Easter with the Beelers

Mike and I hosted Easter for his extended family on the Saturday before Easter.  What a privilege to have everyone in our home and get to spend the day together.  I think we had 18 for the day.

I had most of my food ready to go the day before, but plenty of helpers to assist in getting our last minute things finished up...

Miguel, Kea, and our sweet Kansas nieces arrived by 9:30 with Granny and Papa following shortly, which meant they were early enough to get to go along with Mike and our crew to the William Penn Easter egg hunt.  What a way to start the morning!

But first, birthday gifts for Mia and Mike!

Ready to hunt!  The air had a chill but the sun was promising us a beautiful day!

Getting their hunt on....

Look at Evalynn waving at the bunny...

Mia was on a different part of the lawn so she missed the Easter bunny picture.  Natalee and Xavier were "too old" to hunt but they went along for fun!

We did pictures before we released the kids to the wild...with how dirty my children got throughout the day, I'm glad we did pictures first.

AJ and Mia's hands and crossed legs...

What a crew!

There was time to visit and play while my oven did the Lord's work and soon the Brummer crew arrived!

The oven got a bit backed up so lunch was at more like 12:30 than noon, but that just meant everyone was really ready for it, right?  Ha.

We did meatloaf and beef roast, party potatoes, macaroni salad, macaroni and cheese, green beans, corn, deviled eggs, hot rolls, and fresh fruits and veggies.

What a blessing to have beautiful weather so the children could dine al fresco.  I propped open the dining room door and combined the two eating areas in a way.

Full tables fill my heart.

Oh....and brownies, ice cream, apple crisp, and cinnamon rolls for dessert.

We filled our bellies full to bursting, and digested for a few minutes before doing up enough dishes to leave the kitchen usable.

Then it was time for Easter egg hunting!!

Hear ye, hear ye....the rules of the hunt.  The kids appreciate Grammy and Aunt Penny's well planned Easter egg hunts.

Some of the eggs had slips of paper with numbers in them that told the kids what order to stand in to choose a prize.  They did 6-8 rounds of prize picking, which was fun.

Thank you, Grammy, Aunt Penny, and to our friend, Kathy, for the great Easter egg hunt!

After the eggs were emptied and the prizes tidied up it was just time to play, relax, and visit.

sack races...

yard games...

{love you}

These sweet little girls took a break from the sun to play downstairs....they were so sleepy but really handled themselves well.

For supper Mike put burgers and hot dogs on the grill, we refilled the fruit and veggie trays, and set out chips and dip....a simple meal to finish the day out.

The kids played and played and played.  We tidied the yard and they just played so hard.  We were in no rush for the day to end, but eventually we bathed the little girls, and AJ ran through the shower, too, so that if she and Isa fell asleep on the way to Missouri, they could just climb straight in bed.

I tried to let these girls watch a show after they bathed but they couldn't sit still long enough - lest they might fall asleep, I suppose - so they played some more instead.

We never love saying good-bye but we are SO thankful for the beautiful full day.