Easter 2019 Festivities

Easter weekend has come and gone and just like Christmas, I'm sad it's over. Easter is my second favorite holiday (apart from Christmas, of course). I've mentioned in before, but back in 2006, Jason and I were engaged over Easter, married the following Easter, had Brayden around Easter time in 2016, and I just love the overall special time this year brings, not to mention the significance of our risen Savior. The promise of spring, the colors and blooms, new life, new possibilities...it's all just so exciting!

We had so much fun during this Easter holiday and I hope you did as well!

It all began with our church's annual Easter Egg hunt last weekend. We had a "practice" run of hiding eggs in our living room the night before and lemme just say, it was a disaster. Brayden was throwing his basket, throwing the eggs...he just didn't want to "hunt eggs" the way we wanted him to hunt eggs and it was quite comical. I decided that I was just going to let him go to the egg hunt, have fun, and see what happened because...toddlers!

So, imagine my surprise when they called "GO" at the Easter egg hunt and he began running to the eggs and putting them in his basket!

 He racked up with quite a few....then he wanted to eat all of the candy inside, of course!

They also had horses and a train at the egg hunt and Brayden loved them both!

He had a chance to ride the horses twice and the train three times! So much fun!

Over Good Friday and this weekend, we spent a little time dyeing eggs. We had fun choosing colors and placing stickers all over the eggs!

After a birthday party for a nephew on Saturday, we decided to try the Easter bunny at the mall one more time. Remember the Santa incident from Christmas where it took three tries and we finally got a picture? Well, the bunny took two. I didn't warm him up enough on Thursday after picking him up from school and needless to say, he wanted nothing to do with the Easter bunny!

On Saturday though, it all came together and he was totally ok with seeing the Easter Bunny! Toddlers are funny creatures.

We also spent time at my parent's house on Saturday afternoon for a crawfish boil! My dad also set up Brayden's new swing set in the back yard and he had a blast playing on it!

On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny visited us and left a fun Easter basket as well as a few "hidden" eggs. Brayden also enjoyed a leftover breakfast of bunny cinnamon rolls!

So yummy!

We attended church on Easter Sunday morning followed by dinner at Jason's Aunt & Uncle's house.

The kids loved having an Easter egg hunt and checking out all of their goodies!

Brayden also had fun playing with his BFF, Brody. He LOVES this dog!

I hope you all had a blessed Easter and enjoyed your weekend! He is risen, risen indeed!

Easter Weekend 2018

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather was perfect here and we enjoyed spending time with our families!

Saturday morning began with a day-long change in plans. Initially, we were going to attend an Easter Egg hunt that was being put on by Jason's workplace followed by a few errands for Brayden's upcoming birthday party. Well, Jason got called into work first thing on Saturday morning. Since the egg hunt wasn't actually AT his physical workplace, we decided not to go. It's like I told him, Brayden didn't know any different this year anyway.

I had also planned a solo run that morning but instead, I grabbed a few things for Brayden to eat and set out on a 4 mile run around the neighborhood. We added a new route this time which gave an extra half mile so that was nice, too!

After the run, we cleaned up and headed out to finish a few errands. On the way to Toys R Us (since we have gift cards and they are closing), I turned to check on Brayden in the backseat for half a second and veered to the right. Whatever was on the right side of the road decided to take a chomp out of my tire. I instantly knew it was flat but was thankfully very close to Toys R Us, so I parked in their parking lot. Since Jason was working, I called my dad who agreed to come rescue me and teach me how to change a flat. (The last time this happened, I was a teenager in high school!)

I am so thankful for my amazing dad!

Once we made it home, Brayden napped while I boiled a few eggs for egg dyeing! We hadn't attempted this yet and I wasn't sure how it would go, but I decided to give it a whirl anyway.

He participated in every part of egg dyeing and loved watching the tablets fizz!

His new favorite phrase is "There you go"...so after every egg, he would say it! So funny!

We made six eggs and now I wish we had dyed more because he enjoyed it so much!

He LOVED doing this and I'm so glad we took part in this together! So fun!

My favorite egg is Brayden's stickered one. So precious!

After egg dyeing, I had dinner with a couple of high school friends who were in from out of town!

It was so fun to catch up with them!

Easter Sunday morning came and so did the Easter Bunny!

Brayden loved his basket and enjoyed finding eggs around the house that the Easter Bunny hid for him!

For breakfast, we had cinnamon rolls that were pinterest inspired...although my bunnies looked more like bears or Mickeys to me! Oh well!

We attended church on Easter Sunday followed by Easter dinner at Jason's parent's house.

Another egg hunt ensued although Brayden wasn't terribly interested this time. Oh well, what can I say? He's only (almost) two.

After Sunday nap time, we stopped by my parent's house to say hello and also drop my car off at the auto shop. I wrote on the paper "Another tire (yes, another one)" - since this is my fourth tire repair (second brand new tire) since January. The others all involved nails although I have no idea where they are coming from!

...and that about wraps it up for our Easter weekend filled with fun! I hope you all had a great Easter Weekend as well!

Easter Egg Hunt 2018

Happy Easter Week! We spent the weekend doing a lot of Easter related things with Brayden and it was all so much fun! Seeing the world through his eyes is seriously the best thing ever!

Up first was our church's annual Easter Outreach filled with games, food, eggs, the Easter Bunny, and it always ends with a little message about the true meaning of Easter.

Throughout the week, we practiced his egg hunting skills and he pretty much had the system down, so he was ready!

Once we arrived at church, Brayden kid received a wrist band which correlated with his age group color. All of the activities available that day had a color coded mark on them so parents and kids knew which games were age appropriate! I loved this system!
 

We started with the jump houses and although he was still iffy about the jump houses by himself, he loved to jump with me!

Next up was the games! He slam dunked lots of balls and rung those flamingos like a pro!

After playing a few games, it was getting close to his group's egg hunt time, so we wandered over to the egg hunt ground area.

Over 2000 eggs were "hidden" for each group and there were a lot of different prize eggs in there, too!

Off we go! His age group was 0-2 and parents are encouraged to walk with their children for this one.

He even found a prize egg! Way to go, Brayden!

Pony rides were available for the kids as well and this was Brayden's first time to ride a pony! He ended up on Cowgirl! :)

I mean really, when did he get so big??

Last up on the activities list was the "train" ride.

One of our pastor's daughter's wanted to ride with "Ray-den" so we let her! So stinkin precious!

After the train ride, it was time to eat lunch and get out of the sun for a little while. Hot dogs were served and it took me a while to figure out the taste because they had a very slight kick to them - apparently they were cooked in crawfish/crab boil! Hello!

 We also spotted the Easter Bunny wandering around, so we had to stop for a picture with her!

The puppet show was incredibly fascinating and he loved the songs! It's funny because I was a part of the kids ministries team way back when and we performed some of the same songs year after year...now my son is being raised with the same! I love it!

After the puppet show and presentation, it was time for the prizes! Brayden won a box of chocolate marshmallow eggs!

He took a GREAT nap on Saturday! :)

Last but not least, we took him to the mall to see the Easter Bunny on Sunday. I'd received an  "early bird" coupon for $5 off and it expired on Sunday, so why not? He did great!!

Apart from more outdoor work and 2nd birthday party prep, that was our weekend in a nutshell! I've had some knee issues and I've been icing like crazy. We will see if that helps for this afternoon's run!

Have a great day!! :)