Easter Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had! We love this time of year for many reasons. The main reason is that we are so grateful for the sacrifice and resurrection of our Savior. It is a time for me to think about all the things I can improve on so that I (we) can be with my (our) little Matthew again.

The weekend began a bit early for Bradley who got to ride down to his grandma's on Thursday to be with his cousins who had spring break. Bradley missed a field trip and an Easter egg hunt at school, but he would take cousins over that stuff any day of the week, or the year for that matter.

He had tons of fun! On Saturday Wayne worked a few hours in the morning, then broke away for a few hours to head down to the annual Easter hunt at Easter rock. I didn't get any pictures this year for 2 reasons. 1. I wasn't there to take them. (Elli still can't be around that many people, although I was sorely tempted to jump in the car with Wayne.) We should be able to take her next year, I hope. 2. I forgot to send the camera down with Wayne, so he didn't take any either. Easter rock is a huge hill with pockets carved out in the sandstone where the Easter bunny hides treats. It really covers an entire hill. You can only get there by 4 wheel drive, or a 4 wheeler. It's as big an event as Christmas. It will be nice when we can finally take Elli down.

Wayne said that afterwards Bradley and his cousins all gathered together and lined up their candy on the ping pong table. They created a candy stock exchange to trade with each other. Bradley traded for Crunch bars, his favorite!! Aren't kids so clever!?!

Wayne and Bradley came home fairly early that evening because Wayne had to get back to work for a few more hours. Elli had missed Bradley so much the last couple of days, so he had story time with her.

I love that Bradley enjoys spending time with Elli. It is clear that she can't get enough of him, but the fact that he feels the same about her if a wonderful blessing.

The Easter Bunny hid Elli's basket on top of her favorite things--BOOKS. Bradley enjoyed helping Elli find it.

The first thing she noticed was the CHOCOLATE. We are raising an addict I'm afraid.

She was excited about her new crayons too. It will be fun to open them up and see how she does.

This is the elusive "scrunchy face". It even comes with sound effects. She breathes in and out of her nose really fast , making a sniffing noise. She will do it when we ask her, but whenever we try to capture it on camera, she won't oblige. I was lucky this time. Silly little girl.

We had to play "hot and cold" to help Bradley locate his Easter basket. His back was burning up in this shot.

The basket was carefully hidden behind all boxes of garbage from finishing the basement. All the empty boxes and paint cans made for a great hiding spot.

This face cracked me up! I can't remember this Star Wars characters name, but Bradley thinks she's great. He has made up a Star Wars game that he plays with all his cousins on both sides of the family, and in his game he is married to this character.

Once the baskets were found I went to the kitchen to make a yummy Easter breakfast. We had cinnamon french toast, sausage, and hash browns. Wayne mixed up a delicious juice out of oranges, kiwi, strawberries and bananas. I love breakfast!!!

Here is Elli ready for church. My sister Marianne found this dress last year, and I thought it would make a perfect Easter dress.

It has been several months since we've been to church because of RSV season. We thought that we'd take her to sacrament meeting today. We will officially take her back to church in May when RSV really over.

We spent the evening with my family enjoying a lovely dinner of ham and turkey sandwiches, veggies, salads, deviled eggs, chips, and desserts galore. The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in the back yard and then we all came in for a FHE lesson on the Savior. It was a wonderful evening, but sadly I don't have any pictures to share because, yep, I forgot the camera. I didn't have a great weekend that way.

Now it's time for me to go to work. Monday's are always my weekend recovery day, but today it is a little worse than normal. Sadly, the clean up could linger into Tuesday or Wednesday.

Book Ideas

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!

Elli LOVES books! She has learned how to say book (she doesn't know Mom yet though) and she knows the sign for book. She uses them both frequently all day, everyday. I would love it if you could all share your kid's favorites so that I can compile a list to take to the library now that RSV is almost over. (We haven't been for months because of RSV.) Elli is mainly into picture books right now, she gets a little impatient with me when I try to read the words. She just likes to point at all the fun things on each page.

I would love some ideas for Bradley too. His collection right now includes some chapter books, a a ridiculous amount of animal books, and several Star Wars books. Broadening his horizons would be a good thing. :) With summer break approaching faster than I'd like to admit, a list for him to take to the library would be a fun thing.

Thanks everyone!