Little b’s Hoppy Easter

The bunny trail towards Easter Day included arts n’ crafts, egg hunts, baskets and much more.

Remember when holidays were celebrated on a day? Not any more. Halloween decorations are out before Labor Day and some stores decorate their Christmas trees while the turkeys are still on display. To that end, Easter is a bit refreshing because it seems to swoop in quick, involve lots of fun activities the week prior and then the day itself arrives amid a fanfare of baby chicks, bunnies and eggs.

Brayden has been at the edge of his little seat in anticipation of the Easter Bunny’s appearance. Nothing in this world is more thrilling than a present to him and the idea that some cute, cuddly bunny is going to leave him a basket of gifts while he sleeps is, like, beyond awesome.

The week has been a ton of fun in the lead up to the big day. Here are the eight most egg-citing moments of Easter 2013 in chronological order:

8. Carrot Feet

Brayden’s daycare teacher, Miss Joan, turned his feet into an homage to the official vegetable of Easter and optometrists. I can’t wait to get this painting and put it on the refrigerator!

7. Visit from the Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny himself visited Brayden and his classmates at school. At first Brayden was excited but a bit uncertain. He warmed up once his buddy, Elijah, ran over for a hug and broke the bunny ice.

6. Toddler-ific Easter Egg Hunt

Brayden and I joined several friends with little boys for a special Easter Egg hunt at a local high school just for kids 3 and under. It was great to participate in a session just for the little ones. There were so many people there but the boys held their own and made off like bandits.

The kids also got to jump in a bounce house and pet bunny rabbits. Between that and the candy, what more could toddlers ask for?

5. Adults-Only Coleman Family Easter Party

Have you ever been to an adults-only Easter party? If not, I highly suggest you either get yourself invited to one or consider hosting your own next year. My good friends, Chris and Katie, put on a really fun event where guests wore their Easter best and participated in a hunt with eggs that skewed both young and old. Egg fillers and prizes included Redbox rental codes, candy, temporary tattoos, shiny quarters, bottles of liquor, restaurant gift certificates and more (the “more” eggs included prizes of a more, ahem, mature theme). An
egg-cellent time was had by all! (sorry…I had to use egg-cellent at least once in this post)

4. The Easter Bunny Arrives!

Everything about this morning was just too cute for words, but the best part of all this might have been last night. I explained to Brayden that the Easter Bunny would come and bring presents while he was sleeping. So what does he do? He lays in bed and starts yelling, “Easter Bunny! I’m sleeping! You can bring presents now!” He is so my child.

When Brayden really did fall asleep, the Easter Bunny created a trail of eggs from his inside his bedroom leading to the living room where a treasure trove of gifts awaited him.

OK, the “Easter Bunny” is just going to admit it went a little overboard this year. It’s a Cars basket filled with related stuff, a Cars tee shirt, a Thomas the Train bath paint set, and a Jake and the Neverland Pirates dress up kit. The worst part is that all the stuff isn’t even out. The Easter Bunny decided to hold back some of the presents for another time because even it realized that *maybe* things got out of hand. Or it is out of paw? I’m sorry…I just can’t help myself…

3. Dying Easter Eggs

Because Easter isn’t Easter without coloring eggs, right?

2. Brayden’s Personal Easter Egg Hunt

Seeing as little b’s been such a good boy lately, the Easter Bunny made arrangements for a special egg hunt at Nana and Papa’s house. Finding eggs makes him so excited, it makes me wish we did this more than once a year.

So much about Brayden’s personality (and hopefully his future) is revealed starting at 35 seconds in, and the very best moment of the whole day is at the end of this video.

1. Easter Dinner with the Family

My mom cooked a delicious ham dinner for us, and it was the perfect way to end the holiday.

I’m actually pretty happy to say this Easter was fairly traditional, and I mean that in the best way. Easter 2011 was preceded by a scary hospitalization for Brayden (see the post Renown’s Cutest Patient Ever) and 2012 had me heavily medicated (see the post Elmo’s Tweaktastic Easter). So compared to the last two years, today was a homerun.

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Easter too and that your gifts included the love of family and friends (in addition to a super fun pirates-themed basket!)