easter: 2017

the boys no longer believe in the easter bunny. i think scout stopped believing at age 7. i think it's near impossible, even for the most dedicated and diligent parents to keep up the magic of the easter bunny. I mean a bunny that hides eggs is a tough sell...even for a child who wants to believe.


regardless, finn and scout still enjoy the traditions that we have created over the years. we dye eggs the day before. finn joined me this year, but with less enthusiasm than last year. scout still fully enjoyed it.  the following morning, they waited in their rooms patiently until i called them to come out. this allowed me time to hide any last minute eggs, grab my camera and get that all important cup of coffee. the boys, run to their baskets which are always set on the kitchen counter with nametags on them or something to identify who's is who. like last year, scout's basket was soccer/german themed and finn's was space themed.

this year, scout asked for a 'scavenger hunt' as well as a traditional hunt. auntie jen spoiled him with one a few years ago and he is hooked. i had no energy or the time to come up with a dozen clues off the top of my head, and was thrilled to learn that someone has already done this and shared them on the internet. i happily 'borrowed' them for the boys' eggs. 

in the end, the kids got their scavenger hunt AND did a traditional hunt which led them literally ALL over the house, backyard. kitchen, garage, C's car, plants in the front yard, the library, living room, bathroom (working one and the gutted one), and the treehouse. whew!  it was exhausting to hide them, but they wanted the eggs hidden "really hard" and i took my job seriously. so seriously, there is still a silver egg missing. yes, it's plastic. i learned NOT to hide real eggs when finn was a toddler...that story is for another time. i assured the boys it will turn up eventually.

we had a wonderful day - hiding and finding eggs, eating lots of candy, skyping with grandma and auntie jen and having a picnic on the beach. finn and scout braved the cold water temps and boogie boarded, while c and i sat in the warm sand catching up with each other. it was a perfect spring day - sunny and 78 degrees and with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, i had time to relax, reflect and to appreciate. i have so much to be grateful for and though our family doesn't attend church, on the way back from the beach, we talked about easter being a symbol of so much more than eggs and baskets - it's really about hope and renewal.



easter: 2016

easter came so early this year and it almost caught me by surprise!
i had tucked away a few items for baskets weeks in advance but had
forgotten the date.  c reminded me by pulling out the easter bin from the
garage rafters.  a few days before, i picked up a 3 dozen eggs and dye.
scout and i love eggs, so i wasn't worried what we would do with so many. *grin*
i decided on the same theme as their christmas ornaments this past year
since the boys' interests are still the same.  star trek for finn oliver, and
soccer for scout. once i have a theme, the rest comes easy.


since i don't do a lot of candy in the boys' baskets, i try to be creative
with what i put inside. since aunt jen wasn't with us this year, i used
her easter basket for my biggest boy, filling it with chocolate and wine.
if ice cream didn't melt, i would have included a pint of moose tracks in it.


this year, we celebrated a friend's birthday over easter brunch so we missed
the hut at the hilton. scout participated in the hunt at the tennis club the day
before which seemed to make up for it.  finn opted to stay home, reminding us
that he was 12 and in middle school. he said he would hunt eggs at home. 
whether he enjoys hunting eggs or he knows his mother enjoys hiding and
watching him hunt egg, made him say this, i couldn't say.
{either way, i'll take it}


both boys asked that the eggs be hidden 'really' well, although there was
no creative scavenger hunt like year's past with auntie jen. they received just
ONE clue to find the golden egg. overall, i believe they were satisfied with my
hiding skills. {scout doesn't even believe anymore....a bunny is even a harder sell
than santa}. as typical with scoutie, he had me hide eggs several times around the
house after the initial hunt for fun, and he insisted on hiding eggs for me too.   

easter weekend: 2015

easter kind of snuck up on me this year.

ok, it didn't completely sneak up on me.
i had picked up/ordered a few items for baskets weeks prior,
but i hadn't thought about them since.  spring break plans
had been consuming me.

the morning before easter, c pulled down the baskets from the rafters
in the garage, and left for tennis.  the boys and i boiled and dyed eggs.
scout loved it, but i could tell finn was there to indulge his mother. 

just as we finished, c got home and took the boys and 2 of their friends to
the regional robotics competition {finn's been going since he was in kinder,
and his counting down the years until he's in high school and competing}
while they were watching robots designed by high school students,
the easter bunny was running errands and preparing for the big day.

since theme's make things easier for me, the tween in the house received a
space themed basket which included hard to find mars bars, orbit gun, an alien,
and his copy of the martian returned with the curse words crossed out. *grin*
the 7 year old had a swim/water play themed basket.

