you know it has been a good day...

when you look like this at 6 pm.

easter.

oh, easter.  you tricked me.

the kiddos woke up so excited to see the gifts the easter bunny brought.

they searched the house, found their baskets.

let out shrieks and shrills.

they played and ate candy.

then things began to take a turn.

not one, but two different batches of crepes (my kids favorite) did NOT turn out.

after we had FINALLY eaten,

it was time for the easter egg hunt.

selfishly, i wanted to take beautiful easter pictures of my children discovering eggs.

we got dressed.

elias kicked and screamed and cried.

he only wanted to be batman.

he does not like the name elias.

ada got dressed speedy quick and announced

"i can't wait to see who WINS the egg hunt!"

(you see, ada is a VERY sore loser.  so i had to correct this, right?)

i politely said

"in an egg hunt, there are no winners.  everyone wins if they find eggs."

ada goes into meltdown mode.

as in, she might self destruct.

i ruin everything, or so she tells me.

thirty minutes pass, she is still crying.

meanwhile, hanna seemed to be quite satisfied.

that is, until she tripped upstairs and fell face first into the square banister.

a huge bruise swelled about five inches long on her face (it is still there.)

reza gets a call.

even though he is on vacation, there is an emergency operation he is needed for at the hospital.

seriously?

on easter morning, during our egg hunt?

we drag the kiddos outside, count to three, and tell them to find eggs amidst their tears.

they collect them, elias proclaims he lost (as in collected less) and throws his basket.

reza leaves for the hospital.

hanna needs a nap.

and we are expected to be in raleigh moments later for my sweet nephew luke's first birthday celebration.

all this was before 9:30 am.

things do not always go as planned.

and i barely got any cute pictures.

enjoy!

little luke enjoying his cake.

and just a funny aside, elias ate all of his candy easter morning.  all of it.  ada didn't eat a single piece.  on monday morning, i found ada packaging up her candy in the play room.  she set up a candy store, and sold her candy to elias.  so, elias eventually ate all the easter candy, and ada made a decent amount of money.  thank you easter bunny.

vacay.

it was wonderful.

absolutely.

the weather was perfect.

the kids were beach bums.

we played at every park in a 10 mile vicinity.

we relaxed in the sunshine approximately 10 minutes all week.

but we did build about 1,500 sand castles.

we even enjoyed an entire day putzing around charleston, shopping, eating, and playing at the parks.

it was so much fun, i think we all agree.

we got back yesterday and worked in the yard all afternoon.

everything was so green and lush.

it made me so excited.

and this morning the children woke up and the easter bunny had visited our house.

they were so excited!

happy easter!