Easter Egg-citement...

Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun! We have had quite a weekend with much more excitement to come!!! I offered to host Easter dinner this year...I know I am crazy, but I love hosting dinners...any dinners...so, if you are ever hungry, just hint around and I will gladly invite you over for a meal! So, to prepare for the big day, the girls helped make some tasty table decor. We made 'Nest Egg' treats. They did turn out adorable, but not so tasty. Here they are:

I know you are feeling really sorry for the poor guest that got stuck with the nest full of black jelly beans, but my mom loves those, so the kids made that one for her. YUCK!

I am not a fan of coloring eggs...it is messy and never turns out very well...plus, I can't stand the smell of hard boiled eggs. I know that I could do real damage to their childhood if there is not some Easter egg ritual incorporated into the holiday, so when we got a 'paint your own pottery' place here in Morton, our new egg tradition was born! I took the girls to paint their eggs for this year earlier in the week and the eggs were done just in time for Easter! Every year, I pick three or four colors and the girls are free to paint whatever/however they want with the colors. This is the first year that Isabel put some real decoration on her egg...it has a happy face, a butterfly, a flower, and her nickname 'Is', except she spelled it Iss for some reason...darn that 'Kindergarten Spelling'...she never asks me how to spell things correctly, she just guesses! It is supposed to boost her 'language confidence', so as long as she loves to read and write as a result, then I suppose I am happy! =) Here are their eggs from this year:
And, here are all of the eggs from the past four years (Isabel's are on the right and Ashlen's are on the left):

The Easter Bunny wanted to get new bikes for the girls this year, but he had an issue with a big scratch on the only cute 18" bike in stock and needed us to take care of an exchange when the replacement comes in, so we just decided to get the bikes for the girls so he wouldn't have to worry about carrying those big bikes in his basket. It was so nice yesterday that we decided to surprise them a day early. Here they are on their new bikes:

Ashlen got a princess bike with a bell (which is her favorite part of the entire thing...I think if we let her, she would take off the bell and just play with that instead of going to all of the work to pedal the bike around). Isabel wanted a princess bike, but the Bunny thought she might outgrow that pretty soon. There was also a Bratz bike and a Hannah Montana bike, but those were both out of the question. So, she got a Fairy bike. It has a sound machine and two real vases for flowers. I thought a banana seat was a pretty cool upgrade when I was 6...geesh! At least it doesn't have an auxillary cord for her iPod...I might have to draw the line there!

Easter morning came with lots of whispers and giggles from upstairs...they were given strict instructions to stay in the bedroom (they like to sleep together these days) until Daddy got home from work so that he would not miss any of the excitement. I knew when he was home because I could hear them banging on Isabel's window (which faces the driveway) saying 'Daddy's home!!!' at 6:45 this morning. They had lots of fun looking for eggs, but that Bunny is not as creative as she...I mean he...used to be. I hid, errrr...HE hid most of the eggs in the same spots as last year!!! It is hard to find new spots in the same house! Here they are with their baskets:The bunny sunk a small nest egg (get it, nest egg?!?!? ha! okay, I will stop now...) in those bikes, so the baskets were pretty bare this year! Just candy, nightgowns, goggles for the beach this summer, candy, coloring books, diaries, candy, American Girl movies, and some candy. Here they are in their goggles (Ashlen calls them wobble-gobbles...not sure where that came from, but it is almost as funny as these pictures):

After the Bunny excitement, we got dressed for church and then came home for dinner. My brother Nathan and his wife Sky came over, as well as my parents and my sister Kelsey. I videotaped everyone, but didn't think to take a picture of all of us...now I wish I had! Oh well... here are the girls dressed for church (I feel kind of bad because I ALWAYS get Easter dresses for them, but this year I didn't find anything really cute, so I just put them in a spring outfit...I am a slacker!)

Here is Isabel with my mom after dinner:

And Ashlen cuddling with my Dad (his eyes are closed in every picture I took today...this is the only one in which they are partly open!!!):

Jason and I leave for our Vegas Vacation tomorrow, so I am really excited for that! I am not bringing the good camera, but I will try to get a few decent shots with our point-and-shoot so that I can post something when we get back! I hope you all had a great holiday!!!