Flowers and Bunnies

We had a fun Easter / Spring Season this year.  

We had fun dying Easter eggs at Grandma Morgan's house.  I discovered THE BEST idea on Pinterest and could not believe I hadn't already thought of it--using a wire whisk to dye eggs.  You just put the egg inside the whisk and then, with little kids, or even clumsy adults, it prevents dropping the egg off the spoon or whatever you are using to put the eggs in the water!  We round up a bunch of whisks and had one for all the kids.  Every now and then if the whisks were small, they left lines on the eggs (but the lines were kinda cool).  But if the whisks were big enough they rarely left any marks.

Melia had a blast dying eggs with Caylie.

Evera had fun too.

One of the eggs broke open and Evera tried eating it.

He thought it was pretty gross.  Lol.  :)  He's just like his mommy.  I love most kinds of eggs, but hard boiled?  No thanks!

I thought we did pretty great with our eggs.  We tried dying them with rubber bands around them too, and they looked pretty cool.  It's fun trying new techniques.

One of my favorite is the cracky looking blue egg on the bottom right side of the below picture.  The coolest part about it was that it wasn't actually cracked!

Easter activities are exhausting!  :)

Brinley (Melia's BFF) got a bunny for Easter and came over to Grandma Morgan's to show us.  Melia was pretty excited about the fluffy little thing.

Evera was more scared, but I am thinking the blood on his knee in the below picture may have been caused by the little thing's claws, so it's understandable that Ev wasn't exactly thrilled by the bunny.

I tried to get him a little more acclimated to it though.

Hey, at least I got him to smile!  :)

Brinney LOVES her bunny!

The day before Easter we had a big Easter egg hunt at Grandma Morgan's.  

Even Spencer got to participate.

Melia was so proud of herself every time she'd find an egg.

Spencer and Brennan were searching hard for Big and Little Bertha.  (Those are the names of our special large eggs which contain money instead of candy.)

Evera had more fun playing in the playhouse than searching for eggs.

I wasn't even looking for eggs, but then I looked into a flower pot and found Big Bertha!

With $20 inside!!  :)

The eggs were hidden all over the yard.

Daffodils are my favorite flower.  I love them and Mom's daffodils were so gorgeous this year.  I prefer the white ones with yellow cups but these are pretty too.

After searching high and low (and being so disappointed by my finding of Big Bertha), Anne told Spencer and Brennan that if they found Little Bertha that she'd double the amount inside so they could each have it.  And, OF COURSE, they found it!

Here's Little Bertha!

Complete with $10 (which EACH of the boys received).

Before the hunt, Spencer and Brennan went out and mapped out the entire yard.  They put special symbols on each location to show how good the locations would each be for hiding Big and Little Bertha.

That night we had a nice Easter dinner and Mom and Dad even invited the missionaries over.

Melia loves to play in the kitchen.  She climbed up on Grandma's counter and started playing in the flour.  Before I noticed, she was covered from head to toe in flour.

After Melia got into the flour, Evera decided to help himself to some Texas Sheet Cake.  That kid is a glutton, especially when it comes to treats.

That night the Easter Bunny came and filled the kids' Easter baskets full of toys and surprises.

Melia woke up Easter morning to find string tied to her door (and Evera's door too) which she had to follow around the house, over, under, and around furniture, until she discovered her Easter basket at the end.

Melia eventually found her basket in the oven, and she was so excited!

Melia was super excited about he crowns and immediately put one on.  She wears a crown ALL THE TIME she seriously loves them.  She was also especially excited about the pink spray bottle she got that is ALL HERS!  She looooves water and whatever she can do with it!

Look how happy she is here with her crown and her new butterfly net.

In her basket, there was also a clue for an Easter gift.  The clue lead to another and another here and there (very simple clues) until eventually she wound up in the bath tub where she discovered her Easter gift!

(She also loved her Hello Kitty sunglasses which were also in her Easter basket.  Can you tell?!)

The gift was Wreck It Ralph.  She was super excited!

Melia looked so beautiful in her new Easter dress from Grandma Morgan.

Evera didn't go to church because he was sick, but Melia was super excited to help him follow his string to find his Easter basket when she got home from church.

His basket was hidden in the dryer.

He was pretty excited about all his cool stuff in his basket, including his froggy head band, sunglasses, and new tie.

