Easter 2012

This year for Easter, we opted to have the family come over instead of traveling, as we had spent almost every weekend in March driving to and from St. Louis. Although it meant more work for us, it was so nice not to have to go anywhere!

Ashley, Mikael and Jen stayed at our house, and my parents stayed at a nearby hotel. On Easter Sunday, everyone was up and over early to enjoy a quick bite and watch Joseph discover his Easter basket and the eggs left by the Easter bunny in the front yard.

The bunny knew that Joseph was a big fan of trains, so this year he got a musical caboose for his train table, a book about trains, and of course candy. The bunny also brought Joseph a baby doll to help him figure out this whole "baby sister" thing. :)

 Papa showing Joseph how to open the eggs in his basket to find the candy, and reading his new book to him before his egg hunt.

It was a little chilly, so we layered Joseph up and let him hunt eggs in his pjs before changing into his Easter outfit. He only wanted to hunt with Papa, so we all watched.

Leading Papa around the yard; Joseph did not want to let go of his hand, which made picking the eggs up a little challenging.

It didn't take long before Joseph filled his basket, but he wanted to keep going.

Eventually, the eggs were falling out of the basket, so Papa showed Joseph another safe storage place... his coat pocket! Joseph thought that was great fun, and Papa enjoyed pulling the eggs back out and dropping them when Joseph wasn't looking so the hunt could continue on longer. Joseph never caught on to where all the new eggs were coming from!

After church, we met Mom and Gary at our house for Easter brunch. I love the auto start and timer feature on our oven - I was able to get everything ready before we left, set the functions, and came home from church to having everything hot and ready to eat!

The weather was beautiful, so we set up another table on the porch, opened the french doors wide, and ate in both the porch and dining room. Joseph had lots of fun playing with his best four legged friend after eating and running around the yard.

He still could (and does) spend hours just following her around the yard, copying her every move. It's particularly cute when she plops down, and he'll do the same, looking to her for guidance for their next move. It's a good thing he hasn't been interested in chewing on a bone!

 Nana and Papa brought Joseph a new bubble mower, which he loves! Our yard is a little uneven for the bubbles to work consistently, but he doesn't mind and pushes it around all the time.

After Joseph went down for his nap, everyone packed up and headed home. Joe and I also managed to sneak in a little nap and relax, which was wonderful!