happy hoppy easter

Happy Easter!

We had a long Easter celebration with many days of Easter fun! This is a long post so I'll try to keep my rambling to a minimum! :)

Easter Day One
Surprise Easter packages arrive from Great Grandma Parker!

Lots of eggs with candy, books, and new "friends" (stuffed animals)!

Thanks, Grandma Parker!

Easter Day Two
Decorating eggs at home! First you put the coloring in the water...

Then you put the white eggs in...

Then you wait, only like a patient 3 year old can!

WOW!!! We have colored eggs!!!

Last touches - adding funny faces of course!

Tonight's new friends are tomorrow's deviled eggs...yum!

Easter Day Three
Word was the Easter Bunny was visiting Grandma & Grandpa Sherman's neighborhood - so we got dressed up to go see him and find the eggs he left behind!

The Easter Bunny really is here! Sammi was amazed and her face lit up with delight! She couldn't stop staring at him!

The Easter Bunny had already hidden 600 eggs early that morning for all of the neighborhood grandkids to find, so when it poured - and I mean POURED - down rain, we went out anyway!

We found lots of eggs and came in to get bundled up! We were SOAKED and we were FREEZING!

...but we got lots of goodies!!!

One more visit with the Bunny before heading back to Grandma & Grandpa's! Who knew he could pull eggs out of your ears!?

Back at Grandma & Grandpa's we found MORE eggs and presents hiding!

Natalie found a present here...

Then Jordie and Ashley joined us for Easter dinner! WOW!!! More Easter baskets FULL of toys and candy! These two little girls sure are LOVED by their families!

A whole loot of princess gear!

And another loot full of farm animals! (We've been working on animal sounds!)

Natalie tested out Sammi's new earrings. :-)

Easter dinner was delicious! The girls have their own special table to eat now that Natalie is old enough to sit & eat on her own.

Watching some cartoons with Uncle Jordie...

Easter Day Four
On our way to Fort Wayne we saw the most amazing rainbow I've ever seen. I grabbed my phone to snap this photo but it does it no justice - We could literally see the entire arc including the ends on both sides. It was radiant and beautiful and it made me smile thinking about the real reason we celebrate Easter!!!

We slept at Grandma & Grandpa Brands, to find that the Easter Bunny came to visit there too!!! We woke up to presents and baskets full of candy and toys!

All of the grandkids got these super cool sports chairs!

Then it was off to the extended family dinner and egg hunt! After eating a HUGE meal (how could you not with all of the many fabulous cooks and DeBrand family at these gatherings?!) Natalie fell right to sleep and missed the egg hunt. She didn't mind too much. She really needed to catch up on her sleep!

Sammi ran all over the grounds of Aunt Vi & Uncle Ed's property finding eggs, candy, toys, and stuffed animals!

Her favorite find may have been their cat, which she played with for hours!

Sammi's cousins are sooo good with both girls and they often take Sammi under their wings & make her feel welcome to tag along. It's so nice!!! They took a walk together to visit the neighbor's dog...

After the egg hunt the kids made Easter art projects!

Natalie woke up and had a late lunch with Grandma Brand since she fell asleep so early!

We always love seeing Great Grandma Brand too!!!

We are very blessed to have such wonderful families and we enjoyed seeing all of them to celebrate Easter this year!!! Thanks so much to all of our families for giving us such wonderful Easter celebrations!!! (And thanks, of course, to the Easter Bunny too!)

*love*