Sunday 4/24/11 - Hippity Hoppity! It's Easter time!

Happy Easter to everyone out there in blog land!  I hope you were visited by the Easter Bunny and got a lot of goodies!  If not, I hope you remember & celebrate the true meaning of Easter.  I was explaining to Brianna a few days ago that part of Easter is fun, but there is another part that is very different & meaningful.  I was telling her about Jesus and how he was crucified on the cross.  I told her what Maundy Thursday & Good friday was all about & that Easter is the day Jesus arose from the grave!  I told her he is a good man and he sacrified a lot for all of our sins.  This is why we should be kind to one another, even though people may do us wrong or cause us grief.  I'm always telling her to "Do onto others BEFORE they do onto you."  HAHA!!  I'm only kidding.  My Grandma June used to joke around and tell me that when I was a little girl.  I knew better!   Brianna seemed to be VERY interested in what I was telling her.  She didn't understand why all those "bad men" nailed Jesus to a cross.  I tried to explain to her, but I think she's still too young for that.  I really need to take her and her little brother to sunday school to learn about our wonderful savior.  Maybe after our new baby gets here, I can.  I think they would benefit from it tremensly.  I think I would too.  I miss my old church that I used to attend before I got married.  I haven't really found one where I live now that I really care for too much.  I don't feel "at home" like I did at the old one.   Anyway, enough about that!  I took some pictures of the FUN things we did this a.m.!  The kids had a blast!  :)



Look at all the goodies our Bunny friend brought!   The left side is all for Jacob & the right side is for Brianna.  Next year, the Easter Bunny will have to bring for one more!

This was one of Brianna's favorite things she received.  These are her Princess Dominos.  She LOVES to play with these!  Jack, Jacob & I have played many games with her since she got these.  She doesn't always play by the rules though.  She picks whatever dominos SHE wants.  Most of hers HAS to have Ariel on them...lol.  Her favorite one that she will NOT give up is the double Ariel.  She asked me if she could carry it around.  I told her if she lost it (which she does with most things), she couldn't play the game.  She was VERY reluctant, but she put it back into the tin box for the next game.  :)

This was another favorite of hers.  Who knew Ty Beanie Babies made a Hello Kitty?  Brianna LOVES Hello Kitty!!  The Easter Bunny sure knows what this little gal likes, doesn't he?

The Easter Bunny also brought each kid a little candy.  I know this looks like alot, but there was Easter grass down at the bottom of her basket.  There wasn't as much as it looks like.  I am NOT a fan of giving  MY kids candy very often.  Special occassions are one thing.  An every day thing is NOT okay.  Also, NO GUM either.  That is a VERY STRICT RULE of Jack and mine. 

Brianna & Jacob couldn't believe that the Easter Bunny brought Jacob a new piggy bank!  Brianna asked me how the Easter Bunny knew that Jacob broke his?  I told her, "He's like Santa Claus, he knows EVERYTHING.  He's ALWAYS watching you."   I had both kids convinced this year the "real bunnies" in our yard were his "helpers".  They were keeping an eye on them to make sure they were behaving.  You should've seen Brianna's eyes when I told her that...lol.  Jacob told G'ma & G'pa Parker about the Easter Bunny Helpers that were in our yard!  I had to take G'ma aside to "explain" so she'd understand.  ;)

Jacob's Easter Basket.  Again, not as much candy as it looks like.  He had Easter grass at the bottom of his basket too.  To give you an idea as to how much candy we let our kids have.  They still have atleast 75% of their Halloween candy left.  We usually end up throwing it away.  We let them participate for the fun of it, not for the candy. 

This was a truck the Easter Bunny brought Jacob.  You rev it up, set it down on the floor & watch it go!  He really likes his trucks!

The other day, the kids wanted to paint.  I didn't have any paint brushes so they couldn't do it.  We couldn't go outside so I wasn't going to let them finger paint.  That would've been a mess!  Brianna was flabber gasted when she saw these!  She couldn't believe the Easter Bunny knew they needed these!  I told her, "I'm serious.  When I tell you he knows EVERYTHING, he REALLY does!"  They were both so excited to get these!  They couldn't wait to paint now!

Since it was too wet and nasty outside, the Easter Bunny hid the kid's eggs inside this year.  We had our egg hunt in the family room.  Each kid had 10 eggs to find.  Some had candy in them and some had a little bit of money for their piggy banks!  Brianna was opening up her eggs to see what was in them.  She found the most eggs with the money.  She's no dummy.  She knows that money buys the stuff she likes!

Jacob found the most eggs with candy.  He didn't care about the money!  Here he is gathering up all of his tootsie rolls.  He was more excited about those than anything!  :)   I'm sure he'll learn that money is better than candy, eventually.

I had Jack bring out the container with the money that was in Jacob's piggy bank that broke.  Brianna & I put all of his money into his new one.  Jacob was more interested in counting his candy.  He helped us for a few minutes, but then it was back to his candy!  It's silly to see what their priorities are. 

After our egg hunt, the kids wanted to try out their new paint brushes.  They couldn't wait to paint a pretty picture!

I was surprised at how much he concentrated on painting.  He really seemed to enjoy himself!  Brianna loves to do crafty and artsy things so that was no surprise that she enjoyed it.

We had a fun Easter!  It's always a great day when I can spend it with my favorite people I love the most!   I hope you were able to spend yours with the ones you love too!