Easter Baskets from the Easter Bunny ;)

We decided that since Easter morning was going to be a little nutty this year with getting out the door for church and trying to get some last minute preparations together for the lunch/dinner that we would hosting at our house that day that maybe it would be best for the Easter Bunny to hide the baskets the night before Easter.  :)  So that is what he did.  Such a nice cooperative bunny we have!  After the kids had their baths on Saturday, April 23 they came downstairs and I told them that the Easter Bunny had been there and left them a surprise but that we had to find it.  Evan was very excited and started looking right away.  Evie wasn't really sure what to make of everything.  She was all set for her normal night time routine.

Evan's basket was hidden in the bathtub behind the shower curtain downstairs.  Look how happy and proud he is about his basket.  I love it!

Evie's basket was hidden behind the couch downstairs.  Evan was the one to actually find this one.  Evie was ready to rip her basket open.

Here are the kids checking out all the goodies now that the clear bags are off the baskets.

Evie's favorite part of the basket was the candy.  She was thrilled to be eating the M&M's.  She just couldn't get enough of them.  She thought the candy was way cooler than any of the toys in her basket.  Here is a picture of her eating some of her treats. 

 

Here is my little girl requesting more candy with both her and her brother's bowls. :)

And here is Evan checking out his goodies.  He on the other hand loved the toys in his basket and couldn't wait to play with all of it.  He even posed with Lightening for me.

Finally Mommy and Daddy with their baskets from the Easter Bunny.  The kids did help us find our baskets on Saturday night too.  However, this is a picture of us posing with them on Easter Sunday, when we were all gussied up.

Chick-fil-A 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, April 23 our family attended the Chick-fil-A 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt with our amazing friends the Moons.  As always the hunt didn't disappoint and we had a super spectacular expereince.

Jen got this great picture of the mascots before the event  began in the morning.

Here is Jim talking strategy to the kids before the hunt.  Look at that focus. :)

Here are Mommy and Evie in action during the hunt.

Evie looking inside her eggs.  She thought this was pretty cool.

Here are Mommy and Evan after the race.  I think Evan was a little stunned by the whole experience.

Our family pictured going through all the loot...Chick-fil-A is amazing!  We were blessed with so many wonderful goodies this year.

The kids decided to ride on their prizes.  Both familis won super cool Fisher Price Little People sets.

Silly Evan

 

Forever friends Knights and Moons - Keeping the Chick-fil-A Egg Hunt a tradition since it began three years ago.  Love you guys!

Evan and Brittney got the chance to dance in the parking lot at the event too and had the BEST time ever.  Just look at Evan and how happy he is in these pictures.

 

He was doing all sorts of crazy moves.  We didn't know where they came from. Look at this one.

These kids are just the sweetest.  We are so thankful for their friendship that has developed too.  I am a proud mama!

Last but not least, before we left that day Mommy and Evie got to get a picture with one of the Chick-fil-A mascots.  Evie wasn't so thrilled!  Here she is holding on for dear life again.  The best is that she would try to swat the characters away and shake her head no.  She hadn't learned no yet; however, this has all changed now as she says no all the time now.  She learned this word a few weeks ago.  Now of course it is one of her favorite words. :)

 

A couple cutie's with their Easter Baskets

Beautiful, squeezable Evie Joy

 

Handsome, hilarious Evan Asher

Brother Sister kisses...Evan kissing Evie...

and Evie kissing Evan...doesn't it just make your heart melt!

We sure do love these little bundles of adorableness! :)

MOPS Egg Hunt

On Friday, April 22 we had our annual MOPS Easter Egg Hunt/Potluck Eggstravaganza!  This year was a little different because we added on the potluck portion and we also had a the Easter Bunny make a special appearance.  It was a great event for all the families.  Here is a picture of our whole group.

Here I am with Evie and my friend Carly and her little girl Ariel.  Together Carly and I Coordinate MOPS at Creekside. It has been such a blessing to serve this year in this role.  

My parents were able to come out to the big event too.  Below is Grandma with Evie.  She was holding on for dear life as to not have to get near that Easter Bunny.  Hilarious! :)

The kids had a great time at the hunt.  Here they are in action.  All the parents were instructed to bring a dozen filled eggs for all kids who would be participating.  This makes for a nice easy egg hunt for all.  No competition, no crazy frenzy. :)

Here is little Evie participating in her very first egg hunt.  

