Oh Easter long weekend, how I adore you.  Also?  I sort of love that spring break ran straight into Easter weekend this year. Between 4 days in Palm Springs with my girlfriends, a week in Vancouver with our little fam jam, and a low key long weekend of Easter fun at home, I feel like definitely made the most of our break.

Good Friday was a travel day for us, so Saturday morning the kids and I hit the ground running and went out first thing to get groceries and pick up a helmet for Sam while Brad slept in.  When Sam went down for his nap, Grae, Brad, and I got started on setting up our trampoline after having stored it in pieces for the winter.  It was a big job and Brad and I nearly gave up at one point, but we ended up getting it put together in about 3 and half hours, which is two hours less than what it took the Springfree guy when we first got it, so yay us for sticking it out!

On Sunday morning we woke up to snow {yes, in April!} so instead of crying and packing the kids into the car and immediately heading back to Vancouver {I kid… sort of ;)}, I mixed up some pancake batter, I pulled out my griddle, and put together these little bunnies for a late breakfast.  Sam dove in immediately and had his first ever taste of dark chocolate {not sure why I didn’t replace his chocolate chips with raisins, but what’s done is done – hah!} while Miss G admired her bunny and ensured we could make another if she ate the first.

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After breakfast we got to some egg decorating, which was a total blast.  We’ve done all sorts of decorating methods over the years {silk dyeing, fruit and veggie dyeing, marbled shaving foam dyeing, good old wax resist dip dyeing…} and this year we decided to try volcano dyeing – a fun, science-y twist on egg dyeing!

You can get all of the details over on Toddler Approved, but basically you create baking soda-based paints, paint your egg with them, let it sit for a minute…

And then give your egg a vinegar bath which creates a super fun, fizzy reaction.

We didn’t follow the instructions exactly and chose to swap out the food colouring for washable liquid watercolours {CAN}…

But I think our eggs still turned out just beautifully!

After Sam’s nap, the kids got dressed in their little matchy-matchy overalls and fox socks {CAN}, which pretty much was the cutest thing ever.

{For the record, I will dress them in coordinating clothes forever and ever so long as they let me.}

With matching outfits on and baskets in hand, we headed out into our {very brown, very in need of attention} backyard for an egg hunt.

This year we did the same thing as we did last year and had Sam search for blue and green eggs and Miss G hunt for pink and yellow ones.

I love this method because a) at this point, Sam’s eggs and Grae’s eggs are filled with very different things and b) because it allows Sam’s eggs to be fairly easy to spot and Graes eggs much harder to find.

The best part?  How into it Sam was this year!  Last year he found a few eggs, discovered they had raisins in them, and it was game over.  He quit searching and began eating. This year he was a total egg hunting rockstar.

As was Miss G, of course.  Despite some of her eggs being in super tricky spots, I think she finished off the day missing just 2 of her 30 something eggs.

When they were mostly all found, it was time to find out what was inside, which was so much fun.  Both kiddos found treats, stickers, animal figurines, egg-shaped sidewalk chalk, and finger puppets for our collection, and Sam had little ankle socks, a vehicle-themed threading set broken up over several eggs, and a small toy fire engine in his.

Miss G had sticky notes, stamps, and loads of different type of hair ties in hers.

For a late lunch I decided to make something I often make on the weekends – a family snack platter.  As usual, it included loads of fruits, veggies, and nuts, but I decided to make it a little more Easter-y just for fun.

I whipped up a chocolate peanut butter spread with natural peanut butter, cocoa, and pure maple syrup to put on little multigrain baguette rounds, I included some of the eggs we’d dyed, plus Love Ducks and bunny crackers, and cut pineapple, cantaloupe, and tofu into fun spring shapes using cookie cutters. I finished the whole thing off with just a few dark chocolate covered cashews and then it was time to eat!

Needless to say, Sam loved it…

As did Grae.  In fact, I’m pretty sure she ate all four purple hardboiled eggs.

A post shared by Jen Kossowan (@mamapapabubba) on Apr 1, 2018 at 11:13pm PDT

I don’t have anymore real camera photos to show for the remainder of the day, but it was basically spent out on the freshly set-up trampoline and then it was into our usual eggy bath at the end of the day.  Plastic eggs, a couple of scoops, and a bin or bowl that will float on the water are always a hit!

