Easter 2014 - Part 1

My mom bought each of the kids a beautiful Longaberger basket that is dated with the year they were born. Each year when Easter rolls around, I have all the fun of filling them with treats! Rather than loading up with lots of candy though, which we probably wouldn't let them eat anyway, I tried to put in several special snacks I know they love and a few little surprises.

Caleb as been pretty big on sour cream and onion chips (I blame NaNa!) and cheese curls (Thanks to Grandma Nora Ann!). He loves popcorn too, which is something he used to do with my dad and requests when he and I have special time watching a movie together.

As far as surprises, I threw in a couple hidden picture books because he enjoys doing those in his Highlights magazines.

One of Hadley's very favorite foods is raisins - especially the yogurt covered ones, which are a rare treat. 

Mom ordered Reid's basket last year when I was pregnant so it would be dated with his birth year. This year we got to fill it with some baby treats: sweet potatoes, puffs, and yogurt melts. Yumm! He'll has some new things to try out soon.

It was so much fun arranging the baskets and laying out a few new spring outfits/bathing suits for each of them. I thought it was interesting to look at Facebook and see how everyone does things differently. My mom always gave us a basket and then put out a few new spring clothes for us like I did for each of my kids. I noticed a few parents doing the same on Facebook, but mostly I just saw big baskets of goodies with everything shoved in. Dave questioned me one time why I put out clothes when the kids don't really care about those anyway and I guess when I thought about it, I just do it because that's what my Momma did. My cousins Allison and Stacey hide their kids' baskets instead of laying them out for them because that's what their Momma did. Somethings are just a little nostalgic...

Though I had fun playing the Easter bunny Saturday night, Sunday morning I asked Dave to get us all started with a family prayer time to start our day out the right way. Too often we get so stressed running from place to place on the holidays and caught up in the details. As a result, I was worried that it would happen again, so before we even jumped in to treats, we all sat in the family room and prayed, thanking Christ for His sacrifices and setting the tune of our hearts for the day. 

Then the kids slowly meandered into the dinning room to peak at their baskets.

Someone is happy

Reid says, "What is this about?"

Look at that little smile 

Hmm these look yummy

Minnie Mouse sippy cup! Yay!

Mommy enjoyed the next part of the morning just as much, dressing up my pretty girl and her two dapper brothers.

Dave and Caleb headed to Sunday school while I stayed home with the other two trying to get things together for the busy day ahead. Reid slept thankfully, Hadley enjoyed a cartoon, and I made this watermelon fruit basket, ironed clothes, and packed bags.

When you have a large family like I do, sometimes it's hard to figure out something to bring that no one else is bringing. This went over well I guess because the fruit was gone by the end of the day and a couple of the little ones even scraped the bottom. 

We all headed to church an hour or so later and herded our little ones into the nursery. It was my turn to be in with the kids, and I enjoyed seeing everyone in their Sunday best, playing together. I tried to do some songs and a mini lesson but they weren't too interested. We mostly played toys instead, but they're little so that was okay.

Natalie and Caleb were into making some type of crafts. Natalie wanted to draw and Caleb wanted to cut. 

Hadley and Luke were into...pushing. Yep, that's right. I refereed a good part of the day. One time he pushed her and she knocked him backwards out of the chair, and another time she was crowding him behind the kitchen set, so he gave her a good shove and down she went, feet up in the air and everything!....We'll have to work on that whole being kind to your neighbor thing next week.

There we go! Everyone is getting along.

Reid was mostly into napping. He got Daddy to snuggle him a good portion of the time.

Part 2 of our busy day coming up in the next post!