EASTER

Here's a bit of everything from Easter...some from each side of the family and our own at home...Brooke was obviously the focus of our pictures. She was cute to watch. If you're around Brooke for a day, you would realize that she is obsessed with eggs. It started with liking dinosaurs, then moved to liking dinosaur babies and then transferred to all eggs. So, she thought this holiday was great! She did have some issues with getting upset about having to stop dying eggs (her first activity of the weekend), but soon caught on that there would be much more to come. It was a fun weekend, but we definitely spread ourselves too thin on a holiday again. It's so easy to do when you have kids and want them to have fun. We didn't get to watch as much General Conference as I had hoped and didn't get anything on our 'list of things that need to be done before the baby' done :(. It kind of makes me feel a little panicked because we only have so many more weekends to get things done before the baby is here. I just won't feel calm for her arrival until I get caught up on all the housework, yardwork, scrapbooking, etc. I guess I'll be extra motivated this week then! As you can see, I'm already blogging Easter pictures before 10am on Monday morning.

Anyway, I really learned a lot this weekend in that regard. I also realized that I don't like the idea of the Easter Bunny. It's nice to have a couple years before a little child understands everything that is going on to decide what traditions and things we'll promote on holidays. We decided this last Christmas that from now on we will tell our kids that we asked Santa Claus to skip our house because Mommy and Daddy buy their presents to celebrate Jesus' birthday and be like the wisemen. I think we'll do something similar with Easter too. I'm all for the fun things that come with Easter and the symbolism of the eggs with newness and such, but the actual Easter Bunny...I could do without him and have a lesson on Jesus instead. It's kind of intimidating to me to plan our holiday traditions because we're in process of setting them for the rest of our lives. They will be the times that our kids often remember. I want them to remember fun and love and Jesus too (on the right holidays)...nothing crazy! I just don't think it's too much to ask Santa and the Easter Bunny not come to our house, but still do all the exact same fun activities as 'normal' with

a better focus!