Easter Time

I said it with Halloween.  Having a kid around to help celebrate the holidays with sure makes them a lot more fun. 

To start our Easter celebration, Bean and I did a unit in "preschool" on Easter.  We kept it more focused on the Easter Bunny thing this year (although I was amazed at how well she grasped the concept of the Resurrection in nursery.) 

My favorite part of preschool is science.  Naturally.  This week we talked about the sorts of things that bunnies and chicks eat.  Carrots were easy but I struggled with finding something that we could taste that might be found on a chicken's dinner plate.  Then I thought of oats.  It might be a stretch but it sort of resembles chicken feed.

I had been craving Oatmeal Cookies so I took the opportunity to bake some with her after our lesson.

On Tuesdays we usually do an art project together.  This week she made a bunny mask.

I always plan art projects right before naptime.  This way I tell her that it has to dry while she has a nap.  Check and check.

Here's her showing off the finished product a few days later.  We still have it out.  Along with our homemade weather vane.

I think Bean's and my favorite thing about Easter this year was dyeing the Easter eggs.  I inherited a few old scrub tops from work and they make perfect "smocks."  I was glad that she had it on, too, as there were naturally a few spills.

I should have known that she would think dropping the tablets in the vinegar would be the bomb.

Once the dye was ready I really let her run the show (with supervision, of course.)

She made some beautiful eggs.

I had to sneak one to make my own, of course.

The Saturday before Easter was actually S's 30th birthday!  I took the day off work so I could stay home and celebrate the occasion.  Per his request, we still headed out to our town's Easter egg hunt.  The park was within walking distance which was especially nice.  At one point, the line of cars to get into the parking lot probably stretched as far as our subdivision!  (Okay, slight exaggeration, but still.)

This was the first egg hunt for all of us.  I figured that Bean and her running skills would probably acquire a ton of loot in her age division (0-2.)  I didn't take into account that it would be the parents searching for their kids while their kids looked on safely from the sidelines.  Geez, people.  It's candy.  You would have thought it was a hunt for gold.  Bean had her eye on this blue egg the whole time we were waiting and some guy literally snatched it out from underneath my hand.

Still, Bean made out with some pretty good stuff.  And she was happy.


                                               

They had some fun things to do.  We were able to get Bean on the slide before the line got long.  Then we headed home because it was, in fact, freezing that morning.

While Bean helped me make lunch, S went out and hid her eggs.  She had so much fun looking for the eggs she had colored!

S's birthday celebration started soon after we got back from the morning egg hunt.  We hadn't opened presents yet, but Bean informed her daddy that she "wanted to go back and open daddy's soccer ball so they could play."  I just hung my head while S laughed.  At least she waited until Saturday to tell him what she'd gotten him for his birthday.  And we had a blast playing soccer for awhile.

I secretly saved up every penny I got on my own for several months so that I could buy S's present without him having a clue what I was getting him.  If you have never heard of a Camp Chef, it is a beefed-up outdoor stove.  It is awesome.  Not only can we take it camping, but we are going to try and do some canning outdoors on it later this year.  (S's parents did that last year with the same stove which is, I think, when I decided that I must buy one for S--and hope he lets me borrow it!)

The afternoon ended up being gorgeous and we spent most of our time outside.

I made a sort of "Choose Your Own Adventure" date for S.  We dropped off Bean at my sister's and enjoyed an evening all to ourselves.  The whole point of the date was for each activity to be a surprise but I stink at keeping things a surprise (apparently Bean does, too.)  It was still a lot of fun!

We picked up Bean late that evening and went home to have some birthday cake.  This cake is out of the Worldwide Ward Cookbook, labeled The Best Carrot Cake, Ever (or something along those lines.)  It truly was delicious!

That sure was a lot of candles to light...

Happy Birthday S!

It truly was a perfect day.

The next day was Easter and, of course, I had to work.  But luckily we were able to still squeeze in some Easter fun that morning.  Bean got dressed up in her new dress.  I told her it was time to find her Easter basket.  S took her in our front entryway and waited for the Easter Bunny to come.  I made all sorts of noises which I think only ended up confusing her--and even scaring her at one point. 

We'll work on it.

She actually searched for awhile.  I love this picture because you can see her basket hidden in plain sight.

The Easter Bunny brought her the goods this year: Peeps, a chocolate bunny, a Cadbury egg, malted eggs (how does the Easter Bunny know that these are, in fact, mommy's favorite candy EVER?!) and of course jelly beans.  She also got a cute wind-up bug, a lovey chick, a boat for her bathtub and some butterfly stickers.  I'd say she did pretty good.