later that night, scout had a birthday sleepover at his buddy aidan's home,
a very long day for a 7 year old.  c and finn picked him up early
easter morning which worked out great because the easter bunny, who
they know is mom, visited while they were gone. {the easter bunny is a
tough sell to any child older than 5/6}.

a few photos from our morning:

it was strange not having auntie jen with us.
it's been the first easter in a very long time.
i think she enjoys the festivities as much as we do.
she is a master hider, and comes up with the best clues
for scavenger hunts....i mean THE best!

the easter bunny tried leaving clues in the silver plastic eggs,
but they weren't very clever or challenging enough {per finn}.
aunties are great for many many reasons, and holidays
is when our family feels auntie jen's absence the most.

last year after the initial hunt, she hid eggs over and over for
the scoutmaster. since she was in texas this year, guess who had
this priviledge? one guess. yours truly.

scout announced "i could hunt eggs ALL day",
but after about the 6th hunt, i secretly celebrated when he announced
we should stop because i ran out of new hiding places in the house.
{i kept reminding myself that someday i will miss all this}

easter 2014

i hope you had a wonderful easter!!

to keep the boys getting up before the sun,
they were reminded the night before easter AND a note was left
on their door reminding them to stay in their bedroom until 7:30am.

i had been up late the night before doing what mommies do to make
holidays special for their children. i woke up just before 7:30am to find
auntie jen {who had slept over} entertaining the boys in their bedroom.
this allowed me time to wash my face and grab my camera.

the boys found their baskets on the kitchen counter and did the
traditional hunt in our home. there was no outdoor hunt this year since
there is really no yard to speak of yet {it's strictly weeds}. hopefully by next year.
later that morning, we went to the mission bay hilton for their annual hunt.

on the way home, finn shared that was his last year hunting eggs
at the hilton because he was getting older and that it was really for
'little kids'.  i had noticed that but wanted him to stop when he was ready.
with concern, scout asked if it was HIS last year. i responded "absolutely not.
you are only 6. you have a few more years left".  he was very happy to hear this.
finn followed with he would still hunt eggs at home...until he was probably 12.
a few photos of our morning.

it was a beautiful day.  the boys spent the afternoon swimming
and helping christopher work on building a platform for their
zip line.  i made a simple thanksgiving meal which we ended up
eating outside around the pool. later, our neighbors stopped  by
to relax and lounge poolside with us.

auntie jen didn't get to relax as much as she might have wanted.
her nephew begged her to hide plastic eggs all over the house for
him to find again and again. she outdid herself when he asked
for a 'treasure hunt'. she wrote cute sayings and sent him on a
hunt all over the house {literally}. he LOVED it!

i recorded it with c's phone.  if you have 10 minutes to spare,
you can watch the entire hunt here.  *grin*

easter 2013: the beach

the day couldn't have been nicer.
it was sunny and in the high 70s and the beach was calling us.

we were desperate for the boys to burn off all the sugar they
had eaten, and i was craving sun on my skin and sand in my toes.

we spent all afternoon at law street here in pacific beach.
finn surfed the entire time...not coming out of the water once.
it took me a while but i finally caught him riding a wave, but I did.
he was SO happy and i was SO happy for him!
{this was my first time seeing him surfing}.

scoutie wasn't in as long because he got cold.
he can't quite paddle into waves yet {c pushes his board into them},
so his 'engine' isn't working quite as hard as finns which makes him
get cold faster.  to stay warm, he runs around chasing seagulls and
whatever else he can do to entertain himself.
{i was kickin' myself for not bringing one of his magic treehouse books}

scout isn't a fan of having his photo taken so when i get lucky and can
sneak a photo of him, candid and uninhibited, it's a wonderful thing!
only then can i capture him in all his carefree cuteness.
{i snapped this when he was chasing a bird that had landed behind me}

when i wasn't standing in 65 degree water cheering on my little surfer boys,
i was sitting on a towel in the sand soaking up the sunshine. this was my view.
it was truly a little piece of heaven.

since we don't belong to a church,
i thought it was important to take a few minutes later in the afternoon
to explain to the boys why easter sunday is such a special holiday in the christian faith.
i did this as simply as i could - starting with good friday {jesus' crucifixion} and
moved to easter sunday {jesus' resurrection}.

i didn't go into much detail, but finn sat and listened intently.
when i was done he said "that's a pretty interesting story" and left it at that.
i did too. the goal was for him to get a basic understanding of easter,
and that it symbolizes much more than easter baskets and egg hunting.

mission accomplished.

easter 2013: the hunt

i hope you and yours had a wonderful easter!

i was up before the crack of dawn doing what moms do
to make their children's holidays special. the boys were up
at the crack of dawn {literally} ready to hunt eggs.

you'd have thought it was christmas seeing how excited they were.