Early Monday morning we kicked off our annual Easter basket scavenger hunt, which is always so much fun but was even better this year because Sam was old enough to really participate. I sometimes go a little bit overboard with Easter baskets because a) I’m a bit of a squirreller and by the time Easter rolls around I’ve often collected more than I intended to and b) because we’re not really people who buy things for our kids other than on special holidays and occasions, so I can happily justify it.  Also, I just love spoiling my kids a few times a year. :)

Our kiddos were up with the birds as usual, but we managed to hold off the scavenger hunt until 7 a.m. until they could wait no longer.

The last couple of years Brad has come up with rhyming clues and I’ve written them out onto little card stock eggs or bunnies, but this year we went the lazy route and printed off these pre-made scavenger hunt clues and they were perfect!

They took the kiddos all around the house until they finally found their baskets in our laundry room on top of the dryer!

Here’s a peek at what was in them this year:

First up, a close up look at what was inside little Sam’s basket {oh, how I looooove putting together Easter baskets}…

• a little tee and shorts for spring
• a Hugo & Debra Naturals coconut bath bomb {CAN}
• Make It Grow by Debbie Powell {CAN}
• a metal kazoo to add to our collection of musical instruments {CAN}
• a Constructive Eating utensil set {CAN}
• a few Holtztiger animals to add to his collection {CAN}
• some Annie’s Homegrown snack mix
• The Little Rabbit Who Lost her Hop by Jedda Robaard {CAN}
• Stabilo’s Woody 3-in-1 crayons (these are amazing and can be used on windows too!) {CAN}
• a little garden rake
• Bilberry fruit snacks from Ikea
• a red truck he fell in love with while visiting Dilly Dally Kids
• a packet of AuraCacia Calming Foam Bath {CAN}

I’ve provided Amazon links above because I know it’s easy for most people to order from, but I picked up the majority of these items from our very favourite kids store in Vancouver, Dilly Dally Kids {you don’t even know how happy I was that we were in Vancouver just before Easter!} If you can ever pop in and check it out, I highly recommend you do.  Their shelves are stocked full of very carefully curated kids’ items and books and sometimes I feel like whomever does their ordering is inside my head because their store is pretty much a collection of all of my favourite brands, books, and toys.  I picked up the bath products at Nature’s Fare, the fruit snacks while at Ikea obviously, the little outfit and snack mix from Target while I was in Palm Springs, and the Stabilo crayons from Collage Collage {our favourite Vancouver kids’ art studio}.

Next up, Miss G’s basket…

• Draw, Colour, & Sticker Nature Sketchbook {CAN}
• a Papo unicorn {CAN}
• a slide whistle to add to our musical instrument collection {CAN}
• a sweet little ruffle sleeved romper
• a Hugo & Debra Naturals coconut bath bomb {CAN}
• strawberry fruit snacks from Ikea
• Pür bubble gum (the girl is gum obsessed) {CAN}
• a small garden shovel
• a few little Scheich animal figurines to add to our collection {CAN}
• a Denman Island dark chocolate bunny
• a packet of AuraCacia Cheering Foam Bath {CAN}
• a Spirograph set (best fun ever!) {CAN}
• Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman {CAN}

Again, I found most all of this at Dilly Dally Kids while we were visiting Vancouver, but the romper is from Target, the fruit snacks are from Ikea, the gum is from Winners, and the bath things and chocolate bunny are from Nature’s Fare.

The kiddos enjoyed their Easter basket goodies for a good couple of hours while Brad brought our car into the shop {yes, on Easter Monday!} and I very leisurely made an Easter brunch of wholewheat cinnamon buns, egg and potato bake, tofu scramble, and berries before we all sat down together and enjoyed it.

The rest of the day was spent outside in the sunshine jumping on the trampoline, getting some yard work done, and doing a spring texture hunt as a family.

{Aren’t these sweet?  You can get both free printables here.}

Until next year, Easter weekend…

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I’ve been pretty terrible at sharing day-to-day life sorts of things recently…  When I do actually find the time blog, I seem to share mostly kids’ activities, which means that all of the fun milestones, monthly Sam updates, and birthday celebrations get to continue their stay in my drafts folder. :/  The thing is, when I go back and look through the now thousands of posts on my site, it’s the more personal posts that I love best.  The ones that tell about our decision to move back to Kuwait or how Miss G puked all over me while riding the metro home from the Eiffel Tower or how we told Grae she was going to be a big sister or about finally bringing Sam home.  And so, my effort to share more of our personal family life begins once again…  with our recent Easter weekend. {And gosh, was it ever a good one.}

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