We had a really nice Easter this year! Rich and I went out on Saturday night to dinner but we made sure that Joseph and Ella left their baskets out with the sitter before they went to bed. And, thankfully the Easter bunny found them and filled them!
The Easter bunny left a "Happy Easter" sign for the kids in the kitchen which Ella was obsessed with. She kept wanting to touch the egg in the middle. And, I had to include my new spring tree which I am still not sure if I love but definitely spent too much money on! Growing up, we had a similar type of spring tree that my mom always hung Easter eggs on so I had been on the hunt for one for awhile now.
We really didn't want to deal with the crowds at church this year so we decided to wake the kids up at 6:15 a.m. and go to 7:00 a.m. mass. It worked out SO well! The kids had about ten minutes to go through their baskets, got them dressed quickly, a quick breakfast in the car and then we arrived at church at 6:55 and found seats! Bonus was that we sat next to our friends,the Enia family, who we also sat with at Christmas. The kids were really good during mass (one of our best services!) nad we said that maybe we should continue going to 7 am mass since they are probably still half asleep!
Ella looking a litlte sleepy with her new baby doll that the Easter bunny brought her and fruit snacks that she wanted me to open for her! This is her first real baby doll and she LOVES it!! Fruit snacks for breakfast, sure, it is Easter!
Joseph kept asking for binoculars (or "nocubulars" as he calls them" for Easter so that kind of started the idea of filling the baskets with small gifts instead of candy. I'd much rather spend money on things that they will actually play with and use than junk so it worked out well. Plus, the egg hunts that Joseph did at school, at the church playgroup and with our friends supplied him with plenty of junk!
He was SO excited about his "nocubulars"! Even brougth them to church!
A quick family picture after church.
I actually like this one better-if only Rich's head wasn't cut off! That's what happens when I let the kids play with the tripod and it breaks and we had to use the patio chair (or so this is what Daddy told me as we were trying to get the perfect picture ;)
That afternoon we headed to Sawmill Park to meet up with our friends to have dinner together, play and to have an egg hunt.
I brought our traditional bunny cake! I also made a carrot cake from scratch which was delicious-I was super happy with the way it turned out!
Ella and her friend, Victoria, trying to scale the rock wall before dinner.
Joseph and Elsie playing hard! And don't worry, Elsie has her bathing suit on-the kids were in the splash pad, too!
Joseph trying to keep up with the big kids.
Both kids received an outfit from Nani and Poppa for Easter and as soon as they opened them after church they both wanted to wear them! Here Joseph is wearing his:
And, here is Ella in hers. She was so funny-she pulled it out of the gift bag and wouldn't let go of the skirt and just kept holding it and grunting letting us know that she wanted to wear it. 
Lots of fun playing at the park.
Here the kids are getting ready for the egg hunt!
And, they're off!
Ella wasn't really into it but did find one!
She was shaking it! Her shirt is soaking wet after spilling almost an entire water bottle on herself. Thankfully it was a warm afternoon so it dried quickly.
Trying to open it
Showing me their findings
And here is a group picture of the moms (and a few of the babies) that were there to celebrate Easter with us. It was a super nice afternoon and I am so thankful to have this group of friends to celebrate the holidays with. Four of us are pregnant in this picture-lots of more babies to be added to the group!
Happy Easter!
