Easter bunnies

At one point we had planned to meet my parents in Harrisburg today at the Whitaker Center, but due to a tragic car accident that claimed three lives, they went to a funeral today instead. So we ended up going to one of our town's annual Easter egg hunts today. This one is held at a park in town and is sponsored by the Lion's club. It was VERY cold today. It was snowing this morning, but at least the snow didn't stick. It was a whopping 32 degrees at 1pm when we were at the egg hunt, and it was VERY windy so I am sure with the wind chill it felt less than 32 degrees. I was really wishing I had my gloves with me! It was Oliver's very first egg hunt. Last year I just took the other two while Paul stayed at home with Oliver while he napped. When Oliver saw the woman wearing the bunny costume, he wanted nothing to do with her. He kept saying "no bunny, too big." So now I am dubious about whether we'll get any pictures of him with characters at Sesame Place or Disney World this summer. We didn't get any of him last year. He did VERY well with the egg hunt though. Ian didn't want to pick up eggs until he was four years old. 

Last year Ian and Nadia got a total of 13 hard boiled eggs, and one of Nadia's was a prize egg. This year the three kids got a total of sixty-two eggs!!! I'm going to be making egg salad and deviled eggs tomorrow. It will be my first time ever making deviled eggs. Oliver found one prize egg (a chocolate duck), and Nadia got three prize eggs (two chocolate bunnies and one bunny stuffed animal). Nadia gave Ian one of her chocolate bunnies. Ian had gotten a white chocolate bunny at AWANA on Wednesday night, and he had given her half of his on Thursday. I am planning to take them to two more egg hunts next Saturday. Hopefully it will be warmer out! Most years it seems we end up doing three egg hunts - usually these two community egg hunts held in our town each year (the second one also includes free hot dogs and drinks) plus one other hunt (at our local library or our church). Next Saturday I'm planning to skip the library's egg hunt but take the kids to the other community one and an Easter festival at our church that includes not only an egg hunt but face painting, cotton candy, etc.

Last year was the first year I bought the kids anything more than an egg dying kit for Easter. Last year I got Ian a Color Wonder coloring book, Oliver a dvd, and Nadia a nightgown for her 18 inch doll. I have fond memories of Easter baskets I received as a child so at some point I will probably give the kids Easter baskets, but since they keep getting prizes at these egg hunts I don't feel badly that I only got them each one gift. I made an ABC photo book for Oliver. I had made one for the other two several years ago (before Oliver was around). The kids LOVE looking at our photo books. They look at some of them (in my bedroom) almost every day. The ABC photo books are the only ones I keep downstairs. I got Ian a Superman dvd set in part because we're stopping our subscription to Netflix (which is how he's watched Spiderman and his Amazing Friends) plus I am sick of those episodes and the dvd I got is a different (also child friendly) series. I got Nadia a colonial costume for her to wear when we are at Williamsburg (and other times). Altogether I spent about $25 for the three gifts. Hopefully they will like them! I am waiting until Easter Sunday to give them their gifts. I am confident that the oldest two definitely understand the true meaning of Easter and know the main thing is not candy or bunnies or eggs. I have an egg dying kit, but in light of the 62 eggs we brought home today, we are going to be waiting a few weeks until we dye any!

Although we didn't see my parents today, the kids did still get to see some grandparents! Paul's parents spent three hours with us. It was the first time in six weeks they had been to our house. We felt it was safe for them to come since we're all healthy. They brought us some yummy pizza from the OIP in Elysburg and Paul's mom had made a dessert. We shared some of the oatmeal raisin cookies we made today with them as well (Pop Pop's favorite kind of cookie). The kids are VERY excited about going on vacations with both sets of grandparents in May and June! Shutterfly was having a special today of giving you free shipping on your order if you ordered through a smartphone. I usually only pay shipping for things I get through Shutterfly. Had I known they were going to have this special I would have held off on ordering some photo books I ordered recently and gotten them today instead, but I was still able to take advantage of the free shipping and got several items for a grand total of $1.07 including tax. This was only possible because I used Paul's mom's iPhone to place the order. Yay!