A Very Poorly Documented Easter Egg Hunt

. . . and that’s it. Those are all the pictures I took. Studio Grandpa will surely scold me.

When the hunt started, Phaedra went one way, and Eleanor went the other. By the time Phae and I made it back around to find Eleanor, she was done hunting for eggs. Apparently, Eleanor went into one garden practically by herself, filled her basket, and declared herself finished. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of Eleanor grabbing eggs.

Studio Grandma really outdid herself on the Easter party this year. She invited all the grandkids plus some families from her ward. They did little crafts. Eleanor made an Easter lily out of her handprint, and Phaedra made a face with some jewels on it. They colored eggs. Then they had the Easter egg hunt which started with the little kids, 5 and under, while the big kids did a scavenger hunt with clues. The big kids hunted for eggs once they finished the scavenger hunt, which gave the little kids plenty of time to have a chance at some of the easy eggs.

The Easter eggs not only had candy. They also had “bunny money” inside to be used at the bunny store. Remember the candy shop on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? It was much like that except there were also toys the kids could choose if they didn’t want more candy.

But the fun wasn’t only for the kids. There was tons of food for the adults. We had rolls and ham, vegetables, potato salad, fruits, and plenty of sweets.

Eleanor always tickles me with her character. Several days before the event, she would talk to me about the Easter egg hunt. She was just sure there would be eggs with her name on them. I had to work to convince her that they would probably just be eggs with no names, and kids would just have to grab as many as they could. Once I got that into her head, she would say, “Maybe I will get lots and lots of eggs, and the other kids will only get one!” I told her that if that happened, I would hope she might share some of her eggs so the other kids wouldn’t be sad. So she assumed the reverse. “And maybe if the other kids get lots and lots of eggs and I only get one, they will share their eggs with me!” This made me a little hesitant. I obviously couldn’t make any promises, so I told her we would hope that would happen but she shouldn’t count on it.

And then to hear that she filled her basket and didn’t keep hunting! She just walked away, satisfied. That just cracked me up.

She went to the bunny store once and proudly showed me all her spoils. Then she showed me the money she had left over. I told her she needed to spend all the money because the store was only open one day. So I took her back to the store and helped her choose some more stuff. After that, we were sitting down, and she told me she had the bunny money she was saving in her eggs (eye roll). I opened up her eggs, and sure enough, she had more bunny money. How do you explain to a 5-year-old that normally, saving money is a good thing, but this money will be worthless after today? So I made Grant take her back to the store for a third time. Silly girl!

I don’t know why I didn’t get many pictures. Other people were taking pictures, and I think I back away from pulling out my camera when there are a lot of shutters flying. I don’t want to get in the way. I also just got involved with helping the kids with their projects, and by the time the Easter egg hunt was over, I was trying to sit down and eat. But I wish I had more pictures to show for it.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter. Grant and I took one look at the loot the kids got at the Easter egg hunt and decided the Easter bunny didn’t need to bring any candy this year. The kids just got a few outside toys, like bubbles, sand buckets, and sidewalk chalk. They didn’t even notice the lack of candy. I think next year, we’ll do away with the Easter bunny entirely and just tell the kids they are gifts from Mommy and Daddy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the point of having the Easter bunny.