Photoed below are Evan and Cameron checking out all their egg loot after the hunt.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa posing with the kids.  Sadly neither kid was being super cooperative in the pictures.  My parents look great though.  Evie just couldn't get enough of her eggs and well, Evan was purposely not looking at the camera. Gotta love willful two year olds. :)

Our Family picture with the Easter Bunny neither kid actually wanted to sit with him, but that was okay.  I am very thankful that they at least stood near him.  Evie, made sure to keep a close watch on him to make sure he didn't make any moves.

After the hunt and our visit with the Easter Bunny.  Everyone got to enjoy the potluck and some fun at the park, Mommies included.  Here are Pam and I with Ryel and Evie going down the slides.  Pam was my belly buddy back when I was pregnant with Evie.  Look how both kids have grown.  It has been so much fun to get to see the babies grow up together.

Here are Tyler and Evie on the slide too.  Are they not just the cutest little couple!?!

Coloring Eggs and other Easter Traditions

With the kids getting older we are having so much fun incorporating the all important holiday traditions.  Coloring Eggs is one of them where both kids got to get in on the fun more this year.  Here we are on April 19 dying the hard boiled eggs, which we later cracked open to make Deviled Eggs and some Egg Salad Sandwiches. :) 

Here are both kids using the metal wands.  At this point Evie actually didn't really have dye in the container, just water.  However, she was still enjoying the experience.  Also we did have a whole thing of dye spill thanks to Evan.  Praise the Lord that it didn't really get on any clothes or anything just the table cloth which was vinyl and the floor. :)

 

Here are the final products before they got cracked open.

Here is my handsome, silly boy posing with the eggs.

Lastly, an artsy picture of the love notes Jim and I did for each other on the eggs.  Aren't we super original?!? :)

Other great traditions that we continued this year and got to enjoy more with Evan especially was our Resurrection Eggs and reading books about the true meaning of Easter.  It is so cool to see the concepts start to stick in Evan's head. :)

If you don't know what Resurrection Eggs are, they tell about the glorious story of Jesus' resurrection.  Stored in a plastic carton, a dozen rainbow-hued eggs are filled with surprises. You pop them open and find miniature symbols of Easter inside. It also comes with Bible stories explaining the significance of each object.  Here is what the eggs look like from a marketing picture I got online.  I just discovered these when I joined my MOPS group about 3 years ago.

Our visit with the Easter Bunny at the Mall

So I was wanting a picture of the kids with the Easter Bunny, even though I knew it would probably end up in disaster as both kids aren't big fans of being up close and personal with costumed characters at this age.  Evan has grown to the point where he can be near them, but he would prefer not to sit on their laps or be unaccompanied without Mom and Dad. :)  Evie just doesn't even want to be near them and grabs on for dear life to whoever is holding her when placed in the situation.  So with this background, here is what happened during our visit with the Easter Bunny at the Mall on Sunday, April 17.

So for the most part the kids were excited, or I should say Evan was. :) Here we are waiting in line (which was pretty short, this was good) and checking out the Bunny.

 

This was a quick picture we took waiting in line too.

 

And then a picture of Jim, now with the kids looking at the Bunny from across the picture area.  

 

So you will see no picture with the Easter Bunny, this is because as suspected Jim and I had to get in the picture with the kids who both were not happy about this expereince.  They were not crying, but neither wanted to smile.  So we could have had a not great picture of all of us with the Bunny for about $25 bucks, but instead I opted to probably get a similar picture of all of us that would be free from our upcoming MOPS Easter Egg Hunt that would be happening in a few days.

Nonetheless, I was still  happy we attempted the expereince and it was a memory.  Maybe next year they will want to pose with the Easter Bunny at the mall. :)  However, the kids did make out with
some cool cups that you will see photographed below.  They loved them and had a great time drinking out of them when we got home.

Also, you will see some of my attempts at getting a cute picture of Evan and Evie together, since I didn't succeed with the Easter Bunny. :)   

Here they are at least both looking at the camera, Evan has a bit of an awkward smile.  

Evan and Evie...the serious side of the Knight children seems to be coming out in the photo below.

Then, here I finally did get a fabulous smile from Evan, but Evie is looking down.  Gotta love it! 

Kids are the best, especially when trying to take their picture.  :)