Hippity Hoppity Easter 2015

I'm catching up on Spring Things! Most of the month of March I felt absolutely buried under a mountain of appointments and I couldn't even begin to think about planning anything beyond Calvin's surgery. So I let my self plan nothing for Easter and nothing for Calvin's birthday ahead of time. I waited to see how we were all feeling post-op. And this was weird for me, considering that for his past two birthdays I literally started party planning in January. I know, I'm crazy.

But surgery came and went and all was well. Calvin was feeling even better than expected. So I talked to my cousins and we pulled together some last-minute ideas, including a super-last-minute rainout plan, and we ended up having a very nice Easter celebration.

On Saturday, our cousin Ramiro came over to color eggs with Calvin. We didn't try letting Henry participate in this one... maybe next year ;) They used plastic eggs to do some stamp painting while I got the cups of dye ready, then we dipped and dyed and dried and the eggs turned out colorful and bright!

Saturday night, the Easter Bunny apparently hopped into our apartment and left some goodies for Calvin and Henry, including eggs hidden around our living room!

We did not attempt to take the babies to church, but we did start the day with reading the Easter story and retelling the Easter morning story with our Duplos and Bible toys :)

 I made Easter sensory bins for the boys where they got to hunt for tiny eggs (shh! Don't tell them they're candy!) and butterflies in Easter "grass." I even got edible Easter grass for Henry!






Later the boys hunted for the eggs hidden around the living room. That sneaky Easter bunny filled the eggs with some of their favorite little toys from our small world play! Little plastic dinosaurs, animals, and bugs ;) (They have no idea that Easter eggs are "supposed" to have candy. They were totally happy to find their own little toys hidden inside! Wonder how long we can get away with that trick...)

Then our cousins came over! And they helped me make the cute little bunny pudding cups. Pudding cup + coconut shreds dyed green with food coloring + jelly beans + Peeps bunnies + a Sour Punch straw for the handle!

I did pudding instead of my usual cupcakes because of Calvin's mush-food-only post-surgery diet. He couldn't eat any of the candy on top. These doubled as an Easter and a birthday treat and we all gathered around Calvin to sing Happy Birthday.

Of course, the obligatory family Easter photos! I can't resist. Plus, our wild and unkempt backyard looks pretty in Spring, even with the drought :)

It had rained that morning, which is why we were at our place instead of at a park like we had hoped, but it was barely a drizzle and it got nice and sunny in the late afternoon. Since the sun was out and the yard was hardly wet, Calvin, Ramiro and Abbie did a little egg hunt in the backyard. 

And then we put bunny ears on the babies and stuck them in a basket full of Easter grass and stuffed animals. And they hated it. Until we started blowing bubbles, and then they were like, OK this isn't so torturous after all :)

Ew. What is this stuff?? It's all... ew. I hate this.

Get this stuff off me! Get me out!!!

Wait. Are those... bubbles? 

We LOOOOOVE bubbles!!!!

This is the GREATEST!!

LOL. The things I do to torture my kids for the sake of a cute picture.


Then we brought our basket of bunnies back inside and added baby cousin Evan! And Evan was like "Seriously, guys?" But by then Calvin and Henry were over it and were actually having fun in the basket!

:D Happy Easter! 

Henry's First Easter

Some-bunny just celebrated his first Easter!

After a beautiful Easter weekend, I am feeling very blessed indeed. This month has been so busy with Calvin's birthday and Easter that it has left James and me feeling a little crazed, but it has been a lot of fun.

On Saturday, we did a simple little egg hunt, just the four of us. Golden Gate Park is full of little grassy nooks and crannies and we found the perfect little sunny spot over near the tulip garden.

Calvin loved egg hunting!

This sweet sleepy boy took a nap in the shade. Big brother shared some eggs with him.

One of his eggs had bubbles inside. Guess the Easter bunny knows toddlers love bubbles!

After he found his eggs and explored his goodies, Calvin wanted to throw them all over the grass and collect them again! And again! And again. And again. Until we convinced him it was time for lunch.

We walked over to Park Chalet for a picnic with wait service :)

That's a beet salad with some very colorful beets. Calvin still entertained by those eggs!

On Easter Sunday we went to a church we have been visiting lately and it was a very nice service. They even had a little egg hunt in the sanctuary for the kids after church so Calvin got to hunt for eggs again! After church my cousins came over for lunch and Calvin and Henry got to check out their Easter baskets. They each got a Beatrix Potter book (The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse) and a sippy cup that looks like a little green Mason jar. 

Happy Easter and Happy Spring from our family to yours!

Calvin's First, No Wait, Second Easter

As I was about to write "Calvin's First Easter" in his baby book the other day I realized that since my little chicken made his arrival on Easter Sunday of last year, this year is actually his second Easter even before his first birthday!

On Easter last year we were celebrating and giving thanks for Calvin's safe arrival into the world. This year we had more traditional Easter celebrations... an egg hunt, bunny photo ops, a church worship service, and a big family meal.

We started the weekend with a big Easter carnival at Golden Gate Park where Calvin got to do his first egg hunting and met the Easter bunny. After our picnic lunch, Calvin also visited some animals in the petting zoo.

After leaving the carnival, we walked around the park a bit and took some more pictures.

We were all exhausted after our day at the park and we took a big family nap when we got home!

Early Sunday morning, we went to mass with my grandmother. It was the first time we'd tried bringing Calvin to a church service in a few months and we weren't sure if he'd stay calm and quiet. He was a wiggly thing and the "baby room" was full, so James stood in the back with him for most of the service, and when he got really fussy James eventually had to take him to the car and give him a bottle. It was his nap time by then anyway.

We went home and had a late breakfast with my grandmother, then started cooking our afternoon meal. James cooked a roast and I made veggies and rice for sides. I had set the table with an Easter display that included cupcakes I'd baked the night before. Some of my cousins came over for a late Easter lunch and stayed to play games and visit. We never manage to get very many pictures of the cousins because we are having so much fun eating and playing and hanging out!

Such an awesome and exhausting weekend! Feeling tired, but very blessed and thankful.