Our Easter tradition since 2011 has been to spend Easter with our friends, Ross and Tia. The first several years, it was just our two families, but in more recent years it has included my sister and her family and often several sets of grandparents, as well. We had always had our get-together and egg hunt on Sunday afternoon, but last year Tia decided to move the gathering to the Saturday before Easter. It worked out much better for everyone!
This year, Tia was about eight months pregnant on Easter, so she had told me several months before that she didn't think she'd be up for hosting this year. I quickly volunteered to host our annual Easter gathering at my house! I love to host, and it's so much easier now that we have a better space for having people over!
I always make a strawberry and cream cheese dessert for our Easter dinner, but this year Chris and Brenson decided to make it. They were too cute cooking together in their matching aprons!
Love my guys!
We decided to do an Easter brunch to give us plenty of time for an egg hunt before nap time. Our brunch included ham, fruit, bacon, muffins, sausage, breakfast casserole, and a cinnamon roll bake. It was delicious!
Chloe Jo, Sadie, Brianna, and Brenson
While the ladies cleaned up brunch a bit, the guys went outside and hid eggs for our hunt. We have a large yard, but no trees or landscaping to speak of, so hiding eggs was a bit of a challenge. Our guys were up for it, though!
One, two, three . . . HUNT!
The kids were so pumped for the egg hunt!
Chloe Jo
Sadie
Brooke
Brooke
Brenson
Brecklyn
Brooke
G-Jo helping Brecklyn
Brecklyn
I was kind of sad when I noticed that I didn't get any photos of Brianna by herself hunting eggs. It's truly challenging to take photos of everyone when kids are running all over the yard! Plus, I want to enjoy watching them and not just be behind my camera the whole time!
Our little hunting crew . . .
Brooke, Brecklyn, Sadie, Brenson, Brianna, and Chloe Jo
Silly pose!
All of the families contribute to the egg hunt by bringing eggs stuffed with goodies. We tend to really go overboard on the number of eggs we have, but I think we did better this year. After the hunt is over, the kids love to sit and sort through all their eggs. We try to really limit the amount of candy in the eggs, so it's fun to discover what other sorts of goodies there are.
Sadie, Brooke, and Brianna
Brenson and Chloe Jo
Ross, Sadie, Brenson, Brooke, Chelley, and Chloe Jo
Chloe Jo, Lisa, Brecklyn, Brianna, G-Jo, and Brooke
Chloe Jo, Brianna, Ross, and Sadie
Every year (and at most events, really) I try to get family photos of the families that joined us. Sadie was feeling less than cooperative about taking photos, so Ross and Tia just posed like she did, haha.
Much better!
Tia (and baby), Sadie, and Ross
We were so thankful and happy that it worked out for G-Jo and Grampy to join us this year! They came down for the weekend, and of course we always love having them here!
So this is a funny little tidbit . . . Like I said above, when we have an event I try to get photos of the families that attended our event. I almost always get a photo of my sister and her family, even if I don't get hardly any other families. At this gathering, however, I didn't get a photo of my sister's family! That's very unusual!
Getting a decent family pic with four littles is always a challenge. We made the mistake of waiting until after brunch and the egg hunt, so it was extra difficult this time. Sigh.
Daddy, Brecklyn, Brooke, Momma, Brianna, and Brenson
I was a bit horrified to discover in the one photo that was *somewhat* decent of the children, I had my eyes closed! Argh.
We are always thankful for time spent with framily, and for these special traditions we have!
The next day was Easter day which typically means a less relaxed day just because it's a Sunday. Just in the past several months, though, Sundays have become much easier to handle than they've been for a while now. I'm so thankful for that! Of course, since it was Easter, we got everyone ready extra early so we'd have time for pictures and Easter baskets!
Brianna is becoming such a beautiful young lady
Brenson was so cooperative for photos this year, which reminded me how he's growing up, as well.
Brooke is always my "easy" one when it comes to photos. Love her sweet smile!
Brecklyn is my most challenging one for photos, but it's because she doesn't sit still. Her smile lights up the room!
Four Easter baskets ready to be enjoyed!
Brecklyn
Brooke
Asking, "What is it?"
Brecklyn
Brianna
Brenson
Everyone received sunglasses this year. Looking good!
Brianna and Brenson
Brooke
Brecklyn
I really wanted a family photo since the ones from the day before didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped. So, I set up my tripod and bribed my family to give me a few good smiles.
I actually really like this one. Is it perfect? No. But I love it anyhow.
We had a really good day, complete with naps for everyone in the afternoon! I found myself being very grateful once again that we decided to change our Easter tradition a bit by having our get-together on Saturday instead of Sunday. I think it just makes it better for everyone! I hope I never take for granted the beautiful moments that give us such beautiful memories!
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