Our Easter fun started during the week with an Easter learning theme which we completed but I still haven't published the post about our weekly learning theme from the week before due to all of Elise's birthday posts, so it will be late. We went to an Easter egg hunt on Thursday evening which was simply hilarious. I was a bit worried parents would be scooping eggs up for their kids and Carter wouldn't be able to get any because I had heard some stories of terrible experiences. That was not the case at all. Carter didn't get very many eggs but it was because he took off running into the egg area, just running circles around while laughing. Ty had to remind him to stop and pick up eggs. I was cracking up watching him. Once he got started rather than staying in one area to get all the eggs there, he'd pick one up and then run off to get a different one not in that area. He's only ever done Easter egg hunts where the eggs are "hidden" rather than where they are just laying out to be scooped up, so maybe that was confusing to him. Elise crawled around a little and picked up a couple eggs but for the most part was adamant I hold her hands so she could walk around. We all had quite a bit of fun and were so pleased Ty got to go with us.
Friday afternoon Ty had off for Good Friday so we headed out to his parents' house so we could celebrate Easter with his family. Friday evening it was just the 6 of us and then Ty's friends Chris and Candice came over with their kids. Their daughter is a year older than Carter and their son is a year older than Elise. The kids had a blast playing together and then Leina got out her Easter eggs and played Easter egg hunt with the kids. They had the best time with that. When it was time to go to bed Carter didn't want to sleep by himself and had gone to bed way too late so he screamed and cried in his room, waking Elise up. He finally went to sleep but it took Elise over an hour to fall back to sleep and then she was very fitful, waking multiple times during the night. Then she'd fall back to sleep only to have Carter wake up and cry, waking her up again. It was a vicious cycle and one that resulted in not enough sleep for any of us.
Saturday morning we were hoping to make it to an Easter egg hunt and parade at the park, but woke up to rain. We ended up having a fun, lazy morning home and then heading out to the Discovery Center which is their Children's Museum. Carter had a blast there and Elise enjoyed the infant area, taking her first steps while playing with her Gpa and daddy! Of course, when Ty sent Leina over to get me so I could see, Elise immediately stopped. Once I was there she started fussing and hanging onto me because she wanted me to pick her up. They had a few special Easter activities set up in different areas and then as we left they gave each kid an egg filled with stickers and an eraser. We headed out to a BBQ restaurant for lunch. Much to our surprise, Elise wasn't very interested in meat (she's our big meat eater) and Carter went to town on some pulled pork (he normally hardly touches meat). It was an interesting reversal of their regular eating habits. They went down for naps when we got home and then Gigi, Papa, and Aunt Tina came over for dinner and our Easter celebration with them. They came bearing gifts. Gigi and Papa got Elise a rabbit stuffed animal and Carter a gun that shoots flying discs. Aunt Tina got Carter bowling pins and Elise a chair plus a giant stuffed bunny for the kids to share. Carter enjoyed rolling around on the floor with the bunny and Elise showed off her walking skills for everyone. The farthest she walked was about 4-5 steps to her Gigi. She definitely loves her Gigi and did the best when walking to her. It was so sweet to see!
Saturday night went similarly to Friday night except we got the kids down closer to bedtime and were able to keep Carter from waking Elise. I ended up just sleeping with him so he wouldn't wake her up. But he had very fitful sleep, waking up quite a bit and so did Elise. After all the lack of sleep we had decided we wouldn't wake them in the morning. If they got up in time to go to 8:00 mass we would go with Leina, if not, we would just let them sleep. Elise ended up sleeping until 7:30 and Leina was already gone when we headed upstairs and Carter slept until 8:00!!! We were all shocked to find it snowing when we woke up! Rocky, Elise, and I were playing upstairs when Carter woke up and came running into the living room in search of eggs, wondering if the Easter bunny had made it. We told him we would hunt eggs later and he checked out his Easter basket and enjoyed playing with it for quite a while. Leina got home from church around 9:00 and then Grandma and Grandpa Shupe, Aunt Gena and Karl, and Jessica all came over for our Easter brunch and celebration. After brunch we did our Easter egg hunt in the living room and Carter had so much fun. There were smaller eggs for Elise and she sat shaking them around while Carter searched. When he had found all the eggs, Carter dumped the contents out into a bowl, creating a trail mix to eat.
Checking out the snow on Easter morning.
Wearing her adorable bunny pin my grandma made for her.
Wearing the adorable bunny pin my grandma made for him.
Elise was so proud of the eggs she found!
Kisses for great grandma!
After cake and ice cream for lunch we packed up and headed out at naptime. We made it back in time to have Easter dinner with Jeremy and my parents. We enjoyed ham with cherries, deviled eggs, scalloped potatoes, and salad. Then it was time for books and bed. Carter loves it when he has multiple different people around to read him his nighttime books before bed. It was a wonderful weekend and a fabulous Easter.
