we may live in the middle of nowhere but we can still get down with good holiday, and easter is no different.

you can catch up on past easter holidays here :


the day before easter our little town holds a hunt for all the kids at the school. this year i forgot the baskets (how do you forget baskets?), but luckily i'm an avid snack packer and we found two snack bags in the car that served the purpose of egg holding. sawyer only cried a little.
we also managed to sneak in a bunny shoot with elli...because let's face it, how many more years is she going to let me strip her down, put bunny ears on her, and then take 736 pictures? i imagine this was the only year this is was going to happen...i'm i'm so glad i snapped a few, because i can't get enough of those boobies and that side-chub. girlfriend has the best love-handles that peak out over the top of her diaper. they are delicious. yes...delicious.
next came easter sunday, but first...

i grew up with several easter traditions - every year in my childhood we would go to mass and then head to the mountains (what i now know was garden valley, but in my youth just seemed like the longest drive everrrrr). all the old ladies (ie. my grandma, her sisters, and usually a few gals she golfed and/or played bridge with) would all bring several dishes and wear the most ridiculous hats. it was tradition. every year we'd climb "the mountain"...which was actually probably more of a hill, but a big one. the easter bunny would hide eggs while we were climbing said hill, and that bunny didn't mess around. you can imagine how many places there are to hide eggs in the woods. and that was that. a day of easter fun that i looked forward to every year. i don't remember anything about my easter basket, what it looked like, what was in it - except for that it served the sole purpose of gathering as many eggs as possible.

this is what i need to remember when creating traditions and memories for my gals. as i was putting their baskets together i just kind of felt sad and bad. i hadn't purchased kaye the watch i thought she'd like. or the umbrellas i knew the girls would both freak out over...for exactly four hours until they were broken. their baskets just kind of looked sad. they each got a little book, a pair of sandals, a small easter candy, a purse, and a pair of sunglasses.

but guess what. they came up the stairs, saw the eggs around the house and the few prizes in their baskets and they were thrilled. beyond thrilled, even.

so really...the only person that felt sad and bad was me. it was as if i was playing a game of one-up with myself. (lame...and i will not be doing that anymore.)

next on the agenda was to get everyone out the door to head to ryan and amy's for the fourth year...and counting. brunch and an aggressive/competitive adult easter egg hunt can't be beat. and it deserves a mention that the company is always wonderful.

amy throws the very best parties and the decor is always on point. or maybe it's her photography? or maybe it's both? it's both.


one thing should be noted - for the first time at one point in the day the boys and girls paired off on their own. kaye and brody played together and sawyer and beckam went to...his room. we'll have to keep our eyes open on this saga in the coming years.

but back to that competitive egg hunt. the kids all have fun and blah blah blah, but it's really about the adults. at one point amy and i pulled a cheerleader stunt and lifted another mom (kath) into the air to hide an egg. you can see my farmer retrieving it below with his sweet hops. please note his left arm.
if you didn't have enough jump you just lifted a kid into a tree...it's all about the teamwork. 

and if you're wondering about that americana mullet-wearing, tatted guy throwing a small child into the air...that's amy's farmer. he's made it a special point to rock some sort of random costume for the second year in a row. we're all holding our breath to see what happens next year. i'm crossing my fingers for sexy bunny.
oh yes...and there was a kid hunt as well.
and if sawyer wasn't crying about not being able to find an egg every two steps...she was actually pretty sweet.
as the party wound down we pulled our typical family move which is - outstay our welcome, linger, don't apologize. in fact, we stayed so long, when i went to snag the girls from the movie there was no complaint about leaving.

clearly...the kids played hard. and there may be a little too much cuddling going on. but at this age it's just so sweet.
and one final shot...because elli. oh elli-girl.

funny side story - i had three easter dresses picked out for her and she wore a floral onesie instead. third kid probs.
i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. what are some of your easter traditions?