Family Easter Egg Hunt

After we took the kids pictures, we convinced them to exchange their church clothes for more appropriate egg hunting clothes. So in other words, Bryn got out of her fancy dress and put on a less fancy dress (a denim skirt). That girl and her skirts. On a lovely side note: those Burk cheeks are KILLING me!!

While the Easter Bunny hid his eggs, Bryn pranced around barely able to contain her excitement. Seeing as how Hudson is immobile, the odds of getting most of the eggs were definitely in her favor. And that is something to make anyone excited.

I think we may need to have a little chat with the Easter Bunny. He forgets that not everyone is six feet tall. Thank goodness Grandma was there to help with those pesky eggs that got placed out of reach. Papa had the best vantage point in the yard and was quick to call tips while perched on the deck. 

While Bryn scampered around filling her basket, Nate once again tried to convince Hudson to walk on the grass. He was not a fan. Hudson will crawl all over our hard wood floors without batting an eye, but as soon as you put him on the grass, prepare yourself for the howls of protest which will surely come. Once again, he did not disappoint. I think Nate does it just to pester poor little Hudson. Nate is a big fan of pestering. Especially me.

Liam had fun filling his basket until he accidentally dropped an egg. It broke and he realized that was where the real fun was at. Why collect eggs when you can smash them? Neal quickly took the real eggs away before all of our future deviled eggs contained bits of grass and dirt.

I've said it before, and I will say it again: having kids makes the holidays so much fun. So grateful for this guy. He is a keeper. Facial hair and all.

How Lovely Was the Morning

Seeing how today is Easter Sunday, we thought it would be a good day to snap some pictures of the kids while they were dressed in all their finery. Little Miss will be three years old in just a few weeks. This picture captures her personality perfectly: a little sweetheart mixed with a smidgen (some days more than a smidgen) of sass. She came up with this little pose all on her own. Oh how we love this little firecracker!

Here is my little man looking just like a southern gentleman. Hudson is seriously the most charming, good-natured, and lovable little boy on the face of the planet. I can't believe we have had this little man in our lives for nearly a year. Time is flying by much too quickly.

Once again, this is Brynlee unscripted. She is constantly giving her brother loves and kisses and looks for opportunities to love on her "Hudson boy," as she affectionately calls him. She is such a fantastic big sister and Hudson absolutely adores her.

However, every man can take only so much lovin' before it becomes too much. And after 15 minutes of pictures and Bryn doting on him, Hudson clearly has reached his limit.

Easter Morning

While the little ones slept, a big floppy-eared creature came during the middle of the night and left baskets filled to the brim with goodies. In addition to jelly beans and chocolates, each kid received a new pair of jammmies and a musical instrument. I use the term "instrument" loosely. "Noise-maker" would be a more appropriate turn. 

Like any good sister, Bryn insisted on trying out Hudson's new trumpet to show him how it works. After several unsuccessful attempts to illicit some type of sound, she then had to resort to a more unconventional method of music making: shoving the entire mouthpiece into her mouth and hoping for the best. It is a good thing we don't mind sharing germs around here because that trumpet was dripping in saliva by the time she was finished with it. Hudson didn't even care that Bryn took his trumpet. He was much more interested in his new soccer ball and spent most of the morning crawling after it.

Trust me when I say that Bryn is most definitely not a musical prodigy. I lasted about ten minutes before the shrill tweeting of her flute became unbearable, and I convinced her to check out the rest of her Easter basket. I have a feeling that blue flute is going to "magically" disappear before the week is over.

In addition to the new instruments, Brynlee became the proud new owner of a bucket of side-walk chalk and princess doll. After she thoroughly examined everything in her basket (and Hudson's), we were able to pry her away from her goodies so she could help cut out sugar cookies.

Seeing as how it is now spring, we thought we had better try out our new springtime cookie cutters. Bryn and Nate had a great time cutting out bunnies, eggs, and flowers. Within a short time, the entire kitchen was blanketed with a fine layer of flour. Luckily, there was just enough time to dump the kids into the bathtub before we headed off to church and then on to Grandma and Papa's house for Easter Part II.

A Friendly Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday afternoon, we invited the Grandstaffs over for a little Easter egg hunt. Although Gunner and Hudson had no idea what was going on or what was expected of them, they were more than happy just being outside in the beautiful sunshine. Bryn, on the other hand, knew exactly what was inside of those neon colored eggs. . . treats!

Before the hunt began, she prayed fervently to find the most eggs with the best candy inside. Perhaps I should have told her the odds were definitely in her favor considering that one of her competitors can't even walk and the other one was perfectly content with single lollipop.

After explaining the procedure (see an egg, pick it up) the kids were off. Bryn scampered around the yard like a little bunny. At first she would only collect the pink and purple eggs. After awhile, we were finally able to convince her that the Easter Bunny does not discriminate and puts treats in all eggs despite their color. Gunner walked around aimlessly occasionally pausing to check out a particularly interesting rock or leaf. Hudson just sat there and squawked about his displeasure of being left in the grass. He has some weird complex about crawling around in grass. 

I could see that if the parents didn't get involved, this would turn into the longest Easter Egg hunt known to man. Nate put away his video camera and helped Hudson find all those ridiculously hard to find and impossible to reach eggs. He obviously doesn't believe in making things easy for the kids. . . even Easter egg hunts.

In the end, all the kids found enough eggs to fill their baskets and received enough sugar to cause a few cavities. Hudson was less than impressed with the treats, but was excited to discover that eggs filled with jelly beans make excellent maracas. 

However, once he saw that Gunner was working on his second sucker, the maracas became a lot less cool. You can see how his little mind is trying to figure out how a sucker that big came from inside one of those eggs.

Brynlee emerged as the victor of the Easter egg hunt easily claiming the most spoils. It is amazing how it takes her five minutes to do the buckles on her sandals, yet she can unwrap half a dozen candies in under thirty seconds. In all fairness, I don't blame her increase in motivation. After all, Easter candy is the best holiday candy.

In the end, the kids had a great time and were pleased with their loot. Gunner must have eaten three or four suckers. Hudson scarfed down jelly beans along with bits of grass that got stuck on his sticky hands, and Brynlee ate more than her fair share of chocolate eggs. And, like all good parents, we didn't want the kids to eat all the candy themselves, so we were more than happy to help lighten up their buckets.