I have been trying to sit down and write about our Easter all week long. Part of me dreads it because I have SO many pictures! I uploaded the ones from my camera that I took after church and there were 514 of them. That doesn't even include the ones from that morning and other Easter activities. Why do I take so many dang pictures!?
I'm going to try to recap everything Easter related here and that means we'll start with our church Easter egg hunt. The holiday got started off with a bang for Katie Wynn when the bunny appeared at lunch after the church service. She was not too excited about meeting him!
She was pretty much ready to go home at that point but we convinced her to stay for the egg hunt that we had been talking about nonstop that morning. Her age group got to go first and hunted eggs in the church foyer. She was not too keen on picking up the eggs until I told her that Thomas needed help with his. Then she was all about filling his basket up!
This was our year to get to have the big kids for the holiday so we had a full house over the Easter weekend. Saturday, while Matt and Wyatt built the new swingset, Anna and Katie Wynn made Easter bunny cupcakes for Sunday's lunch. I bought the supplies for these and gave Anna very brief instructions and then she ran with it. She's getting to be really good in the kitchen!
First, she baked the funfetti cupcakes. Then, she covered them with a layer of white icing while her little sidekick watched.
Then Anna added two bunny ears - marshmallows that we'd added colored sugar to during Katie Wynn's nap - and finally, Katie Wynn got to help add the chocolate chip eyes and jelly bean nose.
It's fun to have Katie Wynn helping with these kinds of projects because she celebrates the completion of every single one!
The cupcakes turned out really, really cute and tasted really good too!
After dinner that night, Katie Wynn got to stay up WAY past her bedtime to dye eggs with the big kids. This was the first time I'd dyed eggs since I was little so I had no idea how it was going to go. We had a good time and didn't make too big of a mess! Both big kids decided to make an egg for Thomas all on their own, so it was nice that they felt the need to include him. Katie Wynn and I tackled our eggs together and made some cute ones. The only thing I think I'll do differently next year is start earlier in the day because it took a bit longer than I thought it would!
I loved how all of our eggs turned out. Even if some of them were cracked. :) What do you guys do with the eggs you dye? Do you hide them? Eat them? We did ours the night before Easter and then pretty much just threw them away the next day. Seemed kinda sad but I didn't know what else to do with them.
The next morning, everyone woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had been to our house! When we told Katie Wynn, she started crying and said she didn't want to go to the kitchen. I think she thought he was still there and was having flashbacks to meeting him at church the week before. We assured her he wasn't in the kitchen and that it was safe to go in there. I think she ended up being glad that she did. :)
Matt and I gave up pizza and cheeseburgers during lent and could. not. wait. to eat them again. Saturday night we had the brilliant idea to order a pizza and put it in the fridge so we could have cold pizza for breakfast. It does not get any better than that! The teenagers loved it too. It's amazing how early they got up for pizza and candy that morning. :)
Speaking of candy, there is no telling how much of it Katie Wynn consumed that morning. Or all day, for that matter. I had to start hiding it from her so she wouldn't steal anymore of it.
We had two full pews of family members at church which is always a good thing! Easter is always one of my favorite services because we get to sing all the best hymns. For the last couple of years, it has also been a stressful service for me and Matt because we've played handbells. While we enjoy playing bells, it makes logistics a little harder to work out when we've got to arrive at church early to practice and make sure there's someone to watch our kids then and during the actual service while we're performing. This year, I had the added stress of speaking in front of the full congregation to give an announcement about our new Sunday School class. Unfortunately, most of the service was a blur for me since I was so nervous but I survived!
Then, just like every other year, we all gather at Mimi and Poppy's house for lunch and a big ol' egg hunt! I try my hardest to take pictures of the kids in their Easter best before lunch...it's not always an easy feat! First, though, I tried to get some good shots of Katie Wynn's dress. For the third year in a row, Mom made it and this year's had a scalloped hem and hand-embroidered cherries. I loved it! Katie Wynn also got her hair chopped off on Good Friday so she was debuting her new bob.
