our little man

3.24.2008

easter

we had a really lovely easter yesterday. we decided to spend this year at home and have visitors come here instead of traveling. we've spent all of the recent holidays traveling to one set of grandparents or another (or more than one, oftentimes) and although it's been very nice, it's also hectic. we spend a good deal of time in the car and have to rush through our own time at home to get ready and out the door. the kids do well, but it's still hard for them - they get overtired, etc. so... we decided that this time we were just going to stay put and planned a family easter dinner here.

we enjoyed a nice, leisurely morning at home. sophie woke up beside-herself-excited to get downstairs and see if the easter bunny had hidden eggs for her. ben usually is the latest riser, but we decided to wake him up. there would have been no way to keep sophie away from the eggs once we got downstairs, and we wanted to be sure that ben could join in on the fun. he was so happy to see us, if a bit groggy, and knew right away that it was a special day since all three of us came in to wake him up like that. as soon as we got downstairs, sophie ran to get her basket and started searching for eggs. we explained that she needed to leave some of the easier, lower ones for ben and that she could get all of the higher ones. she did pretty well leaving enough for ben to fill his little basket, and she even reached some of the higher ones and gave them to him. he did well on his own, too - he likes to pick up and organize, generally, so i figured he'd like the activity of gathering the eggs into his basket.

once the eggs were all found, the kids set about opening them all up. the eggs were filled with a variety of stickers and tiny toys, goldfish crackers, and tiny bunny shaped graham cookies. ben had a harder time getting the eggs open, so for the most part he sat and ate while sophie emptied them. we also gave each kiddo a little assortment of gifts from adam and me. ben got his own pair of bunny ears (sophie already had some), a "my first marker" shaped like a monkey, some animal crackers, a new spring rubber ducky, and some easter little people.

after cleaning up the playroom (where we had settled to look over all the goodies), we had breakfast and lounged around for awhile. ben took an early nap (since we'd gotten him up so early) and then enjoyed visiting with all of our lunch guests - my mom, jeff, brianna, my grandparents and aunt cathy. he got easter gifts from everyone and had a blast playing with some new toys. he ate a good meal and once everyone left took another good nap.

my dad and catherine came by for a visit later in the afternoon. he gave us a little surprise when he said "grandpa" for the first time while my dad was holding him. then we all headed out to a nice dinner at olive garden. ben was a little difficult to entertain at first, but as soon as the food started arriving he was fine. he ate like a grown man - its amazing how much he can eat sometimes! - but was happy and did well. he even stayed awake for the ride home, talking to himself the whole way, even though it was past his bedtime. he did go straight to bed when we got home, though, and was pretty well spent after such a big day.

it really was such a nice treat to have everyone come to us and it was so much easier on the kiddos. i love making a big deal out of the holidays and it was great not having to spend a big part of it toting everyone around. of course, we enjoy making visits, too - but it's nice to have the variety now and then! ben really did have a fun day... each holiday is a bit more exciting as he starts understanding more and being able to get more involved.

posted at 8:36 PM by aimee // 0 comments