I told the kids to go outside in the yard to play while I prepared lunch and they discovered the Easter Bunny had left Easter eggs all over the yard!

The kids took their Easter baskets out there and collected all the eggs.

For dinner we went up to my sister Stephanie's house for an Easter potluck and Easter celebration.

Melia was excited to show Becca he new dress and sunglasses!

My mom hid eggs around the yard and instructed the kids on what their partnerships were and the rules for finding the eggs.

Melia was partnered up with Rachael and her fiance, Zach.

They were super cute with Melia.  I am excited that Rach is marrying Zach.  He fits perfectly into our crazy family!  :)

My mom is so fun, I am so glad the kids have her for a Grandma.

For my mom's Easter egg hunt, she always hides a bunch of grocery sacks full of Easter eggs all over the yard.  Each sack has a different kind of egg (shiny, neon, bugs, etc.) and have different things inside from toys to candy to anything in between.  Each kid usually gets one egg from each sack.  That was she can be sure that each kid gets one of each kind of thing.  And she puts the kids into partnerships (youngest with oldest, and then on down through the ages) so that the younger kids can successfully find all the eggs just like the older kids.  The kids always love Grandma Place's Easter egg hunt.  One thing I really appreciate about it, is that even on the years when we do not have Spencer for Easter Sunday, my mom makes sure to have one of the cousins fill a bag of eggs for Spencer too so he also can get all the eggs.

A few days later we were able to get Spencer.  I told him that I had left out his basket for the Easter Bunny, but on Easter morning his basket was gone and there wasn't string around the house for him or anything so I didn't think the EB had left anything for him.  When he came over though, he found a clue on his bed.

The first clue read: 

This contraption is pretty neat.

Find your clue where you feel the heat.

The next clue was found in the vent of the fireplace.

The second clue read:

Hidden in something we know to be true

Is where you'll find your next Easter clue.

The next clue was found inside of Spencer's Book of Mormon.

The third clue read:

If you want to be save, protect your head.

And find the place where your clue will be read.

The next clue was found inside of Spencer's bike helmet in the garage.

The fourth clue read:

To continue on the hunt, and find its next component;

Move forward 11 spaces, or switch places with an opponent.

This clue was my favorite and I thought the Easter Bunny was pretty dang creative on that one.  :)  The next clue was found in the game Sorry.  (The card for "11" says "Move forward 11 spaces, or switch places with an opponent.")  Sorry has always been one of Spencer's favorite board games.

The fifth clue read:

The flight of birds you'll have to gauge.

You'll find your next clue inside the cage.

The next clue was found inside the bird cage decoration that we have up on the ledge in our living room.  Spencer had to get the ladder out from the garage and climb up there to find it!

The sixth and final clue read:

The basket you seek can be found

In a place where water abounds.

After a bit of searching, Spencer's Easter basket was found in the downstairs shower.

He really liked the little monkey led light he got.  And his cool aviator sunglasses too.

Missy and Brinley brought their bunny over a few more times during the season (before giving it back to the bunny farm from which they "rented" it).

Chief was immediately smitten, and found himself in love.  The bunny, on the other hand, was less than enamored by Chief.

Chief would chase the poor bunny all around the house and nip at it too, but it was all in playful fun (although still a little nerve wracking to watch considering how tiny the poor bunny was).  The bunny was terrified and would run and run at top speeds.  The little thing was incredibly fast.  I guess that's where the term "fast like a bunny" comes from.  At one point chief cornered the poor thing behind the table and to get out of it's predicament, the bunny jumpped and bounced off Chief's head to get away.  It was hilarious.

But even when the little bunny was pooped and done with running, Chief just wanted to be by her.  (After Missy gave the little bunny back to the bunny farm, Chief would just cry whenever Missy came over because he missed his friend.)

Mike tried to help Evera pet the sweet fluffy little thing.

Melia loved her.

I quite loved her too.  She was soooo soft!

But nobody loved her quite as much as chief.  I was snuggling her on the couch and Chief came over and just laid his head right down by hers and wouldn't go anywhere.  He loved her so much.  It made me want to get a little companion for Chiefy--but I know Mike would never go for that...

Ah young love.  :)  You have to admit, it is pretty stinking cute!

HAPPY EASTER!