Happy Easter!

We've had a busy month celebrating Vera's birthday and running around to our many Easter parties.  It was fun to see everyone, and enjoy some nice weather outside. 

We started our Easter celebrations a week before.  My mom had a small gathering to celebrate Easter and Vera's birthday on a Friday evening.  This was the first of 4 egg hunts for Vera.  She knew exactly what to do. 

An Easter basket that belonged to one of Vera's aunts or uncles from circa 1985.

Vera showing Papaw all of her eggs.  Papaw showed her what was inside the eggs...

...and both kids immediately started chowing down on the sweets.  Vera was also excited to discover some coins for her piggy bank inside the eggs.

Grandma and Aunt Karen had some birthday surprises for Vera.

2 new board games from Grandma and Grandpa!

And a bubble gun and some cute clothes from godmother Karen.

Then grandma brought out these huge Easter basket surprises for the two little ones.  As you can see, they were filled with lots of awesome surprises.

Mandy and Jeff weren't too sure about Blake having his own bat and ball.  Everyone else thought it was pretty cute.  Blake, of course, loved it and knew just what to do with it.

They both had these pinwheels in their baskets.  Vera was so excited about this.  She calls it a windmill.

There were also bubbles, candy, a bucket, glow sticks, and lots of other cool things that I can't remember.

On Palm Sunday, we traveled to Loramie to get together with the Bertke Family.  It was nice to see everyone, and Vera enjoyed another small egg hunt with Blake.  I had to snatch these pics from my mom because I didn't take any. 

Mark took a special interest in Vera and played with her a lot.  She loved it--especially when it came to using all 6' 4" of him to help with finding eggs in high places.

On Holy Saturday, I took Vera to the egg hunt in town.  She found 16 eggs filled with 10 cents each.  She was happy to fill her piggy bank with 16 more coins.

Vera was so excited to run into her buddy "Kar-yee."  I can't believe that these girls remember each other.  Karly and Vera haven't played together at Patty's house in nearly a year!

Instead of running straight, Vera ran in a diagonal line and I had trouble taking pictures among her zig-zagging through other 3 & 4 year-olds.

But she was in a hurry to get as many eggs as she could!

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day.  Easter Bunny stopped by our house while we were sleeping.  Vera woke to find eggs scattered around our living room (another egg hunt?) and a table filled with surprises.

Easter Bunny brought our first pet, a Beta fish.  Vera decided to name her Ruby.  He also brought bubbles, (They don't last long around here!) and two sets of cool "hair prettys."

The 8am candy-eating led to a sugar-high at church a few hours later.

After church, we went to Mike and Rosie's for our final Easter party and egg hunt. 

Grammy and Papa gave the girls baskets filled with more treats.  Among the nice gifts was an outfit, candy, sidewalk chalk, a bat and ball, and a wind-up chicken that laid jelly beans. 

Inside the eggs were "doyers" for the piggy bank too.

The wind-up chicken was definitely a hit for Vera.

Grammy's egg hunt had rules.  Here she is telling them all about it.

Vera's task was to only find yellow and green eggs.  Bailey was only allowed to collect the pink and purple ones.

 

As we suspected, there were more treats inside the eggs.  Fruit snacks and money.

On Easter evening, after some house chores and a nap for Vera, we decided to color eggs.  Vera didn't really understand what we were going to do.  Adam did a good job explaining it to her, and she watched very carefully as we set everything up.  We really enjoyed her excitement as she watched the eggs change color.

When the eggs were dry, we decorated them with sticker faces.  Vera had fun picking funny faces for the eggs.

The final product turned out well.  The eggs didn't last long--Vera loves hard-boiled eggs.

We had a very blessed Easter.  Vera and her dad enjoyed lots of quality time together while he was off work.  It was so nice to enjoy family time and wonderful weather!