Easter 2011

Reagan announced to me on Saturday that she knew the Easter Bunny wasn't real! With a shocked look on my face I asked, "Why would you think that?" She told me that she saw all the eggs and candy up in my closet and that she knew that I was really the Easter Bunny. And then she went on to tell me that a few years ago she saw the Easter Bunny and when he stretched out his arm she saw his skin. She said it was really just a person dressed in an Easter Bunny costume. I thought about it for a few seconds and then told her that she was right. I mean what was I to do? If she knows, she knows! And then the begging began! "PLEASE can I help you fill the baskets and hid the eggs... PLEASE!"

Sunday morning everyone went to church except for Reagan and I. [We decided it would be best for her to stay home since she's still recovering from her surgery.] As soon as they were gone we went to work being Easter Bunnies! I kept shaking my head saying, "I can't believe I'm letting you help me! Reagan you are too young not to believe in the Easter Bunny!" All the while she smiled from ear to ear just as happy as could be!

As soon as everyone was home from church the Easter Egg hunt for their baskets was underway! We always start youngest first and so Talan started it off! Carsten was our photographer.

I love how every year Talan understands it more and more. This year we would read him the clue and let him answer it. And then he would run to where he thought it might be!

Run Talan Run!

Reagan loved knowing where all the eggs were! It was almost more than she could handle to contain the secret! YEAH! Talan found the egg!

He found his basket in the coat closet where we keep his toys!

He got a Lightning McQueen that goes on his Geo Trax!
He was so excited about it! We had to find batteries and get it up and running right then before we could go on with the basket hunt.

Even though Reagan helped with all the other kids hunts, she didn't know where her own eggs were hidden!

Reagan and Carsten were hilarious with the pictures.
They staged this one... can you tell?

I tried to make the hunt a little harder this year. I called these "Easter Flowers", nobody knew what Easter Flowers were!

She ended up finding her basket in the basement with all the Halloween costumes.

She already knew what was in her basket so her reaction when finding her basket wasn't anything special. But earlier when we were filling the baskets and I brought her mini pillow pet out of it's hiding place she was all over the place happy!

Carsten had a hard time with his first clue but eventually found it!

I thought I was getting tricky with hiding one in the dog house, but not tricky enough for this smarty pants!

This clue was MY EARS ARE COLD! Carsten didn't even have to think about it. He immediately ran to the basket we keep the beanies in. Man, I've got to step up my game next year!

He found his basket in the basement.

The one thing he has really been wanting is one of these sports necklaces. We looked all over and they aren't cheap! I hope they make a difference on the field, we've got to get our moneys worth!

Bradon just like Carsten was a bit of a smarty pants! I thought I would be real tricky and hid an egg in an empty box in the pantry. It was like one of the first things he picked up in the pantry!

Nothing gets past this kid!

This was the hardest one by far for him. Reagan got a kick out of it!

Bradon ended up finding his basket in the linen closet up stairs. He got a bat bag for baseball.

No matter how old you get, Easter basket hunting is still awesome! As cool as Ethan tries to act I know he still LOVES every minute of it! His hunt by far was the hardest yet he still somehow seemed to find all his eggs in record time. I think a little Reagan bird might have been slipping him some hints!

Carsten was a good little helper too! However I think Ethan enjoys stretching his hunt out as much as he can for maximum fun!

Where could it be?

He found his basket in his newly cleaned bedroom. Ethan got the new Harry Potter Movie.

All the kids got silly string in their baskets. We went out to the backyard and had a little silly string war!

They had an absolute BLAST! This is a shot of Carsten shooting me!

Ethan nailed Reagan right in the face!

Which resulted in tears of sadness and new rules to our little game of WAR! No spraying anyone in the face!

Bradon was relentless on Talan!

Oh and they both loved every second of it! I love this picture!

Post WAR picture!
Man these kids are sure growing up fast!
Only one bunny believer left!

I made a traditional Easter dinner and we all sat around the table eating off our "good" dishes talking about the real meaning of Easter. It's always a wonderful feeling to know that your kids not only know the REAL meaning of Easter but they have a love and respect for their Savior Jesus Christ!