Easter weekend lasted forever and also passed quickly at the same time; eerily similar to the feeling of the baby and toddler ages. The preschool had a Friday and Monday closure, meaning an automatic four day weekend for us and it’s been a while since we’ve had one.

With Friday as my rotation day off, I took the kiddos for the day while Craig went into the office. Morning went by pretty uneventfully and so I decided optimistically to take the girls to Cabellas to see the Easter bunny, by myself.

Knowing how easily events in public can turn from just fine to disastrous with public embarrassment, I opted to confine all three into the shopping cart. Thank goodness for this planning, since my time slot reservation was shared with a handful of other folks (and dogs) that managed to get in before us. The girls did surprisingly well for the twenty-minute wait, watching a screaming baby get handed to the bunny and a couple dressed up dogs and kiddos smile for theirs.

Everyone was far more intrigued with the pink and white “creepy” bunny than horrified of it, which is more than I can say for a few other kids waiting with us. Once our names were called, the girls ran right up to this creepy smiling creature and sat down on the bench full of questions. Unlike previous years, the glass partition didn’t ruin the fun and Harper even snuggled up next to it. The first camera click was the photo we kept- one and done! Afterwards everyone received an Easter egg with small goodies from the basket and a hug from the bunny. All things considered, it went pretty well and everyone was excited to see the picture and devour their treats.

We ventured to the new indoor playground after our bunny visit and met up with Megan and the boys. I now know with full certainty that none of them are afraid of heights and did not inherit that trait from me! Harper continues to have no fear and scaled everything possible, only asking for help once with concerns for falling as she put her hanging skills to the test. Reagan and Emerie were a bit more laid back, but still willing to climb the ropes to the top. I would have loved this playground when the girls were too small to climb much; last year it would have terrified me that they’d fall.

The girls were blessed with two Easter egg hunts over the weekend, once with the boys and one the morning of. Prior planning on plastic egg selection meant each of the five kiddos had to find only their own color and not hoard anything seen; overall they did quite well on the concept. Last year it would not have happened nearly as well.

It was very cute to witness them pointing out to their siblings and friends when a color that wasn’t theirs was spotted. Emerie seemed especially adept to this and went as far as delivering those colors to the right person and excitedly tracking them down; Reagan mostly ignored her non colors and Harper tried to sneak some (a lot) into her own basket.

To avoid major sugar highs I filled eggs with a fruit snack, gummy bear or those melty toddler snacks the girls used to eat back in the day! Who knew those would be quite the hit but also prize worthy. I’m pretty sure they would have been just as excited if I filled them with berries and cucumbers, that that seemed overly messy. Easter baskets arrived on their beds later in the day and included tie dye llamas, a chocolate bunny, magnifying glasses and a couple chocolate bites.

Sunday’s egg hunt was another success although a bit more difficult to pull off unnoticed. The girls knew the Easter bunny was somewhere “in the neighborhood” and on the lookout for eggs. I managed to fill the front yard with pink/purple/teal eggs while everyone ate breakfast with the curtains closed. The backyard was more difficult. Craig went upstairs to quickly shower for the day while the girls finished up food and got dressed. I managed to toss a couple eggs out by the climber without any witnesses and after a few minutes, Emerie shrieked in excitement and brought her sisters out to look. In that moment I tossed a couple on the back deck. This cycle was repeated a couple times, each time sending them off on a new distraction while I raced to grab three eggs from the counter and toss them out where “the bunny just was!” This is likely the last year that ploy will be successful without them figuring me out, and it was really fun. At some point Emerie noticed the front yard eggs and all three made it down the front stairs before I noticed. Needless to say, the egg hunt was quite successful and everyone had fun, with the only disappointment relating to the lack of seeing the bunny poop all over our yard.

So for now the “bunny poop” is cleaned up in the yard and at some point they will get to eat their chocolate bunnies.

❤