Happy Easter!

There was a time when my boys wore matching pjs and got spiffied up for our holiday photos.  Now, our holiday pictures generally involve them in mismatched pjs and a whole lot of bed head.

Ah, the times, how they are a changing.

We enjoyed an early start to our Easter morning with the obligatory hunt for the Easter baskets.  Griffin found his right away (in the mudroom), but Aidan and Brennan struggled a bit to locate their baskets.  Aidan finally uncovered his in our foyer closet, but Brennan was still on the hunt.  The hunt may have been led a bit astray by Griffin who assured Brennan he had seen his basket and would give him hints to find it.

But here's the thing.  Griffin hadn't seen Brennan's basket.  And well, the hints were wrong.  But as we (the parents) did not hide the baskets, but blamed that solely on the Easter bunny, we could do nothing, but sit back and watch this debacle unfold.  (Well, and laugh.  I laughed a lot. )

Poor Brennan.  Thankfully, Aidan jumped in and finally did actually find Brennan's basket.  Aidan managed to give Brennan some hints that were, you know, accurate and the basket was found hiding in the boys bathroom shower.

Whew.

After the baskets were all located and dug through, we did our traditional Easter egg hunt.  This year, instead of hiding candy and small toys in the eggs, I shamelessly ripped an idea from a friend of mine and stuffed the eggs with coupons.  The coupons said things like:

"I scream.  You scream.  We all scream for ice cream.  Use this coupon for an ice cream date with Mom or Dad."

"Feeling like a Night Owl?  Use this coupon for 15 extra minutes at bedtime."

"In the mood for something sweet?  Use this coupon for an extra treat."

I also included coupons that were good for one app of their choice and a pick of the movie for family movie night.

I was a little worried the coupons wouldn't go over well, but I was thrilled that the coupons were actually a huge hit with the boys.  They loved them.  They even spent time negotiating trades around the kitchen table.

Later that morning, we visited Chris's uncle's house for the traditional Easter brunch.  Chris loves his family's traditional Polish brunch because in his world there is nothing better than three different types of sausage.  I have learned not to go hungry because brunch in my world does not usually involve potato salad, cold ham, hard boiled eggs, rye bread and jello mold.  But, it makes Chris's day so it is all good.

We enjoyed dinner with my mom that evening.  As we were headed out of town the next day, we opted for a non-traditional Easter fare and did homemade pizzas.  No, it doesn't really scream Easter, but it does ensure little to no leftovers and a happy bunch of kiddies.