Hoppy Easter!

Happy Easter!  We spent our Easter Sunday visiting with family and attending TWO separate Easter Egg hunts in addition to finding our own Easter basket at home!

I made the mistake of asking Kate to help me fill Brian's Easter basket first thing in the morning.  I brought Brian's basket into her room when she first woke up and started filling it with sweets.  And who is Kate not to perform a little quality control?!

Easter sweets pre-breakfast...

All of Brian's peeps had a bite taken out of them.

...Or two...

We hid his basket in the downstairs bathroom
sink.

The master basket hiding location caused a meltdown.  Kate knew what she had just bitten into and didn't want that basket out of her sight!  When Brian came downstairs to look for his basket, all he had to do was ask Kate why she was throwing a fit and she pointed to the bathroom...

...like I said, mistake.

We pacified the situation by calming Kate down with the promise of a peep for good behavior.  (Bribing is not our normal parenting technique but it was for Easter morning...)  I mean, I tried to explain, like, SEVEN times that she has a way cooler basket somewhere in the house that she needed to find.  That concept just went over her head this year, so we walked into the living room where all her toys are housed and let her look around!

The little happy dance when she realizes that she gets to dig into that basket cracks me up!  And, what, do you ask do we put in an Easter basket for a 1 1/2 year old?  Well, over the last month I gathered up lots of on-sale items and put together a splendid basket!

Please ignore the guard dog paws keeping an eye on the loot at
the top right...

There's an Easter cup, a plush bunny, a couple headbands, bead necklaces, bunny stickers, bubbles, wooden animals, a new bath toy, re-freezable ice cubes that we have dubbed our "jewels" when we play with them, a pair of new sunglasses, a pack of six bouncy balls (a HUGE hit!), an Easter rubber ducky, a couple of card games, Easter socks, a floppy wooden bunny, a bracelet, a Koosh ball, and a few lollipops (also a hit!)!  Believe it or not, that Easter basket cost me about $18.  I was so impressed that I was able to find so many cool Easter-y things that weren't candy.  I think we will continue with the non-sweets tradition in the basket!

Our Easter cutie!

 

And, just for fun, check out last year's Easter basket photo:

My, how much she has grown!

After our own Easter shenanigans at home, we headed over to Brian's step-brother's house for an Easter lunch and hunt with his Dad's side of the family!

Courtney & Gina waiting for Easter lunch!

Mastering her egg huntin' skills!

I think this was the best pic I got of her outfit
which I adored!  I just couldn't get her to sit still!

Hunters - Kate and Carter.

The cousins - Audrey, Carter, Gina, Courtney, Kate, and Wyatt!

The sibs - Brian, Kurt, Katy, Brent, and Mike.

The whole crew!  Trust me...I'm not going through names!

After Easter with Brian's Dad, we headed to his Aunt's house for an Easter dinner with his Mom's side of the family where Kate's egg hunting skills were truly honed in with the assistance of Aunt Judy!

Kate with her Great Grandpa Jay! 

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Easter this year!  It was a long day but it was really nice to see both sides of Brian's family and have such a fantastic day for an outdoor gathering!

Happy Easter Everyone!