Easter Weekend--Activities Galore!!!

While our household will always focus on the "Reason for the Easter Season" as being pretty much the most important day ever for celebrating Christ's death, burial, & resurrection...we also aren't naive enough to think that there won't be loads of Easter activities for Elyse to participate in. 

 

And even at two years old...it's already begun! 

 

We started off Easter Saturday with plans to dye eggs in the privacy of our own home...but as Hubby went outside to do some yardwork he was informed of a fun little Easter Egg-stravaganza that had been planned by a few of our next door neighbors.  Elyse is definitely one of the youngest kids in our little 7-8 home immediate neighbor group...but man, you would never know it!  These kids have adopted her and play with her just like she's one of them...trust me, I'm going to miss these kids and these families more than words can say when we move away in a few short weeks! 

 

Anyway...the Easter Egg-stravaganza was a series of tasks to complete & fun games to play.  Elyse was in with the group of younger kids and she kept right up...all the way to the end when cupcakes, candy, & juice boxes were served! 

Next up on the Saturday agenda was our church's first annual Community Easter Egg Hunt.  They normally do an egg hunt between services on Sunday morning, but in the hopes of attracting some neighborhood kiddos and also hoping to keep the focus of Sunday on the true reason for Easter, they moved it to Saturday afternoon and made it a much bigger deal!  Elyse was still a little unsure about all the people, but she quickly got the hang of it! 

And finally, after the egg hunt we headed down to Hubby's sister's house to celebrate Easter with his family.  We had a quick easy dinner & the kiddos dyed eggs using the food coloring/shaving cream method that has been circulating around Pinterest.  Of course I failed to get a picture of the eggs but they turned out really neat...and much less opportunity for mess as compared to bowls full of sloppy, messy, dye.  The kiddos also got to open their Easter baskets from Mamaw & Pappy & we got some fabulous summertime staples...swimsuits, jammies, sunglasses, flipflops, and a fun water gun! 

After all the running around on Saturday, Sunday arrived with more activities and more Easter fun...but more importantly, it was time to celebrate Christ's miraculous resurrection.  I can't help but start humming..."Up from the grave he arose!" Everytime I even think about Easter morning! 

 

We went with some summer staples for Elyse as well...sidewalk chalk, a new Monsters toothbrush, sunglasses, her first pair of Saltwater Sandals (which I LOVE!!), and a copy of the Jesus Storybook Bible for her growing Bible collection.  She was pretty much less than excited about the entire basket and was just pouty that we couldn't go use her sidewalk chalk immediately.  However I thankfully appeased her slightly by opening the carrot shaped bag of Reese's Pieces and offering her a few as a mid-morning snack! 

What's Easter without breakfast in your bunny robe?!?

My mom made her precious Easter dress & bow and I couldn't have been more pleased.  Even if she did protest putting it on, she certainly looked so precious once she was all dolled up!  And even better, she seemed cooperative for a few photos before heading out to church. 

After church we headed down to my parents' house for the annual Easter gathering with my family.  Elyse was pretty much done being cooperative for a family photo...but she was all about another Easter egg hunt! 

She was ridiculously proud of the fact that she found a few eggs in the trees...and thought she really needed to tell the story over and over again to her cousin Harper! 

After the crowd left, Elyse got her Easter basket from my parents which included a Frozen wand, a new pair of Toms, a little candy, and some new bubbles.  Of course...since she's a girl after my own heart, she went straight for the foil-wrapped chocolate bunny, unwrapped it herself and started digging in.  That's my girl! 

It was an incredible Easter weekend with beautiful weather for such a beautiful holiday.  I hope in the years to come that we are able to properly remind Elyse of the importance of Easter & what it means to our family...more so than just all the commercial hoopla around the Easter bunny, Easter eggs, and candy.