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Easter

Painted Easter Eggs

March 31, 2018

This year, we started a new egg decorating tradition. We have always dyed real eggs in the past, with the store bought egg dye or with Kool-aid. But then I’m left with a dozen hard boiled eggs that no one wants to eat. I thought it would be fun to give something more permanent and thoughtful a try.

I bought wooden eggs and found this adorable white basket at Target. I plan to have each of the kids paint one egg every Easter. Then I can display them in this basket (or multiple baskets as we have more and more eggs) and look back on all of our past Easter celebrations. Read More »

Easter 2016

June 14, 2016

It has been well over two months since Easter, and I just realized I skipped over that holiday over here too. I am really failing at this recording memories thing lately. Oh well.

We started our Easter morning by digging into baskets to see what the Easter bunny brought. They each got a couple of outfits and books. Cullen got some of his favorite candy, and Colette got a few new headbands.

Cullen wanted to eat his candy right away of course, and Colette was more impressed with the eggs.

After Church we went to my parents’ for lunch and an egg hunt. We usually have a big get together with the whole extended family, but that didn’t work out this year, so it was just Cullen and Colette hunting for eggs. And Colette fell asleep so Cullen hunted his eggs and then found some for his sister as well. He was just as excited to find eggs for her as he was for himself, which was just the sweetest!

In all that egg hunting, Cullen also came across a little inch worm. What could be more fun for a little boy than to let a worm inch its way across your arm?!

It was a low-key, simple Easter, but we had so much fun just being together. I am looking forward to next year and seeing Colette get in on the egg hunting fun!

Easter Holidays

Easter Weekend

April 7, 2015

Since things are a little crazy around here these days, we didn’t get to enjoy all of the usual Easter traditions like dying eggs. And the Easter Bunny may have forgotten to put candy in Cullen’s basket. (Oops!) But overall, we had a pretty great weekend!

Saturday morning, we took Cullen to our Church for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. He road a train, jumped in bounce houses, made some crafts, hunted eggs, and of course had a blast!

Sunday morning, Cullen woke up to see what the Easter Bunny left in his basket. This year, his basket was filled with a new book, everything needed to catch bugs this summer, a bunny shirt and a grass growing kit. He went straight for the bugs and completely ignored everything else. But he has played with those bugs non-stop since then, so I’d say the Easter Bunny did pretty well this year.

Then we headed off to church in our matching outfits. I think my two boys looked pretty great in their matching ties.

After church, we joined grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins for a yummy Easter lunch and another egg hunt. Since Cullen is so much younger than all of the other kids, he had his own area to hunt eggs and he took full advantage of it. He took his time and opened every egg as he picked them up. Money went right into his pocket and candy was thrown on the ground. It was pretty hilarious to watch.

After lunch and the egg hunt, we went to Corey’s parents just to hang out and relax. And the boys worked off all of the Easter candy they ate with a game of backyard baseball. Cullen even hit the ball once without any help. It was so cute to see him so proud of himself!

It really was a great weekend getting to spend so much time with family and watching Cullen explore and enjoy this wonderful holiday!

Easter Holidays

Our Easter Weekend

April 22, 2014

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! I have been excited about this Easter for quite a while, and it by far exceeded my expectations!

We started Saturday with a huge Easter Egg Bash at our church complete with three egg huts, interactive story time, crafts, food, and inflatables. We played and hunted eggs with Cullen for the first half of the event, and then Cullen went home with his Gigi to nap while Corey and I worked the registration table for the second half. Even with all of the rain we got that day, we registered over 1,700 people and hid over 15,000 eggs (they only planned to hide 6,000 eggs)! It was incredible! Cullen had a great time hunting eggs and we loved getting to meet so many new people from the community. We are truly blessed to be a part of a church with such a heart for sharing the gospel! I am always amazed at how God can take our plans and, even on the rainiest of days, go beyond what any of us expected to reach so many people!

I stayed up late Saturday night playing Easter Bunny for Cullen and Corey. I probably have more fun filling baskets than they do opening them. Corey and I helped Cullen dig through his basket, but he was clearly more concerned with getting breakfast.

After church we went to my parents’ house for lunch and another egg hunt. Before digging into the delicious array of goodies, we attempted a family photo. We got one pretty good picture and the rest looked like this, which pretty much sums up life with our little man.

After stuffing our faces, and after Cullen ate an entire adult size piece of cake, we headed out back for the highlight of the day. Being the only little one, Cullen had an entire area to hunt for eggs by himself. And he took full advantage of it. His egg hunting strategy goes something like this: Find an egg. Shake the egg. Open egg. Dump candy or money on the ground. Put egg in basket or throw it on the ground. Repeat. He had an entourage of people following him around picking up the contents of his eggs and taking pictures. And since this whole process was pretty much the cutest thing ever, we may have put some of the eggs back on the ground for him to find again. Cullen was in heaven!