i made sure christopher was halfway awake before i
let the boys loose, but not before grabbing my camera.

i had two 'empty' baskets standing by for the boys to use for their hunt.
this year i took video with my phone and only snapped one photo
of the indoor hunt. the easter bunny hid creatively this year,
almost too well {one egg is unaccounted for}

later that morning, auntie jen came over and surprised us with some
goodies and super sweet cards. she helped scoutie plant some herbs in
the little clay pot he received from the easter bunny.
{he loves to grow things}

a few hours later, we headed to the hilton mission bay for an outdoor hunt

  

 

scoutie loved the fact that he was bigger this year and really
able to get to get to the eggs faster than years before.
he assured me that if toddlers or preschoolers were going after
the same egg, he would "let them get it because they were little".

so this was our easter morning.
all this fun took place before 11am,
the rest of the day was spent at the beach.
{tomorrow's post}

dying eggs

it's spring break for the boys and they've been
with c for the past week and will be for the upcoming week as well.

he set up playdates for both boys in the mornings,
and they spent their afternoons at the beach.
c was determined to get both the boys up on surfboards.
{he was successful}

last friday, scoutie had a playdate at his buddy logan's home.
his mom sent me this sweet photo of thee boys dying eggs.

scout loves art projects so he was all for dying eggs again the next day.
finn told me he'd rather continue building his lego mindstorm 'color sorter'
{i'll have to get a clip on video and post soon}. it's pretty cool.
he joined us for a little while and then went back to work/play.

easter 2012

happy easter everyone
and
happy birthday to my brother todd!

before i hit the sack,
i promised myself i'd organize the photos i took this weekend,
send off to our friend jay {who just left an hour ago}, and do a quick post.

it's been a very long day - started at 6:15 am
the boys woke up even before the planes started taking off. 

one would have thought it was christmas morning around here.
*grumbling*

as our little tradition goes,
the boys found their easter baskets sitting on the dining table.

they picked through them quickly and were off to hunt eggs through the house.
finding the golden egg is one of the highlights in their day because
this egg is always hidden so well.  the easter bunny always hides 2 eggs
{she knows the importance of not creating even more competition}

somehow our guest jay slept through all the commotion
he said he didn't hear a word.

by 8:30am, we were at our neighborhood cafe for a yummy breakfast.
from there we headed to the hilton for their annual egg hunt.
boys need to run and outdoor hunts allow for this
{auntie j even stopped by to say hi which was a treat}

the rest of the day was a bunch of random fun:
skateboarding {j can still pull off an ollie},
bottle rocket launching, piano playing, competitive checkers,
a big turkey dinner, and finn showing and sharing with jay,
every page in his submarine journal...i mean every page.
{jay was so patient..and even genuinely interested}

so that was our easter in a nutshell.  a few photos:

jay brockman, angela, christopher
finn and scout {easter 2012}

easter 2011

the night before the bunny arrived,
this momma was up late preparing for her arrival.

this year i was behind the eight ball,
pulling the baskets from storage the day before
c actually pulled the baskets down. (thx love)

after a morning run and afternoon naps by a few,
we were ready to get down to business.
i baked cupcakes, auntie jen made rice krispy treats,
we all took part in making jello eggs from plastic molds,
and the little guys and the two ladies in the house dyed eggs.

this year scoutie was given the go to fully participate in the egg dying.
still, he  insisted on putting stickers on several of them and our arms.

easter morning was a whirlwind.
the boys slept until almost 8am (extremely rare but so nice).
we had an egg hunt to get to by 10am, but first we needed fuel.
cooking was not what i had in mind, so we headed to our neighborhood cafe
which i admit has become a weekend routine of mine lately.



i assure you my 3 yr old isn't drinking coffee

after breakfast, it was time to hunt eggs

and since we don't have a true backyard right now,
we had plans to head to the mission bay hilton for their annual egg hunt.
as members, we can participate in all the hotel's activities.

but first things first.
we made a quick stop at the house so the boys could change
out of their flip flops into tennis shoes so they get "better traction" during the hunt. 
(these are the ages when the fun really begins). 

some photo highlights:

it was a fun filled day for all of us.
i hope your easter was special too.

nanny update: after interviews with 8 young woman (and almost one young man)
we found a gal named renae, a graduating senior from point loma nazarene university.

after she told finn she loves science (she is a biochem major),
she quickly moved to the very top of his list.
scoutie appreciated that she likes to swim and ride bikes,
which are two of his favorite activities.
not only is she outgoing and smart, she is also an athlete!
we learned she was on on the swim and volleyball team.

i know what you are thinking...she almost seems too good to be true.
i think so too, but i'm crossing my fingers she will work out.
her start date isn't until June 16th.