Easter Celebrations

Remember how exciting Easter was as a child? Coloring eggs, wearing fancy clothes, visits from the Easter bunny, egg hunts and candy - lots and lots of candy! Now that I'm 29, I live vicariously through my 3 year old during these holiday traditions. 

I was so excited last week to dye easter eggs as a family. I've always loved this tradition and I had a feeling Harper would love it too. The last few weeks she spends a lot of her time coloring and creating what she calls "art projects." Crayons, markers, colored pencils, stamp pads and finger paints are scattered all around the house. With this newfound artsy love, I had a feeling this was an activity she'd be excited about. 

She couldn't wait to dunk her eggs. I gave her the whisk (thanks Pinterest) and set her loose. It didn't take long for her to beautify all 12 eggs. Mitch even helped her dress a few up. The eggs were all set for the Sunday hunt!

The rest of the work week zipped by and we ready for a family filled fun Easter weekend. Saturday, Lord of Life was having an egg hunt for the kiddos and it seemed like the perfect pre-Easter activity. Harper had her pail in hand, ready to get her search on. 

A small section was marked with pink cones and small plastic eggs filled the space. They announced kids 3 and under would go first. Harper, being the oldest in her age group was scurrying around sitting and crawling babies to gather eggs. She was so proud of the six baby eggs in her bucket but she was even more excited about the candy. Our first egg hunt of the weekend was over and it was a total success. 

We decided to go to church Saturday night instead of Sunday to hopefully beat crowds. Clearly we weren't the only people with this idea. Every pew was filled and additional seating had been added. Because of the holiday, there was no church school - which meant Harper was coming to worship with us. The nursery was still open, so Emmett got to hang out with his usual cast of gal pals. 

It was a beautiful service and Harper did great. She sat and worked in her preschool workbook most of the time and did her fair share of coloring. We had to remind her a few times to whisper (which she never seemed to master) but overall is was a wonderful Easter service. 

  

Before bed Saturday night, Harper left a small plate with 6 baby carrots for the Easter bunny. Sunday morning she couldn't wait to get downstairs to see if they were gone. With half the plate eaten, she was giddy with excitement. She grabbed her basket and started riffling through the goodies. Emmett was pretty excited for his basket too. :) 

We got the kids dressed in their Sunday best. Harper dazzled in her poofy pink Easter dress and Emmett looked quite dapper in his bow tie. They looked adorable, I couldn't get over it.

Once we were ready, we met my parents and Austin at Maple Tavern for brunch. Is there a better way to start your Easter morning? Several plates of food cycled through the table, but my absolute favorite was the cornbread biscuits and gravy. After brunch we headed to Tim and Tracy's to visit with Mitch's family. Harper immediately fell in love with the piano and enjoyed doing tricks for the crowded room. 

It was a great Easter, filled with lots of family and food!

 

Since Emmett is a few weeks shy of turning 8 months and we have an upcoming trip planned, I decided it was time to get myself back on the workout scene. My 10 month excercise hiatus had lasted long enough, this Mama needed to get moving again. 

After hearing about Orange Theory from friends, I decided to give it a whirl. It felt great to get some physical activity again and push myself. The next day I could barely move, clearly it had been awhile since most of those muscles had been used. I finished up my 3 free classes and decided to officially join. I'm looking forward to this OTF adventure and hope I can see some results. But first, I guess I'll have to eat the rest of this Easter candy. :) 

Until next time…
The Helleens