Easter Baskets

I'm a bit late in posting about the Easter baskets that Mimi brought for Claire and Hamilton because they enjoyed them the night before Collier was born. By the next day, we had bigger news to share.

Claire was happy for the little toys in her basket, and she couldn't wait to eat her candy. Hamilton loved digging his eggs out of the "grass."

Once he discovered animal crackers in the eggs, he stuffed face.

The gummy lollipops shaped like a bunny and a chick were especially thrilling.

Hamilton especially loved his newest choo-choo: a self-propelled Thomas.

Easter Sunday

While part of me was disappointed to be still waiting for Collier to make his appearance, I was happy not to miss Easter Sunday at church. We hadn't made any grand plans for the day, since we weren't sure if we'd be in the hospital. We enjoyed a church-wide breakfast before the worship service, and the men's horn group played during worship, which is always such a special treat.

I tried to get some pictures of Hamilton in his Easter finest, but he was much more interested in the cookies that are served following the service. I placated him with two fig newtons, which we called cookies, though I'm sure he'd have preferred the chocolate-chip ones.

For lunch the Hardee-Whites invited us to join their family celebration which included Alex's parents, so we enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner and fine afternoon fellowship. The boys played outside after lunch--the big boys did too.

Though the sunlight was much too bright for this picture, I thought we'd better snag a family photo (minus Claire) before the little one arrives.

Hunting Easter Eggs

Hamilton's school held an Easter-egg hunt on Thursday. Since this was Hamilton's first hunt, I wondered how he'd fare. He and his classmates walked hand-in-hand to the playground for the hunt.

He and Grady, who's a veteran Easter-egg hunter with two hunts already under his belt, went to work "finding" eggs lying in the grass and filling their baskets.

Hamilton's already getting bored with saying "cheese" for Mama to take a picture of him, so I didn't get any direct eye contact this time.

I think the boys were comparing their loot.

Hamilton's basket (the only one I had in the house) is from our wedding. Claire carried it down the aisle while she dropped rose petals. Hamilton really excelled at finding the eggs, quickly filling his little basket. He spent most of the remaining time putting his eggs back in his basket when it continued to overflow.

Hamilton figured out that the eggs open, so he was quick to check out the insides. Much to his and Grady's dismay, the eggs were empty.

I dressed Hamilton in his Easter-Sunday outfit for this occasion because I wasn't sure (and I'm still not) if we'd be able to attend church on Easter Sunday. He thought the smocked bunny on his jon-jon suit was a horse, so he kept saying, "Ahsee, ahsee" all day when pointing to his chest.

JaiLynne and I attempted to get our boys to stand by each other for a picture with their full baskets. This shot is as close as we got.

Hamilton did stand still long enough for a quick picture with me--and my big belly.

Back in their classroom, the kids enjoyed cupcakes, juice boxes, and bananas.

Though Hamilton went for the bananas first, he thoroughly enjoyed his cupcake.