You've Been Egged

With all of the Easter goodies Jaden and Cody have been receiving this holiday, we thought it would be nice to do an activity where our boys were on the "giving" side. A week or so before Easter, Cody and Jaden filled 5 dozen eggs with candy to prep for our "You've Been Egged" project.

Then, on Easter weekend we printed out signs, describing our mission-- Our job was to hide a dozen eggs in the yards of several of our friends. One egg in each home was purposely left empty as a symbol of Jesus' empty tomb. Jaden and Cody helped us brainstorm 5 homes that we would visit, mostly neighbors with young kids. The boys wrote Easter messages on the back of each sign.

Finally, came the really fun part! Cody and Jaden got to sneak around other people's yards (like ninjas, they said!), hiding eggs without our friends noticing that we were there.

Our sneaky ninja-egg hiders were successful. We weren't caught at any home!

It was fun receiving several text messages (and even a video!) from our friends later, sharing their kids' surprise and joy after discovering that they'd been egged. We think this project is a great Easter tradition!

Egg Drop

Our church held a special event on the Saturday before Easter called the Egg Drop. Daddy had a big role in the planning of this event. After the kids and I arrived that morning, we took pictures with a few characters. We tried to include Adley in the photos as well, but these big creatures were a bit too intimidating for her. 

Then we played on the playground equipment for a while, waiting for the Egg Drop to begin.

We met cousins Abby and Ben next to the egg fields and did a few dances with the talented DJ (Uncle Jon) and Daddy leading us.

Daddy gave a brief Easter Gospel message, and then the helicopter arrived!

Even though the fields were already covered with candy-filled eggs, this helicopter came and dropped pounds and pounds of additional candy. We liked the cross that the helicopter displayed to all the gatherers below.

We thought it was funny that Uncle Jon used an umbrella to protect his DJ equipment from all of the falling candy.

After waving good-bye to the helicopter, Uncle Jon had a countdown, and all the kids took off!

Adley grabbed one single egg and was happily occupied for the rest of the time. :)

Jaden and Cody came running back to announce that even though more eggs remained on the field, their Easter buckets were overflowing! I suggested that the boys dump out their eggs and keep gathering, but they were content to stop.

Tearing open all of the taped plastic eggs was quite a task, but the candy prizes were worth it.

Another fun Easter celebration!

Easter Egg-stravaganza

Our family did a variety of activities to celebrate Easter this year. The weekend before Easter, we attended an Easter Egg-stravaganza event sponsored by my parents' neighborhood association. The event is well-organized with a wide variety of kids' games and booths, and it isn't too crowded-- perfect! Right after arriving, Jaden and Cody stood in line to get balloon creations.

My ninja-loving, battle-ready boys asked for swords.

The kind balloon artist insisted that Daddy have a sword too so he could join the battle. :)

Next, we took Adley to the petting zoo, thinking that she would get a kick out of the animals. Even with cousin Abby trying to encourage her, Adley wasn't sure she loved being so close to all these creatures. Adley never cried, but this little scowl on her face never really left either... :)

Playing on the playground equipment was MUCH more up her alley! 

Cody and Jaden also stood in line for cotton candy, which ended up being worth the fairly long wait, as these creations were HUGE!

Of course, the primary reason for attending the Egg-stravaganza was having an opportunity to collect Easter eggs. Because this was Adley's first egg-hunting/gathering experience, we had practiced ahead of time at home-- spreading plastic eggs across our carpet and encouraging her to put them in her bucket. We were curious to see if she'd carry over the knowledge to this event.

Daddy held Adley back until the egg hunt began.

Right away, Adley picked up an egg...

...and then sat and analyzed it for quite some time, trying to figure out how to open it.

Then she walked around the field, not too interested in collecting eggs.

In the end, however, Adley did pick up probably 6 to 8 eggs. Not bad for her first time!

Adley's big brothers were quite helpful in showing Adley how to open the eggs and finding the candy inside.

Now Adley realized the joy behind the hunt! :)

Shortly after the younger kids' egg hunt division, the 5-year-olds were ready to start their hunt.

These experienced egg hunters had a plan!

It cracked me up to see how much they took off when the countdown concluded.

This egg hunt lasted much less time than Adley's age group! These kids knew how to gather eggs quickly! The boys were very pleased with their large pile of eggs and their nice haul of candy.

Thanks to Grammy and Papa for including us in your great neighborhood event. What a wonderful morning!