Easter Weekend

Last Friday night the Easter activities began. I had bought several Easter egg decorating supplies, boiled about 2 dozen eggs that afternoon and invited the Jodoins over that night so that Robert and Logan could do a bit of Easter egg coloring. I had set everything out prior to picking Logan up from school that day, so when we got home, and he saw the array of arts and crafts on the table, he immediately put on his smock (informing me he was SUPER MAN MOMMY!), ready for some action. I had to distract him for awhile, telling him we couldn't start until Robert showed up, so he was raring to go by the time the Jodoins arrived. :)


The boys had a terrific time - we only had one casualty with the colored water (poor yellow, was mostly spilled on the table, before we could use it to paint many of the eggs). We had a couple eggs that were cracked since the boys weren't as delicate with them as we would have liked. But overall, I think it was a successful evening.

After the egg coloring activity, we all ate dinner and then the boys played and screamed and yelled and chased each other around the house until they were tuckered out. We put all the kids (Logan, Robert, Connor) down for the evening and then played a game of Alhambra, yet another new game Jon has roped us all into. It was tons of fun, I won! And Jenn came in a verrrrry close 2nd (although, she reports in her blog that she won so who the heck knows now). The important thing is, we totally left the guys in the dust. ;-)


I realized this weekend that I never posted about Easter last year and what a bummer! Because, it was our first experience of Campbell's Eggstravaganza that was a crazy experience. Logan had just learned to walk a few months prior, so he was still a bit unsure on his footing, especially when compared to the savvy 2 year old running machines or worse, their parents.

Jon and I were aghast and totally blown away by the fact that the parents just picked up their children and RAN out to the center of the circles, collecting eggs on behalf of their kids, and leaving smaller children (like ours) to stand alone, bewildered and empty handed. Luckily, Logan ran into a very nice girl who shared an egg or two with him, and it couldn't have made him happier.

(Enter memory lane with a few pics from last year's event)


So, this year we were PREPARED. We brought BACKUP. Enter Tia Catherine.


While Jon parked, Catherine, Logan and I staked out a nice little spot near the edge of the 2 yr old ring, getting ready to let loose. I warned Catherine of the madness that would ensue. How kids and parents alike would be RACING to grab any and all eggs they saw. She must not have believed me. When the flag was raised and all kids were allowed in the ring, Catherine and Logan took their sweet time finding the perfect little egg or two, only to be beaten out by the other eager parents clamoring to fill their precious son or daughter's baskets with eggs.

Somewhere in all that madness are Catherine and Logan!

Tia Catherine wised up quickly though, and competed with the best of them. She found a group of unclaimed eggs which she quickly set Logan down to, "roping off" the area with her arms and pushing other kids and parents out. Their goal was 5 eggs. Logan scored 4. Good job Cat! ;-)


After the Campbell egg hunt, we had a delicious lunch at Hobbee's before meeting up with a number of our friends at Sky High Sports, a warehouse sized trampoline center, to partake in a day's worth of activities celebrating Nathan's birthday (Happy Birthday Nathan!).

Logan likes to jump, but is still learning and the bouncy houses intimidate him a little I think. His reaction to the trampolines was similar - he was very cautious but seemed to pick up interest as time passed, since Daddy and Tia Catherine were bouncing all over the place with him, not to mention Robert (and Jenn), Jamie (and Julie), and Kim. :) I think he was enjoying his time by the end of the session.


Jon split with "the boys" to wait in line at the Apple store, for their reserved iPads, while Catherine and I headed back home to put Logan down for a nap. Jon actually got home just about the same time that Logan was falling asleep, so he snuck in and laid down with Logan, showing him the fun new glossy toy he had just scored. Jon had just downloaded a simple "Trucks" flashcard app on the iPad, so they ran through that before Logan finally fell asleep. :)

While Logan napped, I rested and Jon and Catherine played a round of Alhambra (where this time, Catherine whipped Jon's butt, noticing a pattern?!?!). We then filled up several (and I mean SEVERAL) plastic eggs full of chocolate candies and Catherine did a KICKASS job at hiding them all around the front yard while I distracted Logan once he woke from his nap.

He had a BLAST during his own personal egg hunt in the front yard - yelling and pointing "THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" every time he saw another neon green or pink or blue egg peeking out of a bush or tree or corner. It was awesome and we all had a really fun time.


After Catherine took off, we packed up the car and headed over to the Hickson's house to continue visiting with friends and enjoying Nathan's birthday festivities. We were all pretty tired from such a long day we ended up going home rather than staying over, so that we could put Logan down at home. I was noticing his cough more and more and a few more sniffles and runny nose (and, based on Monday, I'm glad we did come home early!).

Sunday morning we headed over to my parent's house for EVEN MORE Easter fun. My dad whipped up a DEEEEEEE-licious batch of homemade pancakes. Logan helped prep the batter but wasn't as interested in flipping the hot cakes this time around. By then he was getting pretty hungry (and finally climbed into his booster seat asking me for some pancakes), and I think he was also starting to feel more out of sorts from his cold. :( Still, we had a great breakfast and enjoyed everyone's company.


While Logan napped, I coaxed my brother, Zane, into hiding all the eggs (it's great what you can get the Aunts and Uncles to do!) around the house, so Logan could do another hunt when he woke up from his nap. It had been raining most of the day so we decided to do the egg hunt inside the house this time, rather than outside. Which made for a more challenging hunt since there are LOTS more places to hide eggs! Zane did a great job at creating some really cool hiding places. :)


After everything was set up, we decided to break out Alhambra once more, this time with my mom and dad. I did SO TERRIBLE, coming in the very last last spot. But the surprise of the day was MY MOM! who totally killed all of us in her winnings. Poor Jon, batting three for three now in the loss department. I wonder how many more times he'll play before returning to one of the other games he excels in? ;-)

Logan had a blast with his third, and final, Easter egg hunt after nap time. I was afraid he might not find some of Zane's more challenging hiding spots but he did great! And of course, absolutely loved the game. Afterward (and just like the day before with the hunt at home), he spent a good 20-30 minutes carefully taking apart each and every egg, collecting his winnings. He quickly learned he could shake the egg to know instantly if it was "worth" opening.

Those with M&Ms were worth opening. Those with stickers/tattoos were, sadly, not.


As you can tell from this post - we were busy busy bodies and had a lot going on. It was definitely an exhausting weekend - but oh so much fun!! :)

(Click on any of the pics above to get to the larger album of all Easter pics taken)