Egg Hunts and Elephants

One of my favorite things about the Easter season is Easter egg hunts.

(I am not saying that I have forgotten the meaning of this season.  Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and we are so incredibly blessed to have had him die for our transgressions!  I'm simply saying I like a little healthy competition...)

Last year was the first time that Gracie was old enough to even begin to consider hunting eggs, so we took her to our church Easter egg hunt.  Ummm, yeah....She picked up the first egg she saw, opened it, and smeared the chocolate she found inside all over her brand new dress and coat.  (And, I promptly had a small stroke.)  Not the most successful attempt, but there's always next year.

Fast forward to "next year..."

This past Saturday, Chad had Spring practice, so I decided to take both kids to the City of Greer egg hunt

 by myself.

I know, I know, I can hear you laughing from here...I have what Chad calls a "lack of foresight." 

I like to call it "optimism."

Anyways, it wasn't all bad, but I certainly won't be doing that again.  Ever.

We managed to survive with only a few brief temper tantrums and a few extra layers of clothing because it was windy.  The hunt was held at the city park and there were all types of fun things for kiddos to do. 

Gracie especially loved the big moon bouncer, the bubbles, and, of course, the playground.

Jack hung out in his stroller in an attempt to avoid the gale force winds.

He was a whole lot warmer than the rest of us!

Here are a few pictures I managed to take...

We even met up with our friends Miss Andrea and Aislin.

We were happy to get to see them because they will be moving to Michigan soon!

Where are the eggs, you ask?

I did not get any pictures of the actual egg hunt.

It lasted approximately 14 seconds, and (despite our best efforts to practice the night before) Gracie only managed to pick up 6 eggs before the bigger kids snatched the rest. 

 Oh well, there's always next year...

Saturday night, Mom and Dad came to eat dinner with us on their way home from a Special Olympics swim meet in Anderson.  Dad is the state team's coach this year, and we are super proud of him!

Gracie was very excited to see Grammy and Papa!

She played outside with Grammy...

And picked a flower (the only one growing in the entire yard) for Papa...

And she even got to play with her new turtle sandbox that they brought the kids for Easter...

After a fabulous dinner (which my fabulous hubby cooked!), we spent some time hanging out, watching basketball, and playing dress up...

Poor fella didn't know what hit him! 

I guess that's the hand your dealt when you're the baby brother.

I would know, I used to torture my baby brothers too :o)

We had a lazy Sunday, and Gracie was lucky enough to go to the Shriner's circus with Mimi!

She loved seeing the elephants, bears, and horseys.

She even got to ride one!

She had a blast and is still telling me all about it today.

Thank you to all our wonderful parents who helped make this weekend a great one for us and the kids!

We love you, and we're so thankful that you love us so much too!

Naptime!