Happy Easter

Initially when Chloe woke up, she thought the Easter Bunny hadn't come because she didn't see footprints in her room. Easter mommy was way too tired to take care of that detail. But then she found where he had hidden her basket, and was so excited.
Addie, my sticky fingered little girl, who can't keep out of anything, couldn't be convinced that it was okay to approach her loot. "For me?" she seems to say.

Eventually, she did go for it, though.

She did amazing things to her chocolate bunny. She managed to melt one eye right off with her hot little fingers.

Chloe made sure to get every last speck of chocolatey goodness.

Only Chloe and I made it to church that day. Addie had a runny nose, and Bracken wasn't feeling great either, so they stayed home. Chloe was so good and reverent without her sister to distract her. I really enjoyed being able to pay attention to the meeting. After church, Chloe's Primary teacher and pulled me aside to let me know that Chloe had invited her, and all the class, over to share her Easter candy because she was worried that they hadn't gotten any. Very sweet.

That afternoon, we had all of Bracken's family, as well as our friends, the Morris', over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. The kids played a round of duck duck goose to warm up.

Syrus chose to play some tennis.

Eden, Jose and baby Gillian waiting for the games to start.

The girls also dived right into the sand in their pretty dresses. Thank goodness for washing machines.

The hunters emerge from the house.

Addie got right into it.

This is the one picture of me the whole day. I have a pregnant picture in this dress on 3 Easters now, though you can't exactly see my belly here.

Chloe was on a mission.

Addie soon got distracted by the eggs that had opened, and just started scooping candy out of the grass. There's some sort of lesson about immediate gratification vs. lasting rewards here. She ended up with very few eggs as a result. Which is fine with me since she doesn't really need the candy, and tends to spit out the half chewed ones she doesn't like.

Action Chloe.

Assorted hunters.

Chloe and Autumn hunting in my improved garden area. I had so many projects in the works in the weeks before Easter, and it was so fun the day before to see everything come together. I still need to fill my new boxes with dirt, but I'm happy with where things are at.

Addie decided she needed some water to go with all the sweets. Notice my new Kangaroo Paw plant. The Easter bunny wisely knew that I would prefer a new plant to roses.

Exploring the haul. It was a really fun day. We love being able to spend the holidays with people we care about.