Easter activities

The day before Easter, J, Mr. GV and I went to a "Breakfast with the Bunny" fundraiser for our favorite local humane society.  Along with breakfast, J got to hold a bunny for the first time.  He was thrilled!!  Mouse the bunny was sweet and so soft.  It was another great way for the kids to learn about treating an animal in the proper way.  

J was a happy boy when the pancakes were replenished.  (He had a Sonic cup full of water, his drink of choice.)  

The next day, on Easter, we had an egg hunt in our front yard for J.....

....and his NaNa.  J likes a little competition and since he's the only child in the family, and my mom enjoys competing, she was nominated.  I love the look on her face in this picture.  She was mock-sad because J had just found an egg hidden in the magnolia tree.  Ha!

Mr. GV did yard work while the rest of us played.  We are getting rid of the plastic fencing around our raised beds.  It was impossible keeping them taut and the deer just put their necks over it or jump inside the bed anyway.  

J got an Easter basket with some nice things, but his favorite was definitely this Plants vs Zombies graphic novel. 

As a matter of fact, it was tough to get him to do anything else.  He finished it within a short while, but I'm sure he will be reading it over and over.  (By the way, that's a bag of recycling in the background, not trash mounding up, I promise.)

I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend (if you celebrate), or just a great weekend!  Mr. GV and I don't celebrate it in the religious sense, but we do enjoy participating in fun activities with J that go along with the holiday.  

Baskets and Boxes

The last little bit of Easter pictures:  J's basket.

The perfect box for a 5-year old:  Just big enough to lay down in, and shallow enough to still be able to watch TV.  Bonus:  it also keeps his snack safe from Milo, who has no manners when it comes to food.  

Home Hunt

While J and I were in the backyard gardening, his mom was fortunate enough to see the Easter Bunny hop into our woods.  It turns out he had hidden some eggs in our front yard!

Found one!

Uncle helping 'sight' J to one he spotted.  

That bunny hid one in a tree!

Some were hidden in new green foliage.

Naturally they had to be lined up to be counted...

Love this.  Not sure if there was something on his foot or if he was just posing.  

"One, two, free, four...."

And then it was J's turn to hide them so his Mommy could look for them.  Only he decided she had a time limit.  

Hustling to find an egg.  Nah, just coming back from a run. 

Helping his Mommy hunt.

The dogs got to come out for a bit and run free in the front yard.

It was a very good day, this Easter.  

The Hunt

J participated in an Easter hunt in my town this year.  It was very well organized, and with a large amount of children hunting, I suppose it all had to be done this way.  But I kinda hate how egg hunts have changed from when I was a kid.  Back then they, you know, HID them.  To be fair, I never went to a large city-sponsored hunt, just ones given by my church and others by my extended family on a large piece of vacant land with trees and other places to hide the eggs.  Maybe they were doing egg hunts in cities this way even way back 35 years ago.  

I suppose you could look at it as a hunt for the prize eggs amongst the regular eggs.  

The hunting area for the 4-6 year olds.  

The prizes for his age group.

The waiting area.  It was a bit like being caged up.....

The frenzy of hunting.  There were plenty of eggs and candy for all the children, and thankfully they had a rule that parents could not help (except for a few children who had disabilities.)  J is in his mom's blue jacket in the center of the picture. 

The loot!  Oh, it was hilarious.  J got a few eggs but concentrated on picking up all the loose candy he could find, specifically 35 packs of Smarties.  Smart kid that knows what he wants!  

J and K looking through his basket for a possible prize egg.

He got a glitter star inside an egg, which meant he won a prize!  

J's prize basket.  A lot of fun stuff, including several things to be used in the pool this summer. 

Afterward, J had a few minutes to play at the playground. 

Calling out to the other kids....

And for good measure, a picture of my 11 year old Macy, who has stood guard over J since he was just a few weeks old.  She is a bit grumpy in her old age at times, but we still watched her guard her boy this past weekend.  

More Easter festivities

The day before Easter, J had his second hunt of the year.  Highlight this time was meeting the Easter Bunny!

 Obligatory placing of the basket on the head.  I suppose it passes the time. 

 Standing on the start line.

 Searching...

 searching....

 ...and disappointed that he didn't get a golden egg.  There was one right beside him at the start, but he just didn't snatch it up right away.  Ah well.

Checking out the candy inside the eggs.

 All right.  Good going, sponsor of the hunt!

 A tired (and hurt--he fell in a hole) boy.

 Later that day, his mom posed him for some pictures.  He looks so much older in this picture!  Ack!  And yes the point was that he wanted to look like he was laying the eggs.  lol

 Silly boy.

 Group picture from the day, including J with his "Agent J" hat on. 

 Luckily, the Easter Bunny was able to drop off J's basket a day early, so we could all enjoy his gifts. 

 Then J dyed some eggs for the first time.

 We interrupt this J picturefest for a cute doggy break...

 OK break is over!  We played some Uno, Toy Story Uno to be exact.

 And J tried out his new golf set that the Big Bunny brought him.