Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's Gone Its Way... ;)

Well... Easter's come and WAY gone! It takes me a long time to do anything, it seems, which includes posting. We had a fun-filled Easter... mostly on Saturday. We started the day out with an 8 a.m. soccer game with Lexi, then a baseball practice for Braeden, and then we headed straight for Aunt Colleen's! It's our annual tradition that on Conference weekend we do our flower pictures on the hill in their back yard. So we notified the Easter Bunny that we would be there! He makes special exceptions for families like us who celebrate on Saturday instead of Sunday. We try to do things that will remind us of the true meaning of Easter on Sunday... whether it be going to church or, in this case, watching General Conference.

Friday, before we got up for a REALLY EARLY soccer game, we kept to our silly tradition of dying hard boiled eggs! I say silly because they usually get cracked, or like this year, we forget to take them with us so that they are of any use at all. BUT... it is really fun(ny)!

We started with the tie dye eggs... in a bag!
Rub in the bag, then rub on a cloth...
...and TADA!!! You have a marvelously colored egg!



And then we went to the traditional dyeing... with the little tablets and stinky vinegar!

Ella is SOOOOO excited to be able to participate... without getting in trouble for making a mess for a change!
She had this egg for almost an hour. She started out with one pink dye cup and one yellow... but those quickly both turned orange with all the moving back and forth.



And this is where it fit in with all the others when she was FINALLY done with it!



Lexi... she spent a good long time on this one, too!




Braeden found one of his cracked eggs and BEGGED to eat it. He really does like hard boiled eggs, but...

... the WHOLE egg in one or two bites is just TOO MUCH! (Sorry for those that are grossed out by this. I figured if I had to see it and clean it up, then you could share in the misery a little.)
Then... after game and practice, we went to Colleen's! She and I along with Auntie Leslie and Uncie Josh ran to Target for a few things and found that when we returned the Easter Bunny had, indeed, found us and left for us some surprises! They quickly opened their baskets and were biting at the bit to get out the door... BUT we were WAITING for ELLA... who is very 2 and had to check out EACH item in her basket AND change into something NEW! Sheesh!
2 baskets... just in case. Even though the Easter Bunny had left specific instructions that each was to get the same amount of eggs and when they got to the designated number that they were supposed to stop... do you think that's what happened???




See what I mean about inspecting EACH little thing?? The joy and wonder of being little when everything is new and amazing!

Then we headed inside to do an actual count and sort. Leslie helped Lexi decide which ones she really wanted to keep without opening them. Then Lexi had to give her surplus to Ella and Braeden to even it all out!
And she didn't even put up a fuss. See how nice she is here just dumping eggs into Ella's basket?? (What you don't see in the pictures is Leslie and Lexi shaking the eggs to see which ones had $ in them!)
Braeden wasted NO time in just DUMPING all the egg stuff into a pile... and then separating out the money.
Hmmm... this is... OCD. Separated into piles of kind AND color.
Ella already dipping into her FAVORITE... thanks to Gma Pam! GUM!!!!!
And then SAmberie came over and we played for a while with them! Where's Ella??
Aha!

And I bet you can't guess where Lexi is!??
It's now a tradition of sorts... just like CHASE... to bury ourselves in the pillows and play hide n' seek!
Ella and Sam... teasing each other, I think!
Twirling with Amberie
And with Lexi... only this one doesn't end as softly...
...drag and crash!
Ella's been captured by the natives and is off to the roasting...
Have I mentioned how much we LOVE gum?
Telling secrets with Auntie Leslie. Better be a good one!
And our annual flower pictures! With still the same amount of cooperation... little to NONE!





This is the only way I can get everyone to cooperate. (And notice how long Ella's hair is getting! 2 fairly good sized piggies!! Yay!)



This is just one of my favorites. So innocent on both parts!


And this is my favorite of just Ella!



This is what 90% of the pictures look like... no one doing or being where they are supposed to. Sigh! Oh, well!
Walking down the brick wall...
And hanging in the tree!
We had a great time and hope that your Easter was filled with just as much time with family and remembrance of the Savior as ours'.