Holidays 2014 : Easter

This one isn't quite as bad as the Christmas-in-July post since it's only....two?....months late. But it's still pretty bad. In case you're wondering what the eff you're reading about Easter in the middle of July for, my excuse is that I wrote posts about Christmas and Easter and forgot to publish them and only discovered them when I was clearing out my millions and millions of "Draft" posts (where half-formed thoughts go to die).  In the interest of being a huge attention whore, I'm going to post them now (because hello, even though they are ancient, they're still cute pics of my kids) and then back-date them to the appropriate months so it doesn't immediately look like I'm a huge blogging failure. But we'll all know the truth deep down.

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In the week leading up to Easter, we did several Easter Egg hunts. Her preschool hosts one every year, and it's always my favorite. It's a very community-oriented preschool, and many kids from her class attend these types of events, so it's always fun for her (and me).

She couldn't wait to crack open her haul. 

Quick swinging break with daddy (in blue sweatshirt) before we headed home.

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The day before Easter, my sister and parents came over to decorate Easter eggs. We're getting progressively more creative as the years pass. This year we broke out the hot glue gun.

Her Nana and aunt Kimber coloring eggs

On the left, very serious about helping her grandpa with his egg. 

Olaf the snowman (from Frozen) in progress.

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In the morning, each of the girls got to open their Easter baskets. 

Yes, if you're wondering, Carys decided to wear her Thanksgiving dress (a vintage dress my mom had made for me when I was Carys's age!) for Easter. Kids these days, right!?!?  She doesn't normally get "bigger" gifts for Easter like the Dyson vacuum, but I got a great deal on it and decided to give it to her then instead of just randomly.  Almost everything is comes from Target's Dollar Aisle, with the exception of a couple books.

Poor Emmeline got a chew toy. And that's it. Hashtag second child syndrom. 

I also grabbed some more pictures of the eggs that we'd made the night before.

All the ones Carys decorated.

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We then headed over to my parents' house for a brief stop before going to my maternal grandparents'. 

You were probably (not) wondering what their dog looked like, right? His name's Toby.

Why yes, she is wearing two different shoes. It's called FASHION.

One of her gifts was a little egg filled with confetti.

More egg pictures. I couldn't help it, all right, we were freaking creative geniuses. 

I decided I wanted a family picture. It didn't quite work out.

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After that, we headed to my maternal grandparent's Easter celebration (which now takes place at my aunt's house). This is a huge family celebration, with four generations represented and dozens of people.

The great-grandkids in attendance (at least ONE of them was happy to be there).

Carys worships my cousin's daughter Mariah.

 

Easter egg hunting. Carys is using DJ's bucket, because she wanted to match Mariah.

The oldest and (current) youngest of the family.

After the kids had their hunt, we organized the first annual adult hunt, tentatively called "Kegs and Eggs." There were many decoy eggs hidden around, but only one golden egg (seriously) (well, not real gold, obviously) (but gold-colored). The person who found it won a giftcard to a local restaurant. 

Everyone racing to search. 

My sister Kimberly, who hid the egg, is giving us a hint as to what side of the yard it's on, after we searched fruitlessly for about 15 minutes.

Laughing at our failed attempts to locate it.  In the end, one of the cousins found it, and I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of her!

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The next day, we headed over to my husband's sister's house for an Easter celebration over there. 

My mother-in-law is going through treatment for breast cancer, so it's always wonderful to get to spend time with her. 

Blowing bubbles with her aunt.

 

"Daddy, blow bubbles like this. No, I'll do it. [heavy sigh]."

Filthy feet. But worth it. 

Before we left, her uncle (well, soon-to-be uncle) initiated an Easter grass fight with her. Glad I didn't have to clean that up.

And then we at chocolate and candy until we passed out.

The end.