Easter

The week before Easter, Kayli and I were invited by a co-worker to her church for an Easter egg hunt. We've participated in this Pre-Easter fun festival for the last couple of years, and they usually have bounce houses, crafts, prizes, and they usually have someone tell a short rendition of the "Easter Story."This year they had some cute puppets to "help" tell the story, and the kids loved it!

on your marks, get set, go...

Woohoo, I got soooo many eggs!

crafts...

It was Kayli's lucky day when her name was drawn out of a hat to win this FABULOUS Easter basket!

It had a cute bunny, jumprope, frisbee, yo-yo, sidewalk chalk, bucket and shovel, very cute "Beginners Bible" and more. Kayli was "on top of the world!"

Easter morning, Kayli woke up, told me she was going to use the bathroom, came back a few minutes later and said "Hey, Mom, I saw the most AMAZING things downstairs!!!" Apparently she got a little sidetracked on her way to the bathroom , ha ha.

Kayli wants to know how the Easter Bunny knew her initials?

She got the much coveted Build-A-Bear pretend cell phone for pretend texting! Also, some flip-flops with Jelly Beans?!!!

some very cute ducks for our bathtub collection...

and a whole lot of other great stuff...

the Easter Bunny even brought MOM a giant chocolate bunny this year, Woohoo!

Kayli and I hosted an Easter Brunch for our family this year. We had a large number of people (19) to plan for! We started with this cool idea from fellow bloggers and pinterest for making some beautiful Spring-like cupcakes...

 yep, they made such a great decoration that I had to remind myself to make people eat them!

I baked a ham, and everyone brought an array of fabulous food items for our brunch.  

We even managed to "spring Dad" from the Care Center for the day, so he could enjoy the fun food, and festivities!

I was extra pleased with the beautiful, sunny day, that allowed us to take advantage of the outdoor seating!

then, it was time for the Easter egg hunt. Players take your mark...

and they're off...

there were two different age groups "hunting" at the same time.

and there were some "puzzlers!"

and "AHA" moments...

and, "Look, how many I found, Mom!" moments...

and, "Let's count them to make sure we got them all" moments...

and then, while the "big boys" continued to seek out the hardest hid eggs, and Laura and Anna were ready to give clues if need be...

 Kayli joined Marion on the big swing, where the two of them entertained themselves by singing...

then the last egg was found, and it was time to gather the gang for pictures and prizes...

in addition to the quarters and candy found in the eggs, there were gift certificates to McDonalds for everyone! Nick got a cool "jelly bean laying" chicken. Colin got a new app for his phone. Jake got a new app for his ITouch. The girls were thrilled to get candy necklaces that had light up easter eggs on the end!!!

We took advantage of the beautiful "backdrop" my bridal bush offers, to take a few family photos.
First up, Marion, Jim, Jake, Nick...

next, Eileen, Gary, Anna...

Mickey was home, sick, today, so we didn't get a Laura, Mickey, Colin family pic. Robert's clan is still back in Washington. Kevin, Karen, Adam, and Mamie posed and they probably could photo shop in Matt at a later time, but I was dealing with some kind of minor catastophe in the house at the time and missed the picture. Oh how I hate it when I can't be two places at once! But, then, all my siblings and I managed to get a family picture with my dad...

I even managed to get someone to take a photo of me and Kayli...

and, of course Kayli with Princess Sprinkles, who did NOT want her picture taken...

and finally, Kayli begged me to let her show Sprinkles how "cute" she could look with some bunny ears, Ha ha! Poor Sprinkles...

Whew! So much fun!