Easter 2017

My parents came to town on the Thursday before Easter since this baby boy could make his appearance anytime. They took the long route here via Texas and southern New Mexico to see some sights, and their original plan was to only stay in ABQ for a few days and then continue traveling during the week if there weren't any signs of labor. Unfortunately, though, I came down with the stomach bug on Thursday night, which meant I spent a couple of days recovering. Healthy or not, taking care of three 3-year-olds is a lot of work when one is 39+ weeks pregnant, so after seeing the struggle over the weekend my parents decided to stay with us in ABQ and do fun outings during the day so that they could help me and be more readily available when labor starts. I'm glad to have the help, and it will be great to have them here in case of a middle of the night trip to the hospital, but now there is a little extra pressure to get things moving. Oh well, this baby will come when he is ready!

We dyed eggs the weekend before Easter and the kids thought it was a blast

The afternoon Grandpa and Grandma arrived

Thankfully, by Sunday I felt a lot better and we were able to enjoy Easter. I put together some simple Easter baskets for the kids, which they thought were the best thing ever. Everyone got their own chocolate bunny, which Alexis had been hoping for, some jelly beans, a Pez dispenser, a springy bunny, and some sort of slime / putty. Everything has been thoroughly enjoyed by all three.

After breakfast we changed the kids into their church clothes and we went to the backyard for some photos. I had been hoping to get some sort of "maternity" photos for weeks, but it hadn't worked out. Easter was the perfect time for these photos since everyone was dressed up and my parents were here to take photos.

I might have bribed the kids to take photos by promising to do an Easter egg hunt afterwards. Bribery might not be the parenting method, but it worked, and I really wanted those photos! Since the kids had plenty of candy between their Easter baskets and what they brought home from their Easter celebration at preschool, I didn't fill the eggs with anything. No one seemed to care as they had fun racing around the backyard and filling their baskets with eggs.

We then went to church and celebrated the true meaning of Easter. Afterwards our church body celebrated with cinnamon rolls, bacon, and mimosas, so no one was hungry for lunch. Because of this, we planned on eating our Easter meal at dinner time, which meant we didn't have to come home and rush to make a meal. It also gave us time to bake and decorate a bunny shaped cake, which was basically a Pinterest fail after one of the round cakes disintegrated when I took it out of the pan, but I was able to make-do and the kids thought the bunny cake was great!

Bunny glasses! Jack, Faith, and Alexis.

Not the best looking bunny (the kids helped with the decorating), but it tasted great!

I am thankful for an enjoyable Easter, but now that the holiday is behind us I am even more ready to meet this baby boy!