A Northern Belle in Boots: Easter Season 2016

This Easter Season was a bit crazy. Easter came really early this year, just a week and a half after St. Patrick's Day, so it felt like it was sneaking around a corner and then shouting Boo! at me. I wasn't ready. I had, however, been Outfit Ready since January when we were all holed up due to sickness. (Thanks, Carters and Old Navy, for your free shipping!) I ran out to get treats for the baskets, ordered Carson's orange grass on Amazon since I couldn't find it in any store and prayed it would arrive in time, and pulled a few goodies from the closet to give to the boys. I believe I pulled it off, but I was forcing myself to be laid back about how little effort I had put forth to make the day special for the boys. (If you know me at all, you know that ill-prepared is not something that goes smoothly with my personality.) (But I had no more physical hours to make it any different so I had to accept it.) (Next year will be better and I'll be able to enjoy it more.) (Back to the story.)

The Saturday before Easter was double-soccer, porch-finishing, yard-working, grocery-getting, so it was packed and meant that we were up until midnight setting up the egg hunt and baskets and porch furniture and such. (If you know me at all, you know that midnight is not a preferred work hour for me.) (In college, during group projects, they would send me to bed during all-nighters and then I would take the early-early am shift so they could all go to bed.) (Pre-kids I used to be a morning person.) (Not 4am like my friend Christina, morning person, but 5 or 6 was more than fine.) (Having kids has me wanting to stay in bed til 8 each day which obviously never happens.) (Will the bone weary exhaustion ever leave?) (Enough tangents! Sorry.)

Easter morning, the boys did their scavenger hunt (and for some reason the entire videos of that are gone, not sure what happened with the camera card) (ugh), ending with their baskets. I have very few pictures of this because, well, camera card. (They just aren't there. I know I took them, and now they are gone.) But the boys had fun, they were happy with the things they got (I always include sunglasses and Austin's at the point where he'd been expecting that which is fun). Carson did a great job "finding" his basket and "playing" with his new things. We got ready for church, took some pictures of Easter Outfits, went to church (which was awesome), and went home to re-load the car for the trip to McKinney.

Once we were all there, we ate lunch, did the egg hunt and spent time just sitting around while the kids opened their eggs, ate candy and played together. We hadn't painted eggs yet and had a house to clean so we left a little earlier than we might have normally wanted to. Besides, the neighbor kids were there asking to play with DTI, so it felt best if we just left so they could do that. It was a whirlwind evening and we got the boys in bed just in time to be considered on time for bedtime, so I'm glad we left when we did, even though it meant less time with family.