Easter 2011

Neighborhood Progressive Easter Egg Hunt
Jackson's green egg

Sullivan's (cracked) pink egg

Boys RUNNING down a hill (one of their FAVORITE pastimes). Two seconds later there were major grass stains to tend to!

BUBBLES!

Cloud-gazing with one of the most cuddly two-year-olds on this planet!

I rest my case... ALWAYS kissing!

We opted this year to have a relaxed, laidback, leisurely immediate-family Easter weekend. No big plans. No big occasions. Just us'ens. I was a touch nervous I'd regret not having a local family adopt us (like last year). Although that scenerio is beautiful too, I am happy to say that we Arthurs know how to have fun all by ourselves! As you can see from above, we decorated easter eggs, planned and enjoyed a neighborhood progressive easter egg hunt (4 back yards and 8 kids!), enjoyed a really nice early worship service, dug into baskets loaded with goodies, and went to the local nature center and hiked/biked amongst the budding trees (stopping occasionally to blow bubbles and look at the clowds!). Finally (DRUM ROLL!), we are preparing, as I type, a delicious all-out Easter meal to be enjoyed tonight.

What I have taken away from this Easter: that life and love will ALWAYS defeat darkness and evil!

Minnesota Easter Egg Hunts

When you live in Minnesota, flowers aren't necessarily blooming and eggs are not necessarily hatching around Easter time (maybe by fourth of July!!!). That said, Easter Egg Hunts look like this: We all pile on our tired winter wear (this past Saturday, gloves and hats were even necessary... a pathetic 35 degrees!), bolt out of our cars once the organizer has spread out the eggs in an open space (note: there is no "hunt" about it), pick them up with our stiff fingers as fast as we can, then bolt back to our cars. Ha! The whole thing lasted maybe 10 minutes. :)

Jackson is now a pro! He got to stand on the "doesn't-need-assistance" (aka BIG BOY) side of the field when it began

Sulivan, meanwhile, didn't get the whole thing as so chose to continue with his snack mix in the red bowl. I've got to hand it to him, he never ONCE complained about his cold fingers!

Today

We are in an eye-rubbing phase at the moment. Seems like J is always messing with his eyes... even when he's smiling and posing for a picture. We are seeing an opthomologist next week to look into it. Scott's comment: "The only thing that could possibly make Jackson cuter will be Jackson with glasses." I suppose I bias-ly agree!

OK, you must know that Sullivan smiles A LOT. He's a very lovey and smiley guy. But I swear to you, I cannot find but a handful of pictures of Sullivan accomplishing the following two tasks at the same time: 1) LOOKing at the camera and 2) SMILING. I was so happy to catch this one day, albeit filled with marker and snot. I am just noticing how his eyes sort of droop at the corners at this stage. Cute!