Easter

Easter Sunday finally arrived and though I woke up full of excitement for the day ahead, Kyndall seemed to have other plans in mind.  From the time she woke up until the time she went to bed that night, she was just not herself.  Crabby, fussy, ornery, uncooperative and just plain miserable are the best ways I can accurately describe her mood that day!  She had moments of sweetness  here and there, but they were few and far between.  I'm not sure if she still wasn't feeling 100% better or if she was just tired of being dragged around, missing her naps and being off schedule for the past week.  Either way, she made my most favorite holiday of the entire year a little less than perfect.  But, that's just life with a toddler I guess!

Kyndall's Easter dress----Everyone knows I'm a sucker for smocked dresses!

She didn't exactly exceed (or even meet) my high hopes for a happy little  pre-church photo shoot, but I did at least manage to capture a few smiles before all heck broke loose!  

It seems weird to see the two of us posing for Easter pictures without Matthew, but sadly he was still back in Tennessee.  It just didn't make sense for him to drive 10+ hours only to spend less than 48 hours with us before heading back.  We missed him, but there will be other Easters to come! 

Starting to get bratty......

By this point we were in total brat mode and I didn't yet have a single picture with any of my other family members.....uggh!

What are y'all looking at???  

It's over by this point.......

We were in such a hurry to get out the door for church that I decided to wait and give Kyndall her Easter Bunny goodies later in the day when we had more time and she could enjoy them.  However, I did take a second to open MY Easter Bunny goodies and I was very happy to find some cash inside of my card!  Thanks, "Easter Bunny"!  (aka MOM!)

Oh, so NOW you wanna be in the pictures???  Thanks for the photo bomb, little stinker!

By the time we got to church, Kyndall was in a semi-happy mood so I took that opportunity to snap a few pictures of her with Aunt Kelly in the hallway.  I had hopes of getting pictures with everyone else after church was over, but by the time we got out, it was pouring rain!  Sad day for this photo-lover!!

After church, we darted home (in the rain!) to change clothes as quickly as possible, and then it was off to my Grandparents' house in Two Egg, FL for our annual hamburger cook out and Easter egg hunt!  It's the highlight of my year, for sure!  Better than Christmas!

One of the reasons we all love gathering at Grandma and Granddaddy's house on Easter is because Grandma still lets us Grandkids dye and decorate Easter eggs!  Despite the fact that we are all adults now, (and have kids of our own!!) we still look forward to this tradition every single year.  Someone asked us when we were going to let go of this tradition and we answered with "never"!  I think it's even more special now that we're able to share it with our own little ones. 

It was FLOODING rain, but that didn't stop us from having a great time!

Michael and his Dad watched from afar

It's washed out in the picture, but this egg said "Kyndall" on it

Just a few of the MANY!

Dying eggs is (apparently) hard work.  Kyndall enjoyed a chocolate cupcake while we waited for the rain to stop so that the eggs could be hidden

And if you thought we left the actual egg HUNTING to the little ones, you were terribly wrong!  Truth is, the REAL reason we get so excited about dying the eggs is because we can't wait to hunt them!  We are all very competitive and it gets more and more exciting each year.  There's always a prize egg, but this year there were several prize eggs and the opportunity existed to make up to $80 in cash!!  If the thought of cold hard cash didn't get us fired up, nothing would!  We were all over that!  Just like every year for the past 25+ years, we were forced inside while the "adults" began hiding the eggs.  We take this extremely seriously---even closing the blinds around the house and forcing everyone to stay put in the living room to avoid a peek out one of the windows!!  You're not even allowed to make a trip to the bathroom, for fear that you might cheat by taking a look!  The beginning of the egg hunt is a bit like the running of the bulls....you better watch or you might just get trampled!!!

Before the adults were unleashed, we had a "mini" egg hunt for the 3 little ones---Bryce, Garrison and Kyndall.  We kept theirs short, sweet and simple so that we could get to the REAL fun!  =)

Bryce and Garrison had a great idea!

Now it was time for the "adults" to have their fun!  Let me preface this by saying that finding these eggs is HARD work!!  My Dad and Uncle Scott are always in charge of hiding the eggs and they do NOT make it easy for us!  Just to give you an idea, I found FIVE eggs this year.....FIVE!!!  That cash definitely isn't handed to us---we have to work (and sweat!) for it!  I usually end up throwing in the towel and resolve to just taking pictures of everyone else duking it out amongst themselves.  Maybe that's why I only ended up with $4 cash this year....??  Oh well, either way it's tons of fun and gets quite competitive!

Ready, set, GO!!!!!!!

Usually after about an hour (yes, an entire hour!) Uncle Scott starts giving out hints.  Here he is giving Brian a few pointers......

Game face

I enlisted the help of Bryce and Garrison on my hunt, which proved to be pretty entertaining but not very helpful  =)

Why am I smiling?  I have FIVE eggs.....FIVE!  Pathetic!

Mom and Aunt Beth....sweet sister-in-laws

The adults just sit around and laugh at us while we frantically search for the cash....

Pouting does NOT get you any extra hints, Brian!

Kyndall and Nonie followed us around on the golf cart but they weren't much help either!

Yes, Michael is actually digging in the ground---They're hidden that hard!

I'm not even sure who ended up making out with the most cash this year, but I can tell you it wasn't this girl!  I'm sure it was probably Jeffrey, who usually makes out like a bandit!

After the hunt, we enjoyed spending time with the family while stuffing our faces with "dessert" in the form of every type of Easter junk food known to man---candy, cookies, cakes, etc.

Kyndall got a sweet treat from Aunt Beth, which she was very proud of

Bryce and Garrison

Kyndall loves exploring the toys in Grandma's toy closet.  Naturally, she went straight for the cars/trucks!

As usual, it was a great day spent making priceless and precious family memories that will last a lifetime.  I don't care how old I get, I'll never grow tired of keeping up the traditions that I've known my entire life.  Those traditions are what I look forward to most about holidays spent with my family.  Mostly, I'm thankful for the true meaning of Easter, which is Christ's death, burial and resurrection.

Remember that Easter basket from the Easter Bunny that I planned to give Kyndall later in the day when we "had more time"?  Call me a bad Mommy, but I ended up not giving it to her!  She fell asleep on the way home from Two Egg and was a total BEAR when I woke her up.  She went straight to bed as soon as we got home, not to be seen or heard from until the next morning!  Don't worry, she got it eventually---thankfully she's not old enough to realize the difference yet! =)

Despite a few tantrums and a hand full of meltdowns throughout the day, our Easter was enjoyable and memorable.  Like I said earlier, the only thing that would've made it better was if Matthew had been there with us.  Next year!!