Easter Basket Hunt & Other Shenanigans...captured in 671 photos

There's a tradition around these parts to get one's Easter basket AFTER a rather involved scavenger hunt of  7 - 8 complicated 'clues' hidden throughout the rooms and yard at my parent's house. We used to all cluster, packed together, in the bathroom with the door shut, while my dad hid the clues. Reviving the tradition, starting last year, for Jackson (and now Hope) has been one of the joys of moving back to Eugene. It took all of us (well -- Dad, Annie, and I) emphatically waving our arms, steering, cajoling, and dropping hint after hint to get Jack to actually follow his little trail of notes, but he did find them one by one. Annie and Dad really set the whole thing up, while my main contribution was becoming hysterical / saving Jack from dying of bee stings in the front yard by scrambling around screaming, "STAY AWAY FROM THE BEES STAY AWAY FROM THE BEES WHY ARE ALL THE NOTES BY THE BEES????" But Aunt Annie calmly guided Jack around the yard, helping him discover his clues, and finally HIS BASKET.

One thing I like about parenthood is that you can get your kid all excited about a basket full of eggs because they don't really know what's up at all. Like, he couldn't sleep the night before because of eggs.

This clue is hung up on the clothes line.

What does this note say? Dad?

Jack's Basket.

Hope's basket. She didn't get any clues because she's a baby and she wouldn't have gotten it.

What???? The kitty is climbing the fridge. Easter is crazy!!!

The chocolate bunny is what it all really comes down to for Jack.

My favorite part of the day was watching Hope BECOME AWARE of Jack's basket. She got this sneaky look in her eye and I was like, this girl is no amateur. She's on a mission. Done deal.

I thought she was too young to get the concept of the basket and treats and all the commotion of a holiday but she went for it. She was like, yep I get it IT'S PARTY TIME. Hope was totally focused during every part of the day. I'm scared for next year.

Why is there no candy in this egg? WHY IS THERE NO CANDY IN THIS EGG???

See the focus? She's all, Ohhh there's candy in HIS EGG. That's it, not cool mom. Not cool.

But the good thing about 10 month olds is that they get distracted by like, chair legs, and then you're off the hook.

GOOD BIG BROTHER SHARES HIS CHOCOLATE.

My mom had these cool fancy eggs. Beautiful.

I had to capture one of these classic holiday moments. Brent trying to read the paper and Jack all, "I'm bored, I'm on a sugar high, I need 10 more baskets...."

Hope being a little angel princess baby cutie pie.

These little eggs came courtesy of Gramma Whittaker, and here Hope is sharing one with Hol'me. Pretty aggressively.

I was really proud of myself for matching my necklace to my cardigan. And for not wearing black on Easter, which I normally do because I forget it's spring since it's normally raining.

After the Easter baskets, we went out to Pleasant Hill for dinner at Letha & Eric's house. Hope was all YAY MORE EASTER!!

Hope & Gramma Whittaker

Jack getting ready to FIND MORE EGGS.

He was so cute in his new shirt from Aunt Teresa. I had to take a zillion pics of the day because their smiles and excitement for the day got me carried away. I JUST COULDN'T HELP MYSELF THE CUTENESS WAS TOO MUCH.

The end.

A Story for Jack

Jack, here's a story about a boy who wouldn't listen to his mommy:

One day, there was a little boy, and he didn't always listen to his mommy. He liked to play and laugh and bounce and scream and shout and hide behind covers and throw toys on the ground.

His mommy said, "Please don't do this and please don't do that. Just be a good boy and listen to mommy."

But the little boy was too busy having all his fun. He just didn't have time to listen.

So his mommy said, "Alright, that's it. I'll stomp my feet and clap my hands and turn your clothes to blue."

And all the next day, the little boy's clothes stayed blue. He laughed and laughed and said, "Mommy, that's no problem for me. I love the color blue! You can turn my shirt and hat and socks and shoes and even my pants as blue as blue can be. I can be blue all day long, it's really no problem for me!"

So his mommy said, "Alright, that's it, tomorrow you will see -- I'm turning all your clothes to green and when you wake up in the morning, you will see just what I mean!"

And when he woke up, sure enough, his pajamas had turned as green as peas and his laid out clothes looked like lima beans! He laughed and laughed and said, "Mommy, look at what you did! Everything is super green, and that's my favorite color! I'll wear my green to school today and tell my friends that you are such a silly mother! And it doesn't make me need to listen, because I'm not scared of green!"

His mommy thought and thought and thought, and said, "Hmm...I know just what you mean. But if you don't listen soon I'll have to turn ALL your clothes to yellow!"

She waved her arms, and he looked down - his coat and gloves were yellower than summer! He stomped his feet and raised his hand, and said "I have a question, please."

"Yes, my sweetie, I'd love to know - what is on your mind?"

"I just don't understand why you turn my clothes to blue and green and yellow."

His mommy laughed and gave his nose a kiss. "I didn't think that making clothes a very certain color would make you sad or worried into listening. I turned them blue and green and yellow to show you something special. I can make your world full of many colors, I'd love to show you what fun we'll have, if even for a minute, you'll just stop to listen."

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Today

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 

Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Christmas Tree Time

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Last Year: 2011. We were still in Oregon City. Jack was little. The tree was little (although we did get a slightly bigger one than the one in the picture below). And SOMEBODY was missing.

 

I can't believe how far we've come in one year! Happy Holidays!