I love how much fun holidays are as Cullen gets older. I think he had THE BEST Easter! And because I can’t resist a few more adorable pictures, here is Cullen’s reaction to an empty egg.

Easter

Happy Easter

April 20, 2014

Friday Jesus was crucified and buried. Three days later he rose from the grave. Today we are rejoicing that our God lives! That He has conquered death so that we can have a personal relationship and spend eternity with Him.

We are taking time today to be with family and celebrate the hope that Easter brings.

HAPPY EASTER!

Easter

Good Friday

April 18, 2014

As we gear up for Easter weekend, it’s easy to get lost in the excitement of dying eggs, filling baskets, new outfits, and hunting candy-filled eggs. But I want to take a moment to branch out from my typical posts and reflect on the reason we celebrating at all.

What we call Good Friday is the day Christ was tried and crucified. The day that God sacrificed his Son so that we would be free from the eternal consequences of our sins. As a mother, I can understand a little what kind of sacrifice that actually is. It is difficult to wrap my mind around the idea that God could love us so much! That He would do so much for people so undeserving!

Sunday, the story gets even better…

Easter Holidays Home Decor

Bunny Rabbits & Baskets

April 17, 2014

Things have been a little crazy around here lately (I’m currently recovering from having my wisdom teeth removed!), but I’ve finally gotten some Easter and Spring decorating done. I didn’t go overboard this year, but added a few things that will last through the spring.

I think the mantle needs a cute garland for every holiday, so I made this egg garland by spray painting plastic eggs and stringing them together. And found this cute bunny at Hobby Lobby.

The buffet is displaying an adorable ceramic bunny, an egg crate, a wooden heart, and eggs of course.

I found these super sweet bunny tea light holders (from Target, I can’t find them online) and paired them with a galvanized watering can, and a floral bowl filled with eggs.

I really love the way this DIY wreath turned out. Simple and cheerful!

After putting the finishing touches on the spring decorating, I was motivated to play Easter Bunny and get Cullen’s basket ready. Is it just me, or is filling an Easter Basket for a little boy really difficult? Especially for a little boy too young for Peeps and Cadbury Creme Eggs?! But I’ve finally gotten Cullen’s basket together, and I really think he is going to love it!

I didn’t go with traditional Easter basket goodies. Instead, I filled Cullen’s basket with things he will enjoy over the summer. A cute sippy cup (Target), bubbles, sunglasses (Target), sidewalk chalk, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and giant eggs filled with much needed and adorable socks. I may add some jammies like these or these. Psst…If you see Cullen before Sunday, don’t tell him what the Easter Bunny is bringing!

Are you ready for Easter? It’s almost here! I beyond excited to watch Cullen hunt eggs, especially after how much he loved dying them!

Easter Holidays The Little Things

Easter Eggs

April 16, 2014

Last year was Cullen’s first Easter, but at only three months old, egg dying was out of the question. So I was super excited about the opportunity to get him in on the egg dying action this year. To be honest, I expected it to be a disaster, but as it turns out, he had blast and we made very little mess!

I decided we would attempt Kool-Aid dyed eggs, following this tutorial. I don’t know that we did everything quite right, and I would probably do a few things differently next time, but I really love how our eggs turned out. And Cullen was thrilled with the entire process, so not much else matters.

egg crate

The only supplies needed are eggs, Kool-Aid, water, and obviously something to actually dye the eggs in (we used plastic cups). When planning this, I kept picturing Cullen trying to drink the dye (he will drink anything in a cup) so I liked the idea of no icky dye or vinegar.

I mixed the Kool-Aid with the water and we got to dying. I just knew that this was going to end up with me dying all the eggs and Cullen screaming to get down and knocking everything off the table, but it turns out he was really into it and helped a lot! After seeing me put the first egg in, Cullen knew exactly what to do. He couldn’t wait to dunk each egg into a cup of dye.

The eggs only had to sit in their Kool-Aid bath for a few minutes (it seemed much shorter than traditional egg dye) which was good for our impatient little boy. I love the way his face lit up with excitement when he saw the dyed eggs. He wanted to hold and ooh and aah over each one.

I kind of like the marbled look we ended up with, and obviously Cullen was impressed, but making sure your eggs are completely dry and rotating them in the dye more would probably help ensure a more even color.

No matter what our finished product looked like, starting this Easter tradition with Cullen will be a lasting memory. Dying eggs has always been one of my favorite parts of Easter, and I am so glad I get to share it with Cullen for years to come!