Easter 2012

What a GREAT Easter weekend we had! Craig had to work on Saturday, so Saturday morning, the kids and I loaded up the car and headed up to Edmond (side note: I am SO ready to live up north where basically ALL of our life is...) to go to an Easter Egg Hunt at one of my mom's coworker's homes. It looked like it was going to pour down rain, but the rain held off, and the cloud cover was actually very nice. Jackson and McKinley were able to take their picture with the Easter Bunny. While looking straight into the sun (of course it decided to shine at that picture moment!) They grilled the most massive hot dogs I had ever seen in my life, and Jackson WENT. TO. TOWN. He loved it!!! He found a girl probably 2-3 years older than him with bubbles and they became fast friends. She would blow the bubbles, and he would chase them yelling BUBBLES! The Easter Egg hunt started, the hardest part was the "waiting on the sidewalk" before the hunt started. But he knew just what to do.. when he realized that the eggs had something in them, he would stop to open them before continuing on in the hunt. Clearly whoever stuffed these eggs has never had a 1-3 year old.. they stuffed the eggs with jolly ranchers and gum. REALLY? We were able to distract Jackson with a cookie and didnt have to fight the candy battle. :) It was a really fun morning, and both the kids were worn out when we got home that afternoon. Easter morning, we woke up alittle early, got dressed and took some time to take pictures before heading to church. We definitely did coordinate.. maybe alittle cheesy.. but I love it and realize there wont be many years that I can pull it off. Plus, it worked out PERFECTLY.. Jackson's Uncle Ward and Aunt Reese gave him his shirt for Christmas and McKinley's Uncle Kurt and Aunt Amy gave her dress to her before she was born. Craig had his shirt, so I was the only one who had to make a purchase.

After church, there was an Easter Egg hunt, again we had a MAJOR melt down having to wait on the sidewalk to go hunt the eggs. In reality, I dont think he really CARED about the eggs.. he wanted to go play. So after collected a few eggs, he found his favorite.. the slide!
When we got back to my parents house after church, Jackson and McKinley discovered that the Easter Bunny had come to see them at Honey and Papa's house. Mommy and Daddy had written the Easter Bunny and asked him if he could do that, so that we could focus on the true meaning of Easter first, because playing with our new toys. Jackson made sure to show McKinley the ropes in discovering all of the Easter Bunny goodness. McKinley had alittle photo shoot IN her Easter basket, that afternoon. I purchased the large Pottery Barn Easter basket for Jackson, not realizing how MASSIVE it was. There is absolutely NO way that he will ever hunt with it.. but I decided that McKinley had to have one just like Jackson's.. its only fair. :) So my little 9 month old fit perfectly in the big Easter basket. A pretty perfect first Easter capture. :)Jackson played outside alot too, trying to "climb" trees, and hunting more Easter Eggs with Honey.

And finally, that evening we had a big family dinner to celebrate Easter AND to celebrate the fact that WARD AND REESE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!!!! We have known for a few weeks, found out right before Ward's trip to Australia, but were sworn to secrecy. They decided Easter was a great time to let their family and friends know the exciting news!!!! We are THRILLED for them and can NOT wait to find out if Jackson and McKinley are going to have a boy or girl cousin. I have a really strong feeling it is a boy. Craig thinks it is a girl. Which means, it is probably a girl. Craig is generally right, and I am most often wrong! :) But regardless, our prayer is for a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy for Reese! I can NOT believe my baby brother is going to be a DADDY!

Easter 2012 was a good one! :)