Happy Easter!

Sydney had a wonderful Easter. She went the annual Easter egg hunt at the church I grew up in, which was a really neat experience for us both. It was really my mother's idea, and I'm so glad she talked me in to driving "all" the way out there (it was just over a half hour drive from where we were staying). I remember being the older kid at the church lock-in getting the eggs ready for the little kids and now Sydney is the little kid. Her cousins were also there, and it was fun to see them interacting with her. There were games (duck, duck, goose) which Sydney thought was hilarious. She ran amuck through the circle and then dove to the ground 'cause that's what the big kids were doing. Then there were crafts, and Sydney completed her first craft -- a foam cross with foam stickers that 1) she could not tear and 2) she could stick on herself. So it really was a craft that even a toddler could do. After all of that, the egg hunt started.

The hunt went well in the sense that Sydney had a great time, not that she found that many eggs. After the first four eggs, she realized that the plastic eggs would open and proceeded to gather up bits of dirt, gravel, and grass to put in the eggs (the candy originally put in the eggs by teenagers was the gum, taffy, and chocolate with nuts variety so we donated those to her older cousin's baskets). The tradition at the church is for the children to empty the eggs of the candy and then return the eggs for next years hunt (just for the record, back in my day we actually decorated real eggs with egg dye and the children got the keep the eggs, but I guess you have the change with the times and all). So, while all of the other children were giving back their eggs, Sydney was the last one out, still filling her eggs with whatever she could find. What a marvelous time!

Later that Saturday afternoon, we went over to Nana's house and Sydney hunted for eggs again (yes, for those of you who need to know, she did get to keep these eggs). Sydney and her grandma and great grandmother had a grand time. Jeremy's mother spent the hunt on the grass with Sydney playing with the eggs, looking for the goodies (goldfish, fruit loops, and corn pops) in each egg, and then hiding eggs all over again.

Back home on Sunday, we went to our church for the Easter service where they had more eggs for Sydney to hunt for and then back at home we gave Sydney her Easter basket which had Little People from Jeremy and me, and some other Little People from my mother. I also got her a board book of the Easter story and a small board book about Peter Cottontail. After Sydney's nap, Jeremy and I had planned on doing an egg hunt at the house, but honestly, she had already hunted for eggs three times, and we felt that she had enough, so we decided getting the Easter basket and having both of her parents sitting on the floor playing Little People with her was a treat in and of itself.

She still has the big plastic eggs my mother bought for her and one of her spare baskets out so that she can continue to "play" egg hunt, which she has enjoyed. I think this was the first holiday that she really started to get into and it was just too much fun. I can't wait for this next Christmas!

Hunting eggs at Nana's house.

Easter craft

Opening up the eggs.

Collecting important things, like eggs and dirt.

Last one in... NOT a rotten egg.

And finally, a video I took of the whole loading the eggs up with gravel 'cause you have to see it to appreciate how darn cute it was. Happy Easter!