Well, the Easter Bunny obviously found the note Sophie put out because when the kids woke up Saturday morning they found their baskets filled with special surprises. There were lots of chocolate eggs and a big chocolate bunny for each child. The Easter Bunny even sat on the pillow Sophie set out for him, and left a few hairs behind as evidence that he was there. He wasn’t hungry enough to eat all three carrots they left out for him, but he did nibble on each one. I bet he was so thankful to get a little snack and a rest before heading out to visit more children.
After all that excitement was over, it was time to decorate some eggs. Once again the kids reminisced about how much fun they had decorating eggs with Grandma. It’s true, my mom made it really fun. For starters, she let them dye about a million eggs, regardless of who would eat them later. I am the mean mom, and only let them dye 3 each, because I knew I would end up throwing out rotten ones later. Although, maybe next year I could let them do a few more each. We’ll see. Second, she had all these fun things to try. That I always forgot or don’t want to hassle with. Like putting drops of oil in the dye, making the egg look slightly marbled. I think there was another one with salt, or something, but I am not sure.
Still, I did buy another egg painter thingy, so they were happy with that. 
And we had some cute stickers to put on the eggs after they were colored. 
They looked really pretty. I almost rubbed oil on the shells to make them all shiny, but decided not to.
Not sure why, really. Will definitely have to try and be more creative next year.
We set the eggs aside to dry, and had lunch. Afterwards, I quickly filled the plastic eggs with candy, with Sophie’s help, of course. And then we went up to the school to hide, and find them.
Chris and I made the kids go over to a different part of the playground, so that we could hide all the eggs behind the bushes and trees.
They were able to find plenty to do to entertain themselves. Then we released the hounds! Although not all at once; youngest to oldest with a 40 second countdown in between. The kids did the actual counting, so it was more like 20 second intervals, but whatever. Some eggs were in plain sight, others were more hidden. Sarah decided to empty her basket of her EB treats, before looking for more.:)
Surprisingly the only child who ended up needing a little help was Sophie. 
We had the other kids stop, and let her find what was left.
Finally we decided that everything had been found and the hunt was officially over for another year. It was such gorgeous weather that we stayed and played for quite a bit longer. And look, proof that I was there!
The kids wanted us to push them on the merry-go-round. It was my turn first.
I did my best and got them going pretty well. But then it was Papa’s turn.
That was like turbo speed compared to my pitiful attempts. Check out the air the girls are getting!
When they got tired of that, we went over to the public playground next to the school. That way Alexandra could get some swing time in.
This is Sarah’s favorite climbing tree.
And Sophie loves the slide.
Sarah had no problem going down the fireman pole, which is pretty good considering how scared she used to be of such things.
Nick tried to follow her example. But got too scared. So I tried to encourage him, being all encouraging and stuff. He told me to do it first. Oh well, now, that’s an entirely different matter, folks. Do as I say, not as I do, etc. But I did try, really I did. But I have never in my life been brave enough to go down one of those things. Not even as a kid. Finally Nick decided to try it from outside the structure. So instead of going through the wooden bars at the top, he just climbed up from the bottom, and then got on the pole that way.
Success! Not to be outdone, I tried it his way as well. And guess what? I did it!!! Twice!!
Noah also climbed up the center of the whole tower, on the wiggly ropes. Very scary for him as well. First time he has ever done it. Even Alexandra gave it a try, but didn’t get quite as far.
A very successful, fun afternoon! Demons were conquered, chocolate was acquired, and laughter was heard throughout.