Easter 2012 was especially super this year. Layton had spring break last week and it allowed us to relax and celebrate all week long!! The weather was sunny and warm most days and we soaked up as much as we could. When we weren't outside, we were busy bunnies :)
Easter cookies are always fun because I love the colors and shapes and the kids LOVE to decorate! Here they are working hard to make the best cookies to take to our friends house to egg dye...
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| Getting the frosting just right |
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| Happy boy! |
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| That's my girl... |
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| You can never have enough sprinkles |
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| The thicker the frosting, the better!! |
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| Finger lickin' good |
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| Concentrating |
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| Some of the finished product. |
We were happy to join our good friends for their annual Easter Egg Dye Day. I knew it was going to be a good time when JennJenn said, "Every kid needs at least a dozen." Well, I think each kid dyed at least a dozen...
I learned A LOT about egg dyeing this year...I learned to dye the eggs while they are warm, using a 1 to 1 solution of hot vinegar and lukewarm water and creating your own colors from food dye. Our eggs were brighter than they have even been and the colors were so unique!
Each kid started with one color and some order was maintained....
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| Brice and Layton |
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| Patience, young jedi |
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| Two colors at once |
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| Acadiana watching over Kestrel |
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| Getting into the flow |
After the kids got into it, things began to get a little crazy....
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| Dye splashing and fingers grabbing |
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| Dyeing and cookie eating |
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| Almost 3 dozen done |
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| Cailey Jo and Kestrel began using their hands to grab the eggs at some point |
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| Cailey Jo mixing colors |
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| The dye came off their skin surprisingly well with soap and water |
And then the kids were done. We finished dyeing the rest and the kids ran around (especially after eating all of those cookies) and played. At the end, they stood by the finished product...
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| Our friends: Kestrel, Layton, Brice, Acadiana, Anne Marie and Cailey Jo |
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| Trying to get them to all look at the camera at once was not easy |
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| And I never succeeded... |
The adults had to finish off the remainder...
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| MawMaw is the pro! |
Now all the preparations were finished and we awaited the arrival of the easter bunny. Layton and Kestrel went to bed relatively easy and woke fairly early to find their baskets!
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| Unwrapping the goodies |
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| m&ms! |
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| m&ms make a girl a little nutty :) |
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| YUMMY! |
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| Even Portie had to check it out. |
After the 7:30am candy-fest, Luke hid the eggs and the kids hunted throughout the yard...
I am pretty sure more candy was to be had, but it is all a blur because I can barely function before 3 cups of coffee. We decided that the only way to make it through the morning until easter dinner was to head up to Little Rock City and get some bouldering in.
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| Luke and Layton touring with Acadiana and Kestrel |
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| Me and my girl |
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| Layton and Acadiana hunting |
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| Cailey Jo and Kestrel hunting |
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| Follow the leader |
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| I think they got them all |
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Pocking eggs...a new tradition we learned from the Martins
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This year easter was fantastic! I think that the very best part was that the four of us were together and we had a great time as a family! We have found that with Luke's new career, holidays don't always happen on the specified day and sometimes we don't get to spend them together. To me, being all together is the VERY BEST!! We are lucky to have each other and we are lucky to have such wonderful friends!!
HAPPY EASTER!!!
Now, I am going to go to bed and crash...I am exhausted...
