easter eggstravaganza!

we spent a lesiurely morning at home - for once. matt let me sleep a little too after i fed manning which was very nice. he and the kids worked on cleaning up their toys so that would could go to an easter egg hunt today! i had told them that we couldn't go if their toys weren't cleaned up. mason is probably the best at cleaning (in that he does it without complaining and will do it by himself) so he had already been told that he had earned the privilege of going, but the other two had some work to do (manning got a pass). thankfully, they all happily cleaned up their messes so that we could all go!

the hunt was at mason's teacher's church (this is the same one where we went to the breakfast with mary and joseph before christmas), so mason was extra excited! but they were all pretty happy to have their easter baskets and a promise of candy.

after signing in, they each got to pick a white or brown bunny bag to decorate. all of the kids were using cotton balls for more than just tails - they were eyes, noses, ears, mouths, etc.

there was a cute story about easter with jelly beans to tell the story of jesus. mason was able to answer several of the interactive questions. it was just a reminder about how truly confident he is in a group. i was actually surprised that madelyn didn't try to answer any.

and then they were off! the hunt was inside the church. they just let the kids loose and told them to find 25-30 eggs each. madelyn was one of the older kids at the event so the hunt went really well. kids that had already reached their limit were helping show smaller kids where to find more eggs. all three bigs enjoyed it.

and then we were back for another story about jesus and easter before the last craft. they showed the kids how to use their hands as a 'stamp' for the empty tomb (which i thought was pretty neat) and gave them popsicle sticks to make a cross. here is a picture of maddux'.

and then a picture of mason's classmates (and siblings) with his teacher who had lead the event before heading out.

and we have been singing, "ho-ho-ho-hosanna! ha-ha-ha-haleluiha! he-he-he-he saved me! and i've got the joy of The Lord!" ever since. i had forgotten all about that song but all three kids loved it and sing along.

once we were finished up at the church, we all went over to the library for a rare 'family' trip. mason, in particular' was excited to have daddy at the library with him. the were having a little easter fun by asking you to count all of the pink, paper Easter eggs taped up all over the children's floor. madelyn and mason counted by themselves and guessed 28, which was way off. then they got 29 and were still way off so daddy helped them take a more systematic approach and they counted 40 which was the correct answer and madelyn and mason got a treat from the librarian.

it was a pretty fun afternoon. love.