Our hoppy, er, happy Easter! (go ahead and groan, it's okay)

Early on Easter morning, I awoke to someone hopping around in the living room. . .

It was my cute little insomniac Will! So I stuck him on the couch watching some Signing Time and I put together some Easter baskets for the boys, which I had definitely neglected to do before falling asleep . . . so I guess it's a good thing Will allowed me the opportunity to be awake from about 3:30 to 4:30 am. Thanks buddy!

And here are their li'l baskets: a bunch of 'Jesus movies' as Clyde calls them, aka Living Scriptures videos that I picked up at various thrift stores, Star Wars pens and notebook for Clyde, Toy Story markers and notebook for Will, a little frisbee for each of them, and some Easter eggs with coins for their piggy banks.

I'm not super big on the 'Easter Bunny' so I was hesitant to do baskets at all (last year I just gave them Jesus pictures and sidewalk chalk) but the boys loooved them. When Clyde asked where it came from, Chuck and I just honestly told him the baskets were from Mom and Dad. I did explain that the Easter Bunny goes to some people's homes, just not ours. (And it's only partially because I am really, really scared of bunnies.)

Will checked out his basket and immediately began organizing:

he lined up the movies and rearranged them all several times until he was satisfied.

He also took special care to line up the coins from his Easter Eggs before church.

After church, we met Grandma Pam, Cody, Quinn, and Eden at my aunt and uncle's house for a wonderful afternoon of talking and laughing, and an Easter Egg Hunt, and a delicious meal (including my Aunt Iris' amazing orange rolls. Sooo good). I love my extended family so much, and it was especially fun to introduce Eden into the mix :).

Here's some of the Easter Egg hunt action. I love my Uncle Larry's Easter Egg hunts. There's always a specified number of eggs that each child should find (which eliminates the crazy competitiveness) and when the 'finding' slows down, it's hilarious to watch Larry try to retrace his steps and remember where he hid the remaining eggs.

My cousin Ryan's wife Stephanie is one of my favorite people ever. Their two sons Aaron (left) and Nathan (right) are both on the Autism Spectrum and Stephanie's patience and love is an inspiration to me - so it's no wonder that Will was drawn to her as well! I was also able to witness a couple of incredibly sweet moments between Will and Nathan, including a spontaneous hug, which seriously warmed my heart.

Clyde and Quinn randomly matched, which was fitting since my mom and I both mix up their names on an embarrassingly regular basis.

Meanwhile, Cody and Will coordinated with khakis and green, but didn't match as outrightly.

After dinner we sent the kids back outside to play while a few of us congregated in the living room to talk and play Encore and laugh really, really hard. My favorite moment was probably when Andrea unknowingly tried to use the second verse of "Can't Buy Me Love" after using the first verse on the previous turn. . . which leads me to a compilation of the funniest quotes of the day:

* Cody, referring to how Andrea and Amanda were sitting together on the couch (as pictured above): "See, that's how siblings should be; Sam and I never sit like that!"

* Me, referring to Will's recent tendency to reach out and whack people (who don't know he has autism) when I'm carrying him at church: "I should make him a shirt! 'It's not you, it's me.'"

*Andrea, slamming my taste in music: "Hey, it's like there's a country music team and a good music team!"

*Amanda, pretending like she wasn't slamming my taste in music when she really was: "I didn't say there was anything wrong with Taylor Swift, my middle school students like her!"

* Me, no explanation needed: "Then it all went downhill when Uncle Larry brought out the games . . . "

* Combined efforts of Amanda, Andrea, and myself (and maybe Quinn?), mercilessly teasing Eden about knowing who Quinn was in high school: "Oh, she didn't know him that well. Just his class schedule." "And his locker number." "And where his house was." "And where he slept in the house." "'Hey Quinn, I like your new sheet set!'"

* Combined efforts of everyone in the room, mercilessly teasing Quinn about how long it took him to ask Eden out: "You didn't even ask her for her number? You got it from her friend? Creep!" "Wait, you decided you didn't want to date anyone else, but you still hadn't asked Eden out?" "So what you're saying is that you didn't want to date anyone, but if you did, it would have been Eden?" "Oh, did you wait until after Christmas to start dating so you wouldn't have to get her a present?" "Ohh, is that why you didn't ask her out in September? So you'd miss her October birthday?" "Ohhh, and I bet you weren't able to see her Valentine's weekend either, eh?"

And I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting - I know that my mom and Larry had a few hilarious exchanges, reminding all of us that sibling teasing never goes away :).

Easter was a such wonderful day. I am so grateful for the life, death, and Resurrection of our Savior and for the opportunity to reflect on how my words and actions can more fully represent my feelings of awe and honor to be a benefactor of His sacrifice.
Happy Easter everyone!