I can't handle how grown-up these two are getting! (Also, could I have picked a more "blah" background for these pictures??)
Obviously I love the photo below because it has all of our babies in it, but what I love most about it is that Katie Wynn is in Wyatt's lap. Thomas is the first baby that Wyatt has ever held (and actually loves holding him!) but he sticks to his guns about not holding Katie Wynn. I think he was always nervous when she was little and then it just kinda became a thing and now she won't be still enough for him to hold her. But it just ended up that I handed Thomas to Anna and Matt passed KW off to Wyatt and boom - she's in his lap for the pictures. :)
The little kids may not be smiling but you can see everyone's face so this is what I call a family photo success! Can someone photoshop some flowers or something into the background?
Matt with his girls and then with his boys.
I think this is the third year that Emily and her family have joined us for the day. They're pretty much our family too by now!
And below on the left is how we feel about them moving away and not being here for Easter next year!
We took a break from picture-taking to go inside and eat lunch. In addition to the bunny cupcakes Anna made, there were a couple other bunny-sightings. Matt made a bunny fruit tray and Beth, my sister-in-law, and my niece and nephew made a bunny-shaped cake!
Stuart wandered off on his own during the meal and then got awfully quiet. When we went to check on him, we found him entertaining himself inside Charlie's kennel. It's not child abuse if he goes in willingly, right? :)
I don't know if you realize this or not, but Andrew is quite the ladies' man. He had all the girls around him for a while. (Including Katie Wynn - this may have been the closest she's ever been to him!)
After filling our bellies, the three little kids (Katie Wynn and the twins, Anna Charlotte and Stuart) got to go outside for the first egg hunt. (You can scroll through the gallery of images below.)
Then the bigger kids - Jett, Bren, Parker, Ramer, and Alice - got to line up for their hunt. Alice and Ramer get to start first, then after a few seconds Bren and Parker get to go, and then finally Jett gets to join them too. The little kids just keep stuffing candy in their mouths.
Grandbaby number nine joined the family the week of Easter. Lilli Greer was just six days old on Easter Sunday. Here is one of the first pictures of the new family of five! (My brother, Ben, and his wife Erin, and big brothers Parker and Ramer.)
Speaking of nine grandkids... Think things are chaotic when we all get together!?
After all the egg hunting and picture taking, it was finally time for my favorite part...confetti eggs! Thank Heavens for Emily this year...she grabbed a dozen eggs while she was at the store a few weeks before Easter. I completely dropped the ball and tried to get some the day before Easter and they were all gone!! I seriously was near tears before I found out she had some. She even managed to score another dozen from her mother-in-law so they totally saved the day. I would've been so sad to skip this tradition!
I try to keep the boys from throwing the eggs at each other until after everyone has had a turn. This year, though, it was Emily that really wanted to peg someone with an egg to see if it would break open on contact. Andrew was brave enough to bow his head to give her a target. Y'all, it is unreal how squarely she hit him on the head with that egg. Makes me think she's had practice throwing things at him! :) (And yes, it did bust open.)
Like mother, like daughter...Alice needed to bust one on his head too. Luckily for Andrew, these confetti eggs are supposed to bring good luck.
More confetti fun...
And now, as I'm finally at the end of my pictures and ready to wrap this up, I'm realizing I didn't take any pictures of my parents or aunt and uncle. Oopsie. The only one I have of my grandmother is this one of her holding sweet Lilli Greer. I'll have to do better next year!
We finally called it a day and started packing up our stuff to head home. I found Thomas with my Dad in my parents' bedroom. I guess when one of the hosts falls asleep it must mean they're ready for everyone to leave!
I already can't wait for next Easter because Thomas will get to hunt eggs too! And I'll be buying my confetti eggs as soon as they hit the store!