Easter Wrap-Up

Geesh, I'm realizing we had quite a bit of Easter fun as I'm now on my third (and final!) post covering our Easter festivities. With colorful eggs and hunting completed, we had only to celebrate on the glorious morning! It appears that Mr. Easter Bunny made a stop at our house on Saturday night, scattering eggs throughout our living room.

Ben was the first one up, so he had the pick of the eggs!

With 2 prior egg hunts under his belt, he knew just what to do!

It turns out, it was probably a good thing Benjamin had a head start. He spent about 5 minutes gathering up 3 to 4 eggs, and then when his brother came downstairs it only took about 2 minutes until all the eggs were discovered. Hayden zipped and zoomed over the room in a mad hunt for all the eggs!

Then, they discovered their Easter baskets!

We headed to church for a lovely service and a pancake breakfast and then did our annual Easter family photo on the front porch!

A week later, we're still working on the Easter candy (and I think there are a few of the hard-boiled variety in the refrigerator--eeek!). And even though spring is in full swing, our ground is covered with snow again!

A little perspective. . .

Yesterday, Hayden and I were reading a dinosaur book and I had a little head spinning moment. In an attempt to put the several-hundred-million year history of life on earth in perspective there was an analogy of time being the length of your arm. Starting with your shoulder as the time of the earliest lifeforms, dinosaurs first appear around your elbow and go extinct somewhere around your wrist. And humans, we'll we've only been around on this metaphorical arm for the tiniest tip of a fingernail. Dinosaurs roamed for nearly two hundred million years, and we've only been here for about two hundred thousand years. "Will humans be around as long as dinosaurs?" Hayden asked. "I don't know, bud," I replied. A day later I still can't quite wrap my brain around the notion. . .

All this in the face of some very tragic events in the last week. . . a close family friend's best friend lost her 4-year battle with breast cancer (she was 37 years old), utter devastation in Alabama very close-by to dear friends, and 9 Americans killed in a senseless attack in Afghanistan (one was a USAFA classmate and another was a current instructor at the Academy).

I definitely don't have answers, so all I can do is pray for a little perspective and peace, hug my kids extra tight, and delight in watching Hayden tuck his prehistoric friends into the bed he made for them in our garden. "Night, night. Love you. See you in the morning!"

Snow Hunt

Just like last year, we got to enjoy not one, but two Easter egg hunts. Our church held one last Saturday and then our neighborhood organized one for the kids this past Saturday. Mother Nature dumped a few fresh inches on snow the day before this hunt, so we pulled the snow pants and boots back out. . .

At least the sun was out, so despite the snow, it actually felt really pleasant outside.

Just like last week, Benjamin was pretty into the whole thing. He was determined to fill his basket!

Hayden's enthusiasm was about the same as it was last weekend. He liked the idea of an egg hunt in theory, but was actually not all that into it once the fun began.

Once the baskets were all full, the kids hit the swings and enjoyed some time on the playground!

And even though he didn't love picking up the eggs, he couldn't have been happier walking home hand-in-hand with his best friend!

Easter Colors

When I told Hayden that Easter was coming the first thing he asked me about was "making the eggs change colors!" I'd almost venture to say that he loves this part of the holiday even better than the candy he found in the plastic eggs!

This year, I let Benjamin get in on the action and he was just as enamored as his older brother!

The bright, fun colors definitely make me happy, so I can see why they love it so much!