Easter Egg Hunt 2013

Emma and I were lucky to be invited to a friend's house for lunch and a good ol' fashioned Easter egg hunt.  I have fond memories of when I was young -- the anxiety building up before being let loose for The Hunt.  For 32 years I was always the finder, but this year, I helped with the hiding:  another reminder of parenting and its many joys.

This was Emma's first time participating in an Easter egg hunt.  Times past, she was too young.  Her first Easter was actually spent in the NICU.  (And if I remember correctly, Emma wasn't the happiest bunny on the block about that either.)  The following picture is an image that will seriously be ingrained in my memory banks for years to come for many reasons.

Emma's first Easter...in the NICU.

So, this was a great change. 

Last night after we put Emma to sleep, I pulled Joel aside and asked him if he would help me place the loot in the plastic eggs in our bedroom.  I think, at first, I was more excited than Joel for this.  There was a sweet moment realized in this.  After all, how many children's first Easter egg hunts do we, parents, get?  We dumped out all the goodies on our bed and stuffed the plastic eggs with chocolate eggs, peanut butter cups, mini flashlights, sparkly gem stick-on earrings, silly putty, mini slinkies, swishy toys, a pig key-chain that "oinked", stickers, and lots more.  As we did this, I even saw a sparkle in Joel's eye as we reminisced about our childhoods.  Afterwards, we spent a few moments discussing what Easter truly meant to us, and how grateful we were for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  It was  such an awesome time, and one I will cherish and look back on fondly.

Here are the pictures from the picnic lunch and hunt.  (In the mix of things, I didn't grab any of the hidden eggs or the hunt itself, just the aftermath.  We hid eggs along the fence, in the grass, and hung them from tree branches.  We sequestered off a spot for the little ones to hunt, so the big kids didn't get to all the eggs first.  They all got 13 eggs each.)  It was a beautiful, sunny day in Jacksonville --  perfect weather.  I was reminded of how much I miss having a fenced-in yard!  It was so nice to have a safe place to let Emma run around and to have her play on fun jungle gym stuff.

Emma and Mommy enjoying the loot!  One of her first tastes of chocolate!
(She loves it...of course.)

The fun:

Emma taking her turn on the airplane.

(Picture taken by my friend, Carla.)

Look at that Cutie in the pink shirt!

(I'm rolling some silly putty into a ball for one of the kids,
if you're wondering what I'm doing.
And yes, that is chocolate around Emma's mouth.)

Emma is assessing her loot.

Total success!  Well, it doesn't get better than that.