
...and we made a big mess. This is what Brian's hands looked like after 27 washes. I can't say my fingertips looked any better!! Ha!
Before bed we set up the baskets. We decided to attach balloons to each basket so the Easter Bunny would know whose was whose! Brian picked the blue basket to use this year - it's the basket that belonged to Gavin. We chose a butterfly balloon to put in the green basket - Brian's actual basket - so the Easter bunny wouldn't be confused. Got all that?
The Easter Bunny figured it all out - and WENT all out! Our Easter Bunny is heavier on the toys than candy.
Brian's basket included a snorkel set (who doesn't get a snorkel set to use in the bathtub from the Easter Bunny?!? Ha!), glitter glue, and a tabletop air hockey table!
Hope's basket included a plush Winnie the Pooh in a bunny costume, a mini-pinwheel, a box set of Sesame Street board books and a fun National Geographic picture book.
And Gavin's basket had an electric fluttering butterfly, his bunny ears, another min-pinwheel and extra candy to share with his brother.
Brian requested the night before that we all "sleep in" - so we didn't venture downstairs until close to 7:30! Here is the big reveal when Brian came rushing in to the kitchen...
And here's Hope checking out her new toys!
Brian jumped right into the egg hunt since he spied the first egg when he walked into the kitchen.
Most of the eggs had a penny or a nickel, a dime or a quarter.
Well - except for the two Darth Vader eggs! Check out what he found in those!
The low budget, no frills Easter Egg hunt was a big success according to my very sweet and grateful little boy! (Whew!)
Once he knew all the eggs were collected, it was time to inspect his basket.
And I instantly attained "rock star Mom" status when I said YES to candy before breakfast!!
After our real breakfast, we played a raucous game of air hockey!
Hope loved checking out her toys and books...
Before her morning nap, I asked her "Hope, what does the Easter Bunny say?" I just had to know. Here was her response...
Soon it was time to head to church. We're never quite sure what to expect when we are in church. Generally we hang in the back in case Hope starts to get loud. Today I went prepared with a steady supply of snacks and she was quite an angel! Both of them were - and they looked so adorable, if I do say so myself!
Before we got out of our fancy clothes, we took some photos in our back yard. It was too hard for me to choose just a few, so I'm posting them all!
Brian got tired of the sun shining in his eyes so he told me he would still smile - but he had to close his eyes. He kept his word!
This was the best we got from our trusty tripod. Three out of four looking isn't so bad! Ed and I both wore blue as a small way of including Gavin in our day. I actually wore the dress that I wore to his funeral. It felt like Easter was a good day to repurpose it.
Brian requested that I take some photos of him with Hope on Gavin's memorial bench in the garden. Nothing has bloomed yet - but these two brought lots of color... and lots of life... to the garden today.
It was a gorgeous day, so we spent much of it in the yard playing!
Hope took her maiden voyage down the BIG slide. Daddy and Brian were cheering her on.
She looks terrified, but she LOVED it!
And she loved the swings - laughing and laughing as her Daddy pushed her.
We walked,
played with chalk, did "experiments" with a bucket of water (sometimes I don't ask - it's more fun to just follow his lead!) and had some snacks.
Eventually, it was time to head inside to get ready for bed. As I walked into the garage, I turned around to see this on the driveway. A sentence that will never get old... even when I do.
Happy Easter!
I love all the pictures. Both Hope and Brian look so adorable and I love Hope's dress! The one of all of you together is lovely, both Brian and Hope look so much like Ed! I also loved the driveway picture, I miss those days when my 2 did things like that, now that they are so much older we don't do egg hunts anymore, like you we always brought them toys rather that lots of Easter eggs, although that's now changed to money lol. Thank you for sharing your Easter Day, it brought back so many cherished memories.
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