Two chocolate cakes

The weather forecast for the day, even when I checked it this morning, did not look promising for egg hunts. The librarians hid the eggs inside the library because of the weather forecast. They had two eggs which contained a "gold" coin. Nadia found one of them, which meant she received a chocolate cake. Each plastic egg contained a penny, piece of candy (or a sticker), and a letter. At the end the kids would spell out the words candy or basket. For every time they spelled out the words, they received a ticket for the drawing. There were supposedly four "p's" along with MANY h's and o's. If you spelled "pop" you could receive a prize basket. Only two "p's" were actually found (we didn't have any), so they used the tickets for drawing two of the prize baskets also. They had three total cakes to give away. Ian's ticket was drawn, and he received a smaller cake. We've gone to this egg hunt at the library for many years, and this was the first time we won a cake - and we won two cakes! I had planned to make an apple crisp for Easter dinner tomorrow, but in light of us bringing home two cakes, I might pass on making the apple crisp. Although I actually prefer an apple crisp to a chocolate cake, and since tomorrow is my birthday I might end up making the apple crisp anyhow.

I should have brought the cakes in as soon as we got home, but I didn't bring them in until a few hours later. Oops! Nadia's cake fared just fine, but Ian's cake had some melting issues. I put it in the refrigerator for a bit. I'm sure it didn't affect the taste, but it definitely doesn't look as pretty as it did when we first received it. We went directly from the library to the second egg hunt. It sprinkled a little at that one (I got out my umbrella for a little bit), but it was warm enough the kids didn't mind. All three kids were in the same division at the library as they only split the kids in half. At the 11:00 egg hunt Oliver was in the second division (ages 4-8) and the other two were in the oldest division (ages 9-12). Most of the eggs were plastic eggs with a prize ticket or candy inside. There were also a few hard boiled eggs. The kids collected a fair amount of eggs, but none of them had a prize egg. The kids each got a hot dog as we left. We came home and ate a bit more lunch, and then I went out and started mowing the lawn. The third "egg" hunt actually is just candy strewn over the park with only 10 total eggs (all prize eggs).

That one is divided into five divisions. Oliver was with 1st/2nd grade, Ian with 3rd/4th grade, and Nadia with 5th/6th grade. Most of the egg hunts are for 0-12 years old, which means she can participate two more years, but next year will be her last at that egg hunt since she'll be in 6th grade next year. The church where she goes to youth group on Sunday nights has an egg hunt for grades 7-12 that's done in the dark; she thinks that sounds like fun. After the third egg hunt, I finished mowing the lawn just before it was time to head to the last egg hunt, which was the one held at the playground we go to the most often. We could have walked there, but given I needed more time to finish mowing, we drove. They divide the kids into four divisions. Nadia didn't get many eggs, but the boys did. All three of my kids were in different divisions at that egg hunt. None of them got any prize eggs. So this year Nadia found two prize eggs (April 14 and April 20), and Ian found one prize egg (April 13) and won one drawing (April 20). Oliver struck out this year, but we brought home more than 3 dozen hardboiled eggs, a bunch of pennies (haven't counted them yet), and a LOT of candy.

It poured yesterday, but we were very fortunate today. At the third egg hunt, the MC even said at the end (in reference to the weather) "God is good" which surprised me as it was not an egg hunt sponsored by a church but by a Lions Club. Including driving time it was about 4hr 45 minutes from the time we left for the first egg hunt and got home from the last one, which meant in the span of less than five hours we attended four egg hunts, I mowed the lawn (which takes a little more than an hour), and we ate lunch (while I read a chapter book to them about the California Gold Rush). Whew! After that it was time for Saturday chores (vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.), dinner, and then we headed to church. I had to be there by 5:15 as the choir warms up 45 minutes before the service. The first four pictures are from earlier this month. The last three are from today.