Easter 2014

Our Easter festivities started on Saturday afternoon. We went to my mom's for lunch and our annual egg hunt. We got there an hour late as we were up late the night before and that meant the morning started later than we meant for it to.

We had deli type sandwiches and then the hunt was on.

My brain wasn't functioning and so I didn't realize we were meeting to do an egg hunt and therefore the kids baskets got left at home. Thankfully, my mom had bags for the kids to use.

My mom let the kids under the age of 1 go first. (Jace and my niece, Emery) Then went the 1 year olds. (Ry and Vincent) Finally the rest of the kids were let loose. Eric went around with Jace and Ailey was kind of moody and so I stayed by her. The other kids went crazy and ran around Grandma's yard searching for those eggs.

Grandma had a special prize for Jace and Emery and since Jace is slightly older, he got first pick. 

Then it was time to break into the eggs and see what the prizes were...

After the egg hunt, most of the family had to go their various ways. We stayed for a bit longer visiting. We decided we'd better get going home as the Easter Bunny still had work to do and it was getting a bit late.

The next morning we woke up and discovered that the Easter Bunny had indeed finished his work and left way too much junk for our kiddos.

...Lex had the bad luck this year and couldn't find his basket for anything. After searching and searching, he finally found it at the top of the coat closet...

(His basket was actually BEHIND the curtain, but he moved it before Mommy got out of bed)

After the big kids found their baskets and I got pictures, Jace and I went back to sleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up, we let Jace get his basket.

Normally the next pictures I'd post are of our Easter clothes. Well, we have Easter clothes. We don't have pictures. We had Stake Conference on Easter and we don't usually go to Stake Conference. Our kids have a hard time sitting through Sacrament Meeting and I don't feel like taking a bunch of kids to a meeting that I'm not going to get anything out of.

That alone wouldn't normally be an issue, either and we'd still get dressed up. However, with Eric's mom out of town and my Mom not really having dinner or anything, we just spent a quiet day at home. I made a nice dinner of Opulent Chicken and we just took it easy.

The Easter clothes aren't a lost cause, however. We will all be dressed up this Sunday. We may look a little odd, but oh well. Also, when Eric's mom gets home she wants pictures. So it was a fairly simple Easter, but perhaps that was just what we needed.

What Happens Next...

Silly #6

Nate's 6th birthday was coming upon us. He talked for weeks and weeks about having a birthday party. I never did one for the older kids this young as we always had big family parties. But, Nathaniel had his little heart set on a friend party and I decided we'd do it.

I also decided on a friend party as his birthday was right before Easter. I wasn't going to celebrate his birthday on Easter and I just didn't get things in gear to do it earlier. My mother in law also ended up leaving town for the month and so I figured, eh - we'll do a kid party and I'll invite the cousins. Then I talk to my little sister (her kids make up most of the cousins) and she said she'd be out of town for a wedding the day of the party, so a neighborhood party with a few little kids was how it was going to be.

I asked Nate to think of a theme and he couldn't settle on one. He kept saying parties we've done in past years or things he really had no interest in, but his siblings were trying to talk him into. Somehow he decided on Mickey Mouse Visiting The Zoo. It was an easy enough theme and so we went to work.

For the invitations I had Shaylyn draw/trace (she did a little of both) Mickey Mouse and Nate's two favorite animals, a lion and an elephant. I then colored them in, printed off information and then glued everything together. It's hard to picture, I know. I meant to take a photo of the completed invites, but the kids delivered them before I remembered to do so.

Nate couldn't wait for his party and kept counting down the days. Finally Friday, the 18th rolled around.
I had something for the kids to do while we waited for guests to arrive. This was also a fun way, I thought, for Nate to remember who came to his party. I made a lion and elephant 'mask' for them to wear and take a picture in. We had Jace try it out for us.

Yup, decidedly cute - especially on a baby. So we tried it out with each of Nate's friends and it was so much fun to see how they turned out.

...Nate and his 'girlfriend' Makayla...

...Nate and Nick...

...Nate and Lew...

...Nate and Caleb...

...Nate and Landon...

In between taking pictures and waiting for guests, the kids took it upon themselves to keep entertained with balloon wars. I was so happy they found something to entertain themselves with, while we were waiting.

The first activity of the day/afternoon/evening/whatever - was a pin the trunk on the elephant. I had planned on this game, but totally forgot to put it together. A half hour before the party I realized I had forgotten to put together the game and quickly rushed to my Paintshop program and put together and elephant. So yeah, the lines need to be much straighter, but it came together okay and I was pleased with the result. The kids enjoyed the game as well.

Next the kids had to find the 'escaped' animals. We hid little print off animals around the house that the kids had to try and find. Then it was time for BINGO. I created a bingo card using my digi scrap stash and it made the game super simple. I just printed off a sheet of all the animals and that's how we called the animals - the kids had a picture to look at so they could match it on the card. For the actual cards, I just moved animals around on the card and took some off and added some new ones.

Nate then decided it was gift time. 

...This gift was from Nick, who had to leave early...

Then it was my favorite part of birthday parties: CAKE & ICE CREAM!!!

Saturday was Nate's actual birthday. He waited somewhat patiently all morning for his gift, but I wanted the house clean first as we were heading out to my Mom's in the early afternoon. When present time came he couldn't be happier. He was just annoyed that I wanted pictures.

Then we went to Grandma's for lunch and an egg hunt (a different post). We had a fun day and the fun didn't end there. Later that night Nate lost another tooth! This time he was much more relaxed and excited about it.

Overall, Nate had a great weekend. I still can't believe he's 6. I remember his birth story a little too well. He kept us waiting and we had a few disappointments in his birth, but I'm so glad he's here. He's my little buddy. While Tanis and Lex have outgrown really needing their mommy on a daily basis - Nate is still a Mommy's boy. He still likes to snuggle up with me and wants to be near me. While he has his difficult moments, he is also a very sweet little boy. Can't believe he's finishing up Kindergarten next month! Time certainly does fly.

What Happens Next...