The Happiest Easter

What a wonderful Easter weekend! It turned out to be really pleasant weather, and the sun was shining the whole time. We took a little visit to see the Easter Bunny on Friday afternoon. Bobby and Viv were a tad skeptical at first, but Vivi ended up warming up to him. 

Make him buy you dinner first.

 We had our pictures made and then went to play on the playground at the shopping center where we ate dinner. Somehow between playing and dinner, we lost our Easter Bunny picture, so we turned around and went back for round 2. This visit produced one of the most awkward family photos we've ever taken.

I don't even know where to start.

 And afterward, Bobby had to sit on every single one of the 4-wheelers outside of Bass Pro Shop. Why do they do that to parents?

We took the kiddos to the Niceville Easter Egg Hunt Saturday morning. It was so fun seeing all the little kids dressed up in their Easter gear, and some of them took this egg-hunting business pretty seriously. Bobby didn't totally understand the concept at first, but he caught on quickly. Viv was a lot more apathetic about the whole shebang.

Bobby was proud of his swag, and he didn't take kindly to Vivi looting through his basket.

We ended up seeing several friends at the egg hunt. It's so neat that basically the entire town comes out to this giant egg hunt with their kids.

 Vivi is standing up by herself now, and she wants to walk SO bad, but she just hasn't gotten the nerve up to go for it just yet. Plus, I don't know how she's going to carry herself on those tiny little feet.

 Bonus- There was an awesome pit of red clay there for the kids to climb on and ruin their clothes!

Yeah, why not?

 After the hunt, I came home and baked a coconut cake. This was my first time buying organic, brown eggs. I figured I'd step things up and go all out since we're celebrating Jesus. It's the least I could do.

 While I had my back turned frosting the cake, I heard a rustling of sorts coming from the front of the kitchen. I turned around and found my beasties rolling around in and eating paper grass. You can't turn your head for a damn second.

Knocked out her daily serving of fiber and green dye in one fell swoop.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. The kiddos, bedecked in their matching hairbow/bowtie combo, did great in the nursery. And Alex and I, wearing actual real-people clothing, enjoyed the traditional Easter Sunday service. 

 

Then, out of nowhere, The Monster was unleashed on the ride back home. Bobby lost his everloving mind and had an Easter meltdown. Because you can't properly celebrate the Resurrection without one.

From "calm" to "balls-to-the-wall-unhinged" in 6.7 seconds.

Vivi and I were as cool as cucumbers in our Easter finery, but the toddler beast just couldn't bring himself to cooperate for family pictures.  So we did quite a bit of this.

YOU'RE RUINING EVERYTHING!!!!

Bobby finally gained some composure and was a happy boy when he noticed that the Easter Bunny had filled his basket. I really and truly do not understand what goes through the toddler mind. I can't figure out what prompted the meltdown in the first place, or what was making him continue it for so long (probably that we were ignoring him), or why he suddenly--and out of nowhere--decided he was finished. These little people monsters make NO sense.

Oh, everything's okay now.

My family came over for a delicious Easter Lunch. We had tea and lemonade, a pork tenderloin, a big salad, rolls, potato salad, and pineapple casserole. Have you ever had pineapple casserole? My aunt used to bring it to every Easter potluck when I was growing up, and I love it so. It's an interesting combo; you wouldn't think pineapple, cheddar cheese, and Ritz crackers would sound appealing baked together, but it is SO good. I highly recommend it, especially for Spring and Summer get-togethers.

And then for dessert, we cut into this beast of a coconut cake. I have been perfecting my coconut cake recipe for years, and I think I have finally gotten it just right. It is a perfect cake for spring events (it would be an awesome cake to make for Mother's Day!!), so I will be sharing my recipe in a separate post soon!

We had such a lovely Easter, and it was the first one with our family of four. Easter is one of my favorite holidays, and I'm a little sad it's over, but there are so many more fun things to look forward to in the next couple of months! 

I hope y'all all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Have a great week! Stay tuned for some upcoming blog news soon!

Keep on keepin' on!

-Annette