Easter with the Boys

Chris, Tim, JD
I can see where my boys get their good looks from.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Resurrection Sunday with family.  Both of Chris' brothers came to visit for the weekend, JD from Minneapolis, MN and Tim from Billings, MT.  Let me just say up front that Chris and I were both honored that they would travel so far to spend time with us.  And JD's wife Pamela had a prior appointment this weekend so she couldn't come (which was a bummer - we missed you Pamela!), but JD still came.  So that's how it was.  Me and the boys.  More boys.  But I loved it!  And Brooks loved having his uncles to play with.  We don't see them nearly enough, but you would think that Brooks plays with them every day the way he hugged them, and played with them and didn't want them to leave.

Brooks playing hide 'n seek with Uncle JD

I found you!

Saturday we just hung around the house.  I actually left for a few hours to get my hair cut and do some shopping.  I figured there were three adults to two kids.  They would be fine.  That night I made a big ham dinner with mashed potatoes, squash and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Tim, who normally eats cafeteria food at college, was very appreciative!  And after supper the boys cleaned up all the dishes!!  Their mother taught them well! 

When the little boys were all tucked in for the night, Chris and his brothers went to the arcade for a few hours.  They may be all grown up, but that doesn't mean they still don't enjoy a good skeet ball competition :)

Sunday morning Carter and I left early to help in the nursery during early service at church.  Then the rest of the boys met us there for second service.  So because I was gone in the morning, we decided to do Easter baskets and the egg hunt in the afternoon, after Brooks' nap.  That actually worked out really well because it gave us a few hours to stuff and hide the eggs.

JD hiding Easter eggs.  Even Phil got in on the action.

After his nap, Brooks found his Easter basket on the table.  The funny thing was that as soon as he saw the chips in his basket he was good.  We tried to show him the Rice Krispy bar, matchbox cars and sand toys he received, but he kept asking "Can I eat these chips now?"  We totally could have skipped everything else and Brooks would have had a perfect Easter!

 We did eventually convince him to do the Easter egg hunt.

 

But again, he found one egg, discovered that there was a treat inside of it and he was ready to call it a day.  "No buddy there's more eggs.  With more treats."  I've never had to work so hard to talk someone into finding treats.  All the eggs were filled with mini graham crackers that Chris and I made on Friday night.  He loved them!  He didn't find all the eggs, but that's ok.  It just made this morning more fun when he kept finding treat filled eggs as I was making breakfast.  "Look Mom!  Another egg!!"

Brooks ended with a whole basket full of eggs.  And when Carter spotted them, he decided he wanted in on this action.  He bee-lined it for the basket and helped himself.

 

As you can imagine, Brooks wasn't very happy about it.  "No Carter! Those are my eggs.  You can't have them.  Mom, Carter can't have them.  These eggs are only for big boys."  And we just sat back and smiled.  Because we knew this is just one of many arguments (albeit one sided now) that will happen over toys.  We tried explaining that Carter just wants to see them and that he won't hurt them, but it didn't matter.  Brooks promptly took away all the eggs from Carter.  Oh well.

Brooks took away my egg!

Carter had his own present to open.  Which of course Brooks wanted to open instead, but we stopped that action.

This paper is for eating, right?

Wow, look at that posed picture!

We bought Carter a new blanket.  He already has a soft blanket that he loves with silky edges, but it's super thick and way too hot for summer.  So we found a lighter blanket, still with the silky edge.  He taste tested it right away and soon after took his first nap with it.  I think he approved :)  This boy sure loves his blankets.

Our neighbors also had a little egg hunt and asked Brooks to be a part of it.  So we went outside and hunted for a few more eggs.

 

 

Nice toss, Daddy!

 

The rest of the weekend was rounded out with drinking coffee, playing video games and sharing childhood stories.  It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing these guys again.