Thurs. April 4, 2013 - Happy Easter!

 Riley working the parallel bars in gymnastics

 Time to dye eggs!

Riley wanted the first egg to be pink

Daddy showed Riley how to make a half-and-half egg. He was unimpressed with the Paas egg dipper and will be engineering a superior tool for next year

On Saturday we had to run errands at Home Depot. I had eggs in my purse and made it into an egg hunt for Riley. This may be the best Mommy idea I've ever had.

Later we saw the Easter Bunny at a local nursery

They had a great egg hunt inside the greenhouse; it felt like it was outside but it was warm!

Micaela watched her big sister and quickly caught on to the concept of an egg hunt

"Look what I found in this plant!" 

 Adding sprinkles to our egg-shaped carrot cake

 The Easter Bunny left baskets at the bottom of the stairs

Thanks Easter Bunny!

Unfortunately, Micaela has reached the temper-tantrum age and was having a bad morning

But she perked up quickly

Especially when we opened her blocks

Too cute

 Girls ready for church

 After church we had an egg hunt Wisconsin style...in the snow!

 Micaela and Mommy

 Micaela preferred to fill her basket with eggs near the house

But Riley would go anywhere the eggs were

 Filling up her basket

Micaela grabbed a few out of the snow

 Finding eggs is fun!

 That Easter Bunny hid eggs all over the entire yard!

 Our colored eggs...

 ...made into little chick deviled eggs

 Another amazing dinner of grilled rack of lamb, Moroccan couscous and marinated grilled vegetables

 After I put a bench on the floor of the car, Riley finally started climbing into her carseat on her own; Micaela probably won't take 4 years to figure this out

 Its spring break and one of Riley's friends invited her over for an adorable tea party

"You want to block the stairs with a gate? Fine, I'll just climb up the outside." 

We had a really great Easter this year. We've had lots of visitors in the last few weeks so the 4 of us decided to stay home and enjoy the time as a family, and I'm glad we did. Micaela was still recovering from her infection (the second antibiotic wasn't as effective as the amoxicillin so she regressed a little) and had hives, so it was nice to be home. We dyed eggs, went on 2 egg hunts on Saturday and made a special egg-shaped carrot cake. On Sunday the girls woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had left baskets of toys and candy at the bottom of the stairs. After a little play time and a nice breakfast we headed to church. We sat in the overflow area which was perfect. Riley happily read her bible while Micaela entertained the people around us, offering them cheerios and saying "Hi!" to everyone. We returned home to find that the silly Easter Bunny had hidden eggs outside in the snow. Apparently the Rantoul Easter Bunny is heartier than the Normal Easter bunny as I expected the hunt to be inside. The girls had a great time, although Micaela was ready to be back inside after rounding up the easily-accessible eggs near the house. Riley had a blast running around the snow and finding all the eggs. 

Chad and I really enjoy making special meals and this one was amazing. Chad grilled a rack of lamb to perfection. He also grilled skewers of vegetables that I had marinated over night. The Moroccan couscous was a great compliment and we finished it all with a carrot cake. Delicious!

Last Easter, not quite a year ago, we had just moved into our new home and were a little (ok, very) shell-shocked. It was so nice to celebrate Easter this year with our little family, feeling settled in the community and easing back into life in the Midwest.