Happy Easter!

He is Risen! We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. We had a nice weekend as a family! We did a couple of egg hunts, saw the Faberge egg art installment at Rockefeller Center, ate macaroons at the famous Bouchon Bakery (the one in Today show shot), and overall just relaxed.  Thursday Ellasen and Marion dyed Easter eggs. This was the first year I attempted it with her, and she did great!

They turned out great!! So pretty!

Ready to see if the Easter Bunny came! 

Finding eggs the Easter Bunny left

Finding her Easter basket

So I know this next part is going like I am bragging, and while I am very proud, I really just want to include it because I want to be able to share it with Ellasen some day. Our apartment complex was having an Easter Egg Hunt in our courtyard. The hunt was supposed to go from 9-10. We got there at 8:50. The egg hunt was already pretty much over. There was no ready, set, go. No order of any kind. Kids just ran out the door whenever they reached the courtyard and found the eggs. There were kids with BUCKETS of eggs. So a hunt that was supposed to last an hour was over before it had begun. Even though we were early, there was really nothing to find. Ellasen was a little sad, but she had just had an egg hunt in our apartment so she was taking it in stride for the most part. She did end up finding two eggs with Daddy's help and a little girl who had a lot of eggs gave her one. So sweet. So she had three eggs, and we decided to head upstairs. As we were heading into our lobby Ellasen said "Before we go upstairs I want to go back out to the courtyard and find a kid who doesn't have any eggs and give them one of mine." Completely unprompted! She only had three eggs! We certainly weren't going to suggest that she give one of them up, but we were so proud of her for making that choice! She said that she was sad when she realized there weren't really any eggs for her to find, and when that little girl gave her an egg it made her feel so good she wanted to make another kid feel good too. Talk about a feather in our parenting hat. We have been talking a lot about underprivileged people this year because we really want Ellasen to appreciate her life and all that she has and we want her to give back when she can. There probably aren't many underprivileged children in our apartment complex, but the message is the same. No matter how little you have it is important to pay it forward when you can. I love this girl to the moon and back. Her heart and kindness inspire me!  

Ready to go out to the courtyard for the outdoor egg hunt

Daddy helping Ellasen look for eggs

Finding one! 

Later in the day we took a trip down to Rockefeller Center to see the Faberge Egg art installment. These large eggs were created by various artists and hidden around the city. The object was to find them all and track them with a smart phone app. I think the goal was to be the first to find all the eggs. After the contest was over, all the eggs were gathered up and put on display at Rockefeller Center. The eggs were so cool to see. There were probably at least 100 of them!

 They ranged from the fancy:

to the patriotic:

to the silly:

This one looks just like my dad!

And every thing in between: