Easters

My goal this Easter season was to keep the focus of Easter on Jesus and his life and resurrection - we did that by implementing a daily countdown where we added a construction paper heart to a string on the wall.  On each heart we'd write something we loved about Jesus or a story we knew about him or a song we sang about him or a scripture we read about him.  Callie loved the Thanksgiving turkey feather idea back in November, and she was equally excited to "do a heart" each evening after dinner during the month leading up to Easter.

But, even with the main focus being Christ-centered, we did manage to squeeze in a little Easter egg fun, too.  One morning while Sam was napping, Cal and I found ourselves with a free hour that was perfectly filled with egg dying.  She thought it was pretty amazing to put a white egg into a cup and it came out colored!  (And every time I've made hard boiled eggs since, she's asked if we can color them, too.)

We had an Easter egg hunt and (inside) picnic lunch at my Grandpa and Grandma Elwood's house on the Saturday before Easter.  This has been a long-held tradition since I was small.  It was fun to get together with a few of my cousins that live close (MaKinna and Macie and Cardon), even if they are mostly getting too big for such things.  Cal had fun finding all the eggs she was allotted and then opening them after to discover all the yummy treats and money hidden inside.

My contribution to the lunch:
carrot bundt cakewith a cheesecake swirl
(and cream cheese icing, not pictured -
I also added toasted pecans to the
top, for prettiness, and it tasted awesome!)

Macie was such a good buddy for Cal - she showed her the good
stuff inside!

Soakin' up the sun - it was a pretty day, but a bit
chilly still.  The sun felt wonderful!

She was so excited for this basket.
(It was one that I got as a gift from Dale and Alicia,
actually, many many moons ago.  Glad it could
still be put to good use.)

Callie loves playing with Mace.

All the hunters.  Pretty much you're never too old/big to find eggs
in our family - well, at least until you're married.

Easter Sunday was lovely, as to be expected.  We enjoyed church and then came home for a quick lunch/snacks then naps.  (No Sunday best pic for us - whoops!)  After dinner (we had grilled chicken, rice pilaf and asparagus!) we went for a Sunday stroll to the lake to splash rocks.  A favorite pastime of Cal, still.  It wasn't the sunniest day ever, but just warm enough to enjoy being outside on the banks for a little while.

Stroller face.

Moody sky.

She loves this stuff!

I love these guys!

Last, but not least, we celebrated a belated Easter with the Blanchards during General Conference weekend.  We gathered at Gregg's parents' house with the Wihongis for Sunday dinner (it was also Scott's birthday celebration so he got to pick the menu: spinach salad, steak, scalloped potatoes, and asparagus, with cheesecake and strawberry pie for dessert!).  And then we had a great egg hunt for the three kiddos who can walk in the group.  Kage and Dray first hid a bunch of easy ones for Cal to find and when she had gathered her loot, Scott, Gregg and I hid the rest for the boys.  Don't worry, Sam got a couple to slobber on, too.  And the dogs made sure to get their share, as well.

Hangin' with Auntie Heather.

She's a pro now.
(I should also mention that we had been "practicing"
egg hiding and finding around our house all month
long.  She got really good at hiding them for me or Gregg
- in the same places every time, usually - and then
she'd help us find them before we could even start
looking.  Such is an egg hunt with a two-year-old,
I guess.)

Generous gramma and grampa to do such a fun thing for these
kiddos.