He AWIVE!

Easter was so much fun. I think I really like being the Easter bunny. I have always said that Easter is my favorite holiday. Other than the fact that it is the time of year that we remember that our Savior overcame death and sin for us, it is a no pressure holiday... or at least less pressure than Christmas.

It was extra fun because Nathan knew what was happening this year. I hoarded all of the books on Easter from the library and we have been reading about it for weeks. Little N knows everything there is to know about the Easter bunny. He also knows the Easter story from beginning to end... in toddler speak. His story goes a little like this.

"The people wave branches and say, "Hosanna!". Jesus prays for people on their head and makes them all better. (At the temple) Jesus says, "Go away!". He tells the people about Heavenly Father. He eats the bread and water with his 12 friends. (then we count the 12 friends) It is the sacrament. We eat the bread and water at church, just like Jesus. Jesus says a special prayer.  the Atonement. An angle helps him. It is a hard prayer. His friends are asleep. A guy gives Jesus a mean kiss. Bad people hurt Jesus. It is so sad. He dies. His friends are so sad. They cry. Jesus goes in the tomb. His friends come to the tomb. The angle says, "He is not here, he is risen." He's alive! Everyone is so happy!"

During the sacrament at church little N and I will talk about the bread and water... and that we get to eat it just like Jesus did. I show him pictures from LDS tools on my phone. Usually little N will shout out phrases like, "he have 12 friends? He awive! I'm so happy".... and I say, "shhh"... and he says, "No. I do not want to shhh. Don't say that mommy!" He doesn't really know how to whisper, but the people around us don't seem too offended... and there isn't much I can do about it right now if they are.


This was little N's first Easter, two years ago. His little friend in the middle moved when his daddy finished Pharmacy school. Little M, on the right, is still here... and he is one of little Ns favorite play mates.

We got to watch little M and his baby brother while their parents went out on Good Friday. In the first photo, little M is 4 months old, and our little N is 5 months old. They are both so big now. Our little N is such a chatter box and our friend, Little M, climbs, jumps, and runs like you wouldn't believe. He pretends to converse in cute little grunts. My Little N likes to act crazy silly to get a laugh out of his friend. He shakes his head and runs around in circles, and Little M explodes in hearty toddler laugh. They also like jumping and running through the house together.

So busy... and having so much fun. It was difficult to get a good shot of them.

Saturday morning, before Easter, we went to an Easter egg hunt at Lauritzen Gardens. I envisioned little N in his Sunday best searching for eggs amongst the tulips and lilies. That isn't exactly how it turned out. He refused his Sunday best, and I didn't really fight him on it... and the gardens are not exactly in bloom. It was still fun, and hey, now I have a year pass... so we will be going over and over and over again when the blossoms are in full bloom. 

Last year he didn't get Easter at all. This year he did. He ran around throwing eggs in his basket... He still didn't know about the was candy inside, but he knew that he wanted eggs. They had a 6-8 egg limit at the Gardens. So, I followed him around encouraging him to gather eggs and chucked eggs out of his basket as quickly as he filled it. We threw the candy away... so for now it is all about the thrill of the hunt.

One of the only plants in bloom... so we pretended not to pose in front of it for this photo. 

My little bunny

During conference we colored these eggs for our Easter Egg Tree. I sent a picture of the tree to my siblings Easter morning. My sister wrote back, "Looks like a lot of work." We decorated the tree the night before as a family. It was lots of fun and less work than decorating the Christmas tree. I hope to always have a tree that we can decorate as our Easter Tree. Of course, I can't expect to replace our magnolia. I will miss it when we move on next year. 

Decorating our Magnolia Easter Tree. 

My favorite egg

Nubby snuggles

a bossy boy

The Easter Tree on Sunday morning. It was such a bright beautiful day. A perfect day for Easter. We ate bunny pancakes before going outside. Little N didn't get that the basket was full of toys for him. He was enjoying breakfast, so it took a bit of coaxing to get him outside. In the meantime, his chocolate bunnies became deformed  in the morning sun.  Next year we will store them in the fridge until it is "huntin" time. 

Every boy needs a good huntin dog.

The play-dough and stickers from his basket kept little N entertained during General Conference. I think we will celebrate Easter on Conference Sunday every year. 

This is the Magnolia tree today (Wednesday, April 8), It is misty and the wind is blowing blossoms to the ground. I wonder how long it will take until they are all gone.