Easter in Edwardsville

We spent Easter Sunday with all of Joe's family (this is not a small group!) in Edwardsville. We arrived early and discovered that the Easter bunny had also left baskets at grammy and grandpa Brett's house!

Grandpa Brett showing Ethan the chicken that lays jelly beans.

Of course the Moon Sand had to travel with us as well. She was way too excited about finding that in her basket to have to wait a day to play with it. Notice here how the sand is a lovely shade of purple or yellow.

Ethan and grandpa Brett on a jelly bean hunt. Before the kids' arrival, Brett had hidden an entire bag of jelly beans around their house. We were at the house for about 10 hours, and we were still finding them at the end of the day! It became a source for a constant sugar high for the kids as every time you turned around you would find another jelly bean just waiting to be eaten.

Uncle Brennan showing the kids how his bearded dragon ("Mohinder") loves to eat crickets.

Olivia with Uncle Brennan.

Poor aunt Kelli spent the majority of her time with the kids crawling all over her. Here is Olivia with her 2nd cousins Mattie, Madison, and Allie.

I have no idea how this started, but once Ethan heard the laughter in response to wearing his bucket like a hat, he continued to do this for a long time.

Kate, Ethan, and Uncle Brennan. Ethan was clingy on Easter (too many strange faces) so this was the only way we could get his picture with Brennan.

Olivia on her second Easter egg hunt of the season.

Once again, Ethan had to inspect each egg before placing it into his bucket. Next year he'll learn that doing this means that you do not find as many eggs when competing with the other kids.

The great grandchildren of the family...Ethan, Mattie, Tanner, Allie, Taryn, Olivia, and Madison.

Olivia doing some art projects with Allie and Mattie.

Kate, Ethan, Joe, Grandma Phyllis, Olivia, and Grandpa Boyd (he finally woke up from his nap to pose for this picture!).

Once again, the Moon Sand. It is now a brown color.

We hope that everyone had a very Happy Easter!

Easter Morning

The Easter bunny was once again generous to our little ones this year. Olivia woke up first and ran to see what was left for her. I know that this picture is blurry, but I couldn't pass it up since it shows her pure happiness at being left Moon Sand, the toy that she consistently requested every day for the bunny to bring. Although she was quick to point out that she wanted the "castle" version and not the "pet doctor" version. I guess Easter bunnies can't get it right all of the time.

Ethan discovering his basket. His big toy was Luke Skywalker on a speeder bike. Guess who picked that out.

Does anyone else find it amusing that Olivia specifically requested the Berenstain Bears Go to the Dentist book for Easter? Olivia had yet to pick up on its meaning as we read it while she ate her Easter candy.

More goodies for Ethan.

Olivia putting stickers into her Fancy Nancy book. She is still in love with that book series. Hopefully there is never a TV series to fuel that passion even more! As we pick out spring clothes, Olivia has to consider if it is an outfit that Fancy Nancy would wear or not. Luckily it is not too difficult to find fancy outfits for girls.

Skittles seemed to be Ethan's favorite from his basket.

The traditional chocolate bunny.

Olivia is such a good big sister to Ethan.

Easter in Litchfield

We celebrated Easter with my side of the family on Easter Saturday. As soon as we arrived that morning, Olivia began helping grandma make the bread. They still enjoy spending time together baking in the kitchen.


Easter loves.

Olivia and Ethan in their Easter finest. The next few pictures (of course the "formal" ones) appear to be a bit overexposed. We are still working out the bugs in our new camera.

The family Easter pose. Yes, I realize that you can barely see us. I plan to crop this picture later.

Olivia was so proud of her table decorations. She helped to pick the flowers with grandma, Ethan, and Aunt Rachel, and her colored eggs are on display as well.

The Easter Bunny (aka Joe and Uncle Thomas) miraculously appeared after lunch and hid eggs for the kids. This is a great picture of Ethan finding an egg.

Olivia requesting a bit of help retrieving an egg from the tree.

That bunny can really hop high to hide those eggs! Ethan needed a bit of help from Uncle Thomas for this one.

Jelly bean break.

Still hunting...

Ethan demanded that each egg that he found be opened on the spot so he could sample the goodies inside.

Ethan receiving a tricycle lesson from Uncle Thomas.

Easter Egg Time!

It is Easter season again, and that means coloring eggs! Olivia is an old pro at this by now, but this year Ethan was an active participant as well. We colored 13 eggs, of which the kids ate 2 and then decided that they were done with eating them. Does anyone really eat all of the eggs that they color? Anyway, here we are preparing the eggs. I am happy to report that only 2 cups of color were spilled...one by me and one by Ethan. Not too bad.


Ethan's favorite color is blue, so that is pretty much what he favored when coloring his eggs. These little tongs were fantastic for the kids (thanks mom!)...so much better than those awful wire spoon things that come with the kits.

Joe teaching Olivia the art of dying an egg two different colors.

Ethan's hands were an interesting color of olive-y brown at the end of the experience. When it took too long to pick up with the tongs, he would just dunk his hand right into the dye. At least it washed off in the bath that night!

Olivia showing off her egg with the "magic crayon" design on it (can't really see it in the picture).

Ethan's reaction to being told that all of the eggs had been colored and that part was all done. He really did enjoy being a big boy and helping with the eggs.

However, after the coloring, it was time for stickers on the eggs!

Cheese!

Olivia and daddy displaying their handiwork.

Happy Easter from Olivia and Ethan!