Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  We made our annual trip out to G-ma and G-pa F's house where the group continues to grow every year!!

We got there earlier than everyone else so we spent some time playing outside before the big egg hunt.  Ella has been attempting to ride training wheel free.  We tried two weeks ago and got close but not quite there.  On Easter she again got so close, but she still lets her nerves get the best of her.  

She also prefers to ride in the grass "just in case", which I think makes it a little more challenging. 

We'll get there really soon!

Gavin prefers to ride his scooter above all else.  I'm not sure what this pose is, but it's what I got when I said "smile Gavin".  You can tell he has two older sisters.

After a few attempts on the bike Ella went back to one of her new favorites…the Ziggle bike.  She is just as daring on this as she is on her scooter. She goes way faster than probably intended and then makes sharp turns causing it to spin in a circle.  I just hope we don't have any major accidents or lose any more teeth!

Before everyone arrived we had our own mini egg hunt.  The girls raced around grabbing eggs as fast as they could...

while Gavin followed the girls and grabbed a few they left behind.

Ava takes the egg hunts pretty seriously and truly gets as much as possible regardless of her fellow hunters. (Also Ava now rarely lets me have a say in what she wears, so from this day forth if her attire is questionable please know I had nothing to do with it!)

Ella on the other hand, while she can be SO STUBBORN, she can also be so sweet.  She kept stopping to share eggs with Gavin since he hadn't found very many.

So sweet, but seriously SOOO stubborn!!  She always wants her way, but not at the expense of someone else's happiness.  She puts up quite a fight but always wants to end with a hug. And she is going to make me crazy when she is a teenager!!! 

During the entire 4.5 day break I managed to get one good picture of the kids together.

We did something a little different this year.  Last year for those that don't remember we had a contest and everyone had to bring a decorated Easter hat.  This year we all had to bring a decorated Easter egg.  People went all out and we had some amazing eggs.  We brought the colored deviled eggs at the front of the table and the kids brought an egg they had dyed.  First place went to Courtney who brought her pirate egg.  From my understanding some "serious effort" went into the making of the pirate egg. ;)

Once everyone arrived and settled down we headed outside for the big egg hunt.  Here's everyone lined up getting ready to be released.  We start with the youngest and put 5 seconds in between till we get to the adults and then it's mayhem.

Everyone is on the hunt!

Miss Fiona didn't care so much about eggs.  She decided to just hangout and smile for me.  I wish my kids would do this I got some great pictures.

Then she moved on to the flowers.

Miss Penny preferred to watch and gnaw on the plastic eggs.

Our kids were in the spirit of giving and gave some of their eggs (empty ones) to Fiona to make sure she had some too.

We started what I hope will be a new tradition this year.  Brad had made a large egg shaped piñata for the egg contest so after the votes were cast we took the piñata outside to see what treasure awaited inside.  Gavin had a few pretty good swings.  He did a great job with his form.  I wasn't sure what to expect since he's never played anything with a bat.

Ava's form was a little sketchy and she always closed her eyes mid-swing but she gets an A for effort.  She got some big hits and caused some damage.

Ella also gave it her all and kept her eyes open.  She lacked a bit in power but made up for it with some Easter spirit.  

Katelyn got the winning hit spraying candy every where.

What do you need after two Easter egg hunts and Easter gifts…..more candy!!!

Easter break ended with food and candy comas and an entire day of rest and detox before going back to school.  

Just before the girls went on Easter break Gavin and I went to Purina Farms with some of his friends from school (Ella and Henry).  We tried our best for a picture but Ella wanted nothing to do with it.

I had anticipated that Gavin would say no to a picture with the Easter bunny but he surprised me and jumped right in there full of excitement.

We spent some time looking at animals and watching the dog show.  Having never been to Purina Farms before I must say I was expecting more.  It didn't help that it was one of the busiest days they had had since last year, but I think Gavin was a bit disappointed too.  After leaving he said he "does not want to ever go there again".  I thought that was a bit harsh, but like I said we expected a bit more.  The only thing he cared about was watching the dogs jump in the pool and catch the frisbee, which they did just three times.

The week before Easter I took the kids to see the movie 'Home' at the theatre.  This was Gavin's first experience at the movie theatre and probably his last for awhile.  He was not bad, but by the time we were through the previews and the actual movie had started he said "Mom this movie is so long! When will this be over?".  He was a little antsy but he did stay quiet and managed to make it till the end.  It could have been much worse but he definitely prefers movies at home where we can skip through the previews.

I want to end with something I came across on Facebook last week.  Someday, probably soon, when my kids think I am totally annoying/insane I plan to show them this.  I could never put into words why I can be "totally annoying", but this does a pretty good job.