Sunday funday

What a fabulous day.  Even though I'm with the kids everyday and I would say 80% of those days I just love love love, today was different.  It was Easter.  And daddy's birthday.  And it was exciting.  And it was just them and us. 


We spent the afternoon together yesterday and went to the mall to see the Easter Bunny.  Apparently we weren't the only ones who waited until the day before and so instead of waiting in line with all the other moron procrastinators, we stood at the railing and waved.  The Easter Bunny gave the kids a big wave and that was more than sufficient.  Thank God for that.  We went on to cruise the mall (doesn't that sound fun at 5pm on the Saturday before Easter?), get a pretzel to share, watch the interactive fountain (too cold to get in) and then visit the Apple store to play with the new Ipad.  After that we went to dinner at BJ's and had a great time.  We weren't heading home until 7:00pm and poor little Lauren is always in bed by 6:30pm so she was exhausted.  You know me, I live and die by our schedule so this was very unusual and her body sure knew we were off.  She wasn't grumpy but just look at that face.

As soon as we got home, I left to go get Easter basket stuff while Chris took the kids in to bathe them and put them to bed.  Apparently waiting until 12 hours before kids actually find their Easter baskets to shop for stuff to fill them isn't a good idea.  The shelves were literally bare.  We don't go crazy with baskets so I found some practical fun things that I knew would be loved and that was that.  

I came home to find that the fabulous homemade birthday cake I'd made for Chris for tonight had already been broken into.  The Easter Bunny was blamed but I knew that was a lie because SHE was at Target at the time.  Anyway, can you just taste this?

 

Chris and I went to bed after filling baskets and I was actually really pleased with our efforts.  Especially for having waited until the last minute.  I found this on my pillow, a gift from Drew.  Love moments like this.

 

In the morning, William got up first, about 7:15am.  Like freakin' clockwork.  He came down to find this:

He said the leprechaun from St. Patrick's Day must have done it because the Easter Bunny is not that messy. 

The kids' Easter baskets were on the hearth, too, but he had to wait for Drew before he could dig into his.  At 7:45am she came down and it was basket time! 

What does Michelle Duggar do?  I mean, really.  We only had to do three baskets but the thought of doing 16 more in addition to these?  Oh, Lord.  Anyway, each got a bunny doll.  Lauren got two bath toys and some Gerber yogurt melts.  That's it.  And she was THRILLED.  See?

The big kids got some gum, sour candy, paint, and just a few other things I know they'd use.  We didn't buy any knick knacky crap this year and I'm soooo thankful.  I saved money, they loved everything, and they found purpose and fun in all the things they got.  We hid the eggs they'd colored with Nana in the livingroom since it was raining outside and they found them all.  After that, Chris took them to the donut shop for breakfast while Lauren and I stayed home to clean up a bit and for her to take a nap.  Since then we've gone grocery shopping, gone to the park to fly kites, ate lunch by the fire, and painted.  Honestly, it's been the best day we've had in a long time. 

We'll have a nice dinner tonight for Chris's birthday and we'll top it off with that yummy cake.  Here are just a few more pics of the day.  Hope your day was equally as enjoyable.

A Spiderman toothbrush that lights up

A Strawberry Shortcake painting book

Counting eggs

Chris's birthday present

Happy Easter to you!