Easter!

We had a fun filled Easter weekend. We gave Dane his basket from us at our house on Wednesday evening. Dane and I were heading to Kirkwood on Thursday right after school so we wanted to give it to him before we left.

He was excited to get it this year. He carried it around for quite a while before looking inside.

We knew he would get candy from others so we filled his basket with a truck, sidewalk chalk, a ball, and several books.

He loved the little books.
He was also happy to have another truck.

Thursday afternoon we left right after school and headed to my grandma's house. My grandma was having all of her great grand children over for supper and to dye Easter eggs. We ate as soon as we got there and then started to dye eggs.

Delaney got creative with her eggs and made them polka dotted.

Claire checking out her egg.

Trey wanted to dye one egg of every color. He stayed busy the whole time.

Dane was very independent when dying eggs. He did not want any help at all.

When he would pull it out of the dye he would say, "Whoa".

He especially liked the blue eggs.

We all had a good time and dyed 5 or 6 dozen eggs!

Friday was a busy, fun day spent with Mama, Aunts, and cousins. After spending the day with everyone Dane went back to Mama's house and took a 2 1/2 hour nap. He finally woke up at 6:00 and was so happy to see that Aunt Amy, Uncle Darnel, and the kids came for dinner.

Our next Easter event was Saturday. We had plans to go to the church Easter Party and then to the Kirkwood Park Easter Egg Hunt, but the weather was very rainy so we just did the church event.

Mama with all of the kids before we started the activities.

They had cookie decorating. Delaney helped Dane and he loved it!

His favorite part was the sprinkles.

Claire and Dane sat down to enjoy their cookies right away.

Mama took Dane up to see the Easter Bunny.

We tried the craft table, but he really wasn't interested in it.

He had been watching some older kids play with the parachute. I was really impressed because the event was ran by the youth in the church and when Dane was watching them play with the parachute they got down on their knees and made room for Claire and Dane to come and join in. He absolutely loved this!

It was then time for the egg hunt. We had to do this inside because of the weather. Dane was excited at first and picked up several eggs, then one popped open and he saw that it had candy in it. He could hardly concentrate on anything else. He just kept staring at the candy.

Mama pointed out more eggs and he started back picking them up.

Saturday evening Aunt Tammy, Uncle John, and Joe came in town.

Dane was waiting patiently for Baby Joe to roll towards him.

Sunday morning we waited for Dave to come join us for the day. Dane was so excited to see him. We took Dane outside to take his picture. Between seeing Daddy and finally being able to be outside for just a few minutes since it rained most of the weekend I could hardly get Dane to stand still for a picture. It started raining again, so we headed back inside.

Always loving on Joe...we really have to watch him.

While waiting for brunch I was able to snap another picture of Dane. He is so busy these days!

Buddies....Dane is constantly calling, "Trey, Trey."

Our little fashion diva in the family.....she also had a matching purse!

While we were finishing brunch Dane and Trey danced.

Aunt Tammy, Uncle John, and Joe

Our family

Aunt Katie and Dane.

Aunt Katie was gone on a lacrosse trip until Saturday night. Dane kept going to her room and saying, "Katie, Katie?" He was so concerned about her and excited to see her Sunday morning.

We are so proud of her. At her lacrosse tournament she was named "2011 National Women's Lacrosse League Coach of the Year!"

After brunch it was basket time!

Lots of baskets! Mom makes a basket for every single person in the family! I think she made 19 baskets up this year!

Dane dug right into his basket.

After brunch and baskets we all hung out a little bit, then got ready to head over to my grandma's house for dinner.

Dane was busy, busy playing with his cousins all day.

Not easy to get a picture of 6 kids, especially when 3 are 2 years old under.

It was really wet outside, so the egg hunt was held inside.

Dane got quite a few "money filled" eggs.

My grandma with all of her great grandchildren!

My mom with all of her grandchildren.

It finally stopped raining for a bit, so we changed the kid's clothes and Dave took them all outside to run around for a bit.

We had a delicious Easter dinner and my grandma gave baskets to everyone!

Claire and Dane with their baskets.

Checking out what they got!

They were identical, but Claire was checking out Dane's basket as well.

We had a busy, fun, weekend. I am sure Dane came home a bit spoiled. I heard, "Mama, Papa, Amy, DarDar (Darnel), Trey, Claire, Joe, and Katie" a whole lot more than I heard, "Mommy" this weekend. Just ask Amy, once Dane learns how to say your name you will hear it a million times. We enjoyed our weekend and spent today resting!

Our First Easter Event

I was in charge of the Lake Forest Kids' Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Party this past weekend. Several weeks ago I started to worry a little because I was still pretty sick and also wasn't sure if Dave's work schedule would allow him to come and help me. Thank goodness my mom volunteered to come down and help me set up and help with Dane while I ran the party.

Amy was camping with Girls Scouts and Darnel had just had surgery, so my mom brought Trey with her for the day. Dane was absolutely THRILLED. He ran around all day yelling, "Mama, Trey".

Hanging out while we set up.

They were so excited to see all of the eggs.
I tried to get a picture of this sweet boy in his sweater vest, but he kept making the weirdest faces at me.

My mom helped me set up the food table.

Dave, Dane, and the Bunny.

Dane acts like he doesn't even see the big bunny standing next to him.

Mama kept pointing to the bunny.

Still not sure what to think.

And then it was time to hunt eggs.........Daddy helped Dane.

Running for more eggs.

All done!

Mama went outside with Trey for the hunt with the older kids.

Dane's eggs were filled with crackers, fruit snacks, and goldfish which he started sampling right away!

The older kids got candy.

After the egg hunt it was time for pictures with the Easter Bunny.

Dane just didn't know what to think.

He just kept checking the bunny out.

He would point to his face and laugh.

He really didn't want to hang with the Bunny without Mommy with him.

Trey jumped right up on the Bunny's lap.

We had a fun party. We were excited that Dave was off work and could go with us and that Mama and Trey came down also.

This was the first of our Easter events. The Easter weekend celebrations begin Thursday night when the great-grandchildren gather at my grandma's house for dinner and egg dying. Friday we have a fun day planned with Mama. Saturday Dane will hunt more eggs at church and at Kirkwood Park. On Easter Sunday we will be going to church, having brunch with family, and going to my grandma's house for dinner and an egg hunt for the kids. I am glad Dane and I are off school on Monday after such a full weekend!