Easter at Grandma's

One of the best Easter's we've had in a while! We spent the entire time outside... hunting eggs, jumping on the trampoline, blowing bubbles, swinging on the tire swing, shooting b.b. guns, and just laughing and enjoying family. It was wonderful! Sophie had an outfit change into her bunny shirt and pigtails... cute, right?

Egg Hunt at Church

They were on the lookout for sports eggs, because there was money hidden in them! Tres didn't find any! But he had a great attitude!

Sophie was more interested in the 'fawers, Mama!'

Bry was a determined egg hunter and found a $10 sports egg! He was so excited that he was jumping up and down. Sidenote: It is so hard to capture those little moments on camera now that my attention is split three ways!

Here is one of the many pieces of 'chaw-let' that got her dress so messy... that we paid $8 for dry cleaning (why didn't I check that tag before I bought it!!), so her cute little $12 dress became a $20 dress.
Then she decided she would try to find a few eggs after all!

Our Easter Best

Ava Sophia had a gorgeous dress from the Gymboree clearance rack for $12. I LOVED the way it looked and I thought she looked so cute. At first, she didn't want anything to do with our Easter Parade! It looks like she's telling the paparazzi to go away or something! But she came around and did a little modeling for us!


We always get a 'brother picture' every Easter. And they always end up doing the same thing! Hugs and smiles!! I love my boys. Since I paid full price for those vests at Christmas, we decided that they needed another occassion! Ha! Soph would have been in her's too but her dress was bought after Christmas, so we decided to go with the pink!

Sophia looks like she is just tolerating them here, doesn't she?

AL Egg Hunt

Hank had to be at work by four so we left by 1:30 and headed back to Bama. Dropped Hank at his car, then took the kids over to my parent's house! We chatted and talked about our days until my sister Tonnie and her family was there as well as my brother and his family. Then it was time for a much different kind of egg hunt! This time, 72 hard boiled eggs, well-hidden several times did the trick!

We got all the cousins ready to hunt... ... hid all the eggs, and unleashed the beast, so to speak!

These eggs were hidden in holes, under leaves, in flower pots, etc. so it was more of a challenge for impatient little boys! It was enough to make good little boys, think about being bad!

But the rewards far outweighed the frustration!! They were absolutely thrilled when they found one... especially on their own.

Well, that was the end of our really long Easter weekend! It was a lot of fun and the kids were satisfied and exhausted come Sunday night.

With all the egg hunts, baskets, and candy, it would seem that our little family somehow lost the meaning of the Easter season. But I can assure you, if you ask one of the Boemer boys why we celebrate Easter, they would tell you that it's because, "Jesus is still alive!"

GA Egg Hunt

My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law don't do anything halfway or half-hearted! So about three years ago, we started having a family egg hunt. It started with I think 300-400 eggs... and has steadily gone up over the years till it was over 700 this year! All of those eggs are plastic and filled with candy... talk about a sugar high!

But... before the hunt could begin, we had to get the kids to wake up (tough to do when they try their best to stay up all night playing!), and let them see what the Easter Bunny brought!They seemed thrilled with their baskets!
Donnie Mac (5) got some Star Wars guys. He is also a Star Wars fanatic!Sophie got a few little things like these linkable rabbits, which were promptly tasted! Then it was time to hunt eggs.All 10 cousins wait to get started! My sister-in-law Jackie made the bags for everyone, cause last year we looked a little redneck with our Wal-mart bags! :)
We divide the cousins into two divisions: the little five and the big five. Very technical, I know. We give the 'littles' about a half minute head start then let the 'bigs' loose! The eggs were pretty much just scattered on the ground! We made sure to hide the prize eggs, but the rest were just first come, first serve. I like this one. It's Hank with his two sisters watching all the action.
Then we all headed inside, because it was a surprisingly chilly morning, and counted up who all had the most and found out who found what prizes! Tres got an I-tunes card (which he gave to his cousins in exchange for Legos), and Bryant found a money egg with $5 in it! It was a blast! And our day didn't end there!

Easter Weekend in Georgia

We spent Easter weekend with Hank's side of the family in Georgia. We ALWAYS have such a good time! We barely see the boys since they are so wrapped up in their cousins. They play outside for hours, then come inside and hole up in a room playing video games or legos. The Halls got a new silver lab named Scout. Isn't he adorable? And he is so laid back that even Tres, who is desperately afraid of dogs, made friends!
When we go to Aunt Betsy's house, there is always the added fun of four-wheelers. I don't have pictures to show you, but Hank told me that they were riding them like pros by the time we hit the road home. Saturday was a fun day full of family! Most of the girls headed out, as is our normal routine, to shop! A couple of my nieces needed Easter dresses, and we were all finishing up Easter baskets. Then we went and grabbed some lunch at Chik-fil-A, but not just any Chik-fil-A. We went to one that sat you, and you ordered from an extended menu! It was fun. I snapped this picture of Heather(4) and Ashton(13) while we waited on our food. Aren't they so pretty?
Then, we went with the Halls to Saturday night Easter service, and the Welborns and Mr. & Mrs. B went to a local catholic service so that we could all enjoy the day on Sunday.The boys looked cute in their matching Disney sweater vest for the second year in a row! But, hey, they still fit and they still look brand new! Hank and I just wore whatever, cause we all know it's not about us anyway! Smile! And Sophie got to wear her brown and pink dress for the first time! I even found a pink bow with brown polka dots to match, and it actually stayed in her hair without a band! And I couldn't resist taking a picture of my nieces. They are getting so grown up and gorgeous!

Okay, this is getting long, so I will have to start another post for the GA egg hunt... with over 700 eggs!

Easter Tradition

Every year, my Mom organizes a night when she invites all the grandkids over to hard boil eggs and dye them for the Easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun this year! Everyone except Sophie was really into it!
Bryant was so careful when he did it! He needed help dropping the eggs in and was a little inpatient and would declare them, "Done!" about 5 seconds after he dropped them in. He seemed to be interested in making sure he dyed the most eggs!Tres was content to use the 'magic' crayon before he dropped eggs into the dye to send special messages! He would let his eggs soak for a while. And he wanted to mix colors! Then when he saw grandaddy eating one that had gotten cracked, he started declaring perfect eggs damaged and eating them!Tyler was probably the most excited to get started and the quickest to be done with the whole process. He just wanted to play! He loves tatoos, and I love that when he shows you the ones he gets on his tummy, he pokes it out! He is such a sweet little boy!Luke man was serious and studious while he dyes his eggs. Then as he watched Tres eat one of the many cracked eggs, he decided to try an hard boiled egg for the first time! He decided he liked the white but not the yolk!Sierra is such a sweet cousin. She helped everyone with their eggs, and took great pains to decorate her own very precisely. This is one of the sweetest little girls I know, and I couldn't love her more if she was my own!

Notice my very pregnant sister-in-law in the background of this picture. Kayla is due any day now with a new nephew, and play-mate for Sophie, Brody!