Pre-Easter Celebration

Last Sunday, we were invited to Andi's parents house for a pre-Easter celebration. Since we're flying to Nebraska to visit my family for Easter this year, Andi's family didn't want to miss out on the Easter fun. We kept our celebration light and casual. Each of us brought an appetizer to share - chicken wings, cheese and crackers and fruit pizzas - and we spent the evening witnessing the magic of Easter through Tory's toddler eyes.

Delicious and fun fruit pizzas Lindsay brought
Recipe here

First, we played hide the Easter eggs with Tory. This is by far her favorite game right now and Grandpa Jim had stashed eggs all around the living room. Different than our daily Easter egg hunts (because oh my gosh, we hide Easter eggs fifty million times a day -- "hide, hide" Tory says, in a whispery voice), these eggs were filled with stickers and M&Ms. The look on Tory's face when she discovered the first egg had treats inside it was priceless!

Next, Tory opened her Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Lindsay. She was spoiled with her favorite treats of course (lots of M&Ms and animal crackers), plus bubbles, jammies, a new swimming suit and wet bag for carrying, paintable face masks and more. Janie and Jim also gave Andi, Lindsay and I Easter baskets. I got a springy new infinity scarf and candy.

Tory checking out her Easter basket goodies

Peek-a-boo!

Then, we colored Easter eggs. Janie went all out with glitter, Epson salts, wax crayons, stickers and craft papers to decorate our eggs. Andi was so funny coloring eggs. "If you can't get out of it, get into it," Janie said and that's exactly what he did. Who knew he was so crafty?

Andi's egg masterpiece

Janie saw an idea on Pinterest that worked great for helping Tory color eggs. She placed an egg in a whisk and let Tory dunk her own egg in the colored water. 

Coloring eggs with Grandma

Enjoying her very first Tootsie Pop while waiting for her egg to dry

We're so lucky to have a fun, loving family to celebrate the holidays together. And, having a little one in the mix gives us an excuse to participate in all the fun holiday traditions that make this time of year so special. Now, who's going to eat the two dozen hard-boiled eggs in my refrigerator?