first egg hunt and more sugary goodness

Happy Easter!

Playgroup was awesome on Thursday. Our friend Erin went all out and prepared a great Easter party. There were bunny ears to make, cupcakes to decorate, stories to read, and many eggs to hunt.

Here's my cutie pie with his bunny ears... he doesn't like wearing hats and usually throws them off as soon as he can, and this was no different. Persistence on my part is the only way I can get him to wear hats -- and these ears. But look at how cute he is!



Erin's felt-board story was about Easter eggs of different colors, and she handed out all the eggs at the beginning and when the kids heard their color they came up and put it on the board. So fun.


My only beef with the egg hunt is that all the older kids went fast fast fast and picked up all the eggs, while kids like Wesley -- who only sort of got what was going on -- didn't move very quickly and were kind of left behind on the action. Wesley got 3 eggs I think... he got one, then we found a second (and another kid ran up and wanted to pick it up, and I gave him this look and he backed off), then several minutes later while all the other kids had given up and thought they found them all, I went looking for some eggs. I brought a few eggs myself and tried to hide them pretty well-- and I found one! So I took Wesley over there and was like, "look bud! what is that!?" and so he found a third.




(P.S. do you totally LOVE that Easter basket?? I saw them a couple years ago, and couldn't bring myself to buy one because full price they were like $7. But last year I found one at Value Village for $1.99 or something. Yahoo! It is so cute. I love Peeps.)

The cupcake decorating was fun. They had colored coconut grass and jelly beans so we could make nests, and I made it for Wesley and he promptly grabbed a jelly bean and stuck it in his mouth! Gah! Choking hazard! I think he can handle it (he has 16 teeth and all), but I had to watch him very closely to make sure it all got chomped. It did. But not without a lot of drool and looks of concentration. He is so funny!



This morning the Easter Bunny came and brought fun things like Cadbury eggs and springtime scrapbooking ribbon for mom, Peeps for dad, and a farm animal noise book, crayons, and Hot Wheels Corvette for Wesley.



Another fun thing this season has been our egg shakers.... there is this song we've learned in Kindermusik called "The Egg-Shakin' Blues," and me and Wesley love that song. I took a couple eggs and put rice in them and wrapped them with packing tape and we have our very own egg shakers!! We have four, and I might make two more so dad can join in when we shake. Wesley loves them.

Yesterday at the grocery store we found a couple eggs in the produce section near the asparagus, and boy howdy if they didn't have candy in them. I let Wesley play with one (he was shaking it, of course) and at the checkout line I asked if it was OK if we took the egg. The cashier, who happened to be a manager I think, said they did an egg hunt that morning and he was surprised we had found some leftover eggs! He said we must have been pretty observant since his employees have been looking for leftover eggs all afternoon and they didn't think any were left! We out-sleuthed them! Seriously, there were like 5 near the asparagus. I guess people just don't think to look near green veggies.

And of course, I need to put in a few of the Seattle Times "Peep" diorama submissions... which I always love. Here are some of my favorites (more seen at SeattleTimes.com):

(Peep My Ride)

(Diet Peepsi)

(Let My Peeple Go)

(Lady PeepGa)

(Dancing with the Peeps)

(Skagit Valley Peeps Festival)

It's been a fun season!! Of course, I love the pastel colors and candy (I cheated on my diet with mini Cadbury eggs twice this week; I'm so embarrassed!), but I'm grateful for the real reason for this celebration -- the reason often overlooked -- the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This weekend is also General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it has been awesome. I feel so spiritually uplifted. I'll post more on that later. I am most grateful for my Savior today, that is for sure. I feel comfort that I know where I came from, the reason I'm here, what happens after we pass on, and how it all works out. I definitely feel like this knowledge gives me power to deal with the things that happen in life, good and bad -- especially the bad.

Happy Easter!