Easter Weekend

Ava was with us this year for spring break and luckily Easter fell on that week. She arrived on Saturday morning. When she got here the kids were super excited to see each other. Cirdan ran some errands for Ella's birthday party later that day while I got the girls pictures taken with the Easter bunny. I was feeling guilty that Ava wasn't in a picture we took the week before... so I gave them an option to go back to the Easter bunny for pictures again. The girls said yes, they got their matching dresses on and we headed to the mall. There was a short line and we had to wait a bit so the girls danced around. Afterwards, we went and got a pretzel and then headed home to decorate for Ella's party. When we got home we gave Ava her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Imbler. Ella's party was fun and I think I will do another blog about her party. That night after the party we decorated Easter eggs. It was getting late but we just had to do it before Easter! We had a couple mishaps...the blue dye got bumped and spilled all over. Yikes.

The next morning the girls woke up and realized the Easter bunny had been to our house! We usually don't do a Easter bunny hiding eggs in the morning thing but decided to this year. The girls got their matching Easter baskets that were full with goodies and then went on the hunt for eggs. I was surprised how well Ella did! She was able to find a lot of eggs all on her own!
We then had some delicious breakfast. Cirdan and I made a french toast casserole the night before so we had to just put it in the oven and cooked it. We got ready for the day and made some green beans with caramelized onions for Easter lunch. I think most of the morning was actually spent trying to take away the candy that Ella had just gotten. She ate way too much and she kept finding some around the house. We went over to my Gramee's house for the 2nd session of General Conference and food. We had ham, turkey, funeral potato's, green beans, rolls, salad and more! After conference we had birthday cake for everyone with birthdays on March and April. Since it was Ella's actual birthday she got to open presents from my family. Ella loves bubbles and my mom got her a bubble machine so uncle Nate went outside and hooked up the machine for the kids.
We went home and just relaxed with the girls. It was a very nice Easter.

On Monday Cirdan had to work for a few hours in the morning so while he was working the girls got ready and played outside with the bubbles. It was a sunny nice morning. They also wanted the music on so they could have a dance party. This time Ava was here was different than the other times. We usually have a bunch of fun activities planned but since I haven't been really feeling well we laid low and hung out at home a lot. I think the girls enjoyed playing at home. Ava wanted to stay that night but her mom said no so Cirdan took her over to her Grandmas house at about 8:30pm. On Tuesday morning we picked her up at 10:00 and headed to the mall to Build a Bear. Ava had never been. There is a recording device and Cirdan and I thought it might be cute for her to have a bear that when she pushed the paw the bear would be Cirdan's voice saying her loved her. We then came home, ate lunch and the girls played. Ava went home that night around 5:00.
We have a lot of fun when Ava is here. She likes visiting and she has made many comments about wishing she could live at our house. Its sad that she is so far away. We are just grateful she is now in our lives. Cirdan and Kaiya talk to her on the phone or on skype a couple times a week. She will be here again in July for a week.