Happy Easter!

We had a nice Easter this year.  I showed the girls some videos on the Mormon Channel on YouTube during the week, and we also spent some time doing some of the secular Easter celebrations as well.

My friend Leza and I put together an Easter Egg hunt for our ward playgroup (okay, Leza suggested it and I agreed we should do it, and then she did all the coordinating, ha).  Every kid brought a dozen eggs and went home with a dozen.  We had a great turnout and got to spend time with lots of good friends - the Hostetlers, Sanovich's, Browns, Sudweeks, Tams, & a bunch of others.  We love our ward!  The park was fun, too.  I had never been to this one but will definitely go back, even though it's a bit of a drive compared to the ones we always go to.

On Saturday Leza and I took the kids to the local Methodist church, which hosts a great Easter event every year.  Both our husbands were working so we went together - it's always nice to have another adult around to help out!

They had lots of fun things to do - carnival games, face painting, free lunch, "hayride" (with no hay), bounce houses, a cake walk, and a big egg hunt as well.  We opted not to do the egg hunt since our kids had just done one the day before.  That turned out GREAT because we had pretty much everything to ourselves for about 20 minutes while everyone was out in the fields hunting eggs.

My swag:

On Saturday afternoon, the girls and I colored some eggs.  Those little dye kits have not changed one bit since I was a kid.

Church was pretty nice, but a bit difficult since I was alone with the kids.  Abby and Ellie were a bit more wiggly than usual and Olivia just wanted to eat.  Thankfully that kept her quiet most of the meeting, but it made it hard for me to keep the girls still since I didn't exactly have my hands free.  But what I got out of Sacrament meeting was nice, and Ellie gave a cute little talk in Primary.  Abby helped her so I got to stand in the back of the room and watch, which was fun.  Abby is a great helper. (Side note: I realized today that Garrett has not spent Easter Sunday with us in probably 4 years.  Kind of sad! His work schedule just never seems to work out.)

After Church I made a pasta salad, some sandwiches, some hummus, and sliced up strawberries.  We met up with friends at a little park and had a nice Easter picnic together.  It was very low-key and the weather was gorgeous - about 75 degrees.

I had originally wanted to bake a traditional Easter dinner - spiral ham, potatoes, rolls, a salad... until I went to the grocery store to pick up the ham and nearly fainted when I saw how expensive the glazed hams were! I could have bought a cheaper kind, I guess, but those aren't nearly as good and I really only love the spiral ones with all the sugary glaze.  So instead, I bought some deli ham and made sandwiches, which were also delicious.  I was surprised, though, when I told Ellie that I was making ham sandwiches and she said, "Where's the ham?" I showed her the deli meat and she said, "No, it's supposed to go around and around!" and she waved her finger around like a spiral (for the spiral ham).  So funny...  the last time we had spiral ham was last Easter in Savannah.  Great memory - she must have loved it!

And yes, the Easter bunny did come.  He (she?) brought a few little plastic eggs of candy, a box of Trix, and new beach towels for the girls to take to the pool this summer.  He also ate the carrots that the girls left on the front porch.  The girls were thrilled and loved their sugary breakfast, especially.

Happy Easter!  I love this time of year and the chance for the world to celebrate such a wonderful event.