Easter Saturday and Sunday

We told the kids that the Easter Bunny has so many people to visit that he goes to some people on Saturday and some on Sunday.  But that he always comes on Saturday to our house.  (That way, we can do all the silly, bunny and egg hunts on that day and leave Sunday for the real reason for Easter.)

I managed to make it downstairs before them so I could record their reactions in the video below.

They got a lot of fun stuff, like activity books for quiet time in Sacrament meeting, watering cans, and little shovel and pail sets.  We try to limit candy (for them, at least, heh heh) so they only got a chocolate bunny and some jelly beans.  When I asked Annalee to hold up her favorite present, guess what she picked?

I wasn't too long before Annalee noticed that there were some eggs hidden in the back yard.  She was so excited!  But we made them eat breakfast first.  (I know, we're heartless.)

I was worried that Annalee would be faster than Vander and find way more than him--I've heard that's a problem with siblings--but we told her to leave the obvious ones on the ground for Vander and to find the tricky ones.  She did great!

That sneaky bunny even hid some in the playhouse!

The eggs were filled with nickels, dimes, and pennies.  In the end, Annalee did find more eggs than Vander but he found the ones that had more money so they came out just about even.  Then they had a blast counting their money at the kitchen table and we had a great talk about tithing and showed them how to pay it.  (We've shown them before, but they don't get money very often.)  Then they got to do one of their favorite activities: putting coins in the piggy bank, dumping them out, and doing it again.  Good 20 minute distraction.

We were going to go to a community egg hunt in the middle of the day but nap time interfered.  We didn't mind too much because our ward was having an Easter Party.  I love living close enough to walk to church in good weather!

They divided everyone into groups and sent us around to four different stations.  At one, we watched an Easter video about the Savior.  At another, we heard a sweet story about the meaning of Easter.  Then the kids got to have face "painting" with stamps.  And last of all we got to decorate cupcakes!

OM om om...

Easter Sunday was nice.  We watched another Easter video about the Savior as a family and talked about it.  We also talked about my Grampy, who is an actor in it!  (He's in The Lamb of God and The Testaments.)

Then we got ready for church.  We had some nice "new" clothes.  I had searched everywhere for a Spring dress for Annalee WITH SLEEVES that I could afford, to no avail.  Thank goodness for cousins' hand-me-downs.  Thanks, Sarah!

Vander got a spiffy hat.

I got to wear this pretty dress I wore to prom a few years ago.  The style looked very cute with a bump.  Unfortunately, I have yet to find an undershirt that makes it modest and looks perfect, but white was good enough for one day.

Daddy was taking the pictures so he didn't get to join in on the cuteness. 

Every week during the Sacrament we try to help the kids focus on the Savior and His resurrection and atonement.  This week I think it made a deeper impression since we'd been talking about it beforehand too.