The Hunt is On

We attended our church's annual Easter party and egg hunt at a member's home this afternoon. This day is the highlight of our spring each year because Spencer and I have so much fun and the kids do too. It amazes me each time that this family opens their home to an obscene amount of children on a complete sugar high and lots and lots of foods and candy are involved. One year I watched a child rub a strawberry on their WHITE couch. I asked Stephanie today how she maintains self-control when she hosts the party each year and her response was that the first year they did it God taught her a lesson on belongings and how unimportant they are when she had lasagna stains on her new couches delivered an hour before the party started. She said she realized that it was a waste to worry about "stuff" because it doesn't matter and doing this for the church family is so much fun and making all the children so happy and seeing their smiling faces was more important. Wow. My hat goes off to her.

First off, Ella Ann sprang out of bed this morning and came running in the living room because she was so excited about the hunt! We have been looking forward to this for weeks so being that the day was here she could hardly contain herself! Spencer had to work this morning so I was all alone for a while at the party. It was our first year taking Rane and all I have to say is that my arm is extremely sore from trying to hold him while he fought me to get down for nearly two hours. He was ALL over the place...wandering down hallways, up stairs, down stairs (he doesn't know how to do that so you can imagine how that ended), pulling coasters off tables, bringing me random stuff from their house and off the floor, sitting on other people's laps and eating their food (not kidding), and trying to pull bowls of food off the buffet table. Yes, it was exhasting. I really wanted to chat with all of my friends but it was impossible. Oh and there was still Ella Ann who I had to feed as well. Thankfully she can do everything on her own so she was fine and comfortable enough for me to leave her and search high and low for Rane. At one point I couldn't find her and I looked up on their hill and she was already hunting eggs...yeah, missed that one. Spencer arrived as I was shoveling food down my throat and feeding Rane in order to contain him in one spot. He was able to eat a plate of food and see Rane sort of hunt eggs before he was called in....and I was left alone....again. Keep in mind it was wall-to-wall adults and kids inside and outside, which was why it was so hard to "control" Rane and keep up with Ella Ann!

Rane attempting to hunt eggs was so funny. Ella Ann and I did a practice run with him this morning in the kitchen and he figured it out quickly. Well when it was time to step up he forgot what he was taught and just sat down. He found one little egg and that was all he needed. He put it in his basket and just sat in the grass. As you will see from the pictures below he was so very interested in this one egg in his basket. All he wanted to do was open his basket and nearly put his head in it trying to see the egg. I tried to force, ummm... I mean encourage, him to walk and find more but it was useless. It was over. I wanted to video him on his very first Easter egg hunt but trying to manage him, the camera, the video camera and keep up with Ella Ann was just too much.

Ella Ann, however, had her game face on and she filled her basket to the brim! It seems like yesterday she was Rane's age and Spencer and I were trying to prod her along to find the not-so-hidden eggs and now she did it without us even around. I did get some pictures of her mid-hunt, which is why she has such a determined look on her face. She took over an hour going through her loot from the hunt when we got home. What an exciting day it was for her. I brought Rane inside and put him down 40 minutes late for his nap and he was out. I never heard a single peep for over 3 hours and I still had to wake him up!

Waiting for his food.

Ella Ann and Anjuli ate lunch together. It was cute to watch them!

There it is...the lone egg that he loved.

Trying to get the egg for the umpteenth time.

Nope, he wouldn't budge.

Silly boy!

She's on a mission!

I tried my hardest to get a good picture of them but without Spencer it was virtually impossible. See...he still wants in that basket! Ella Ann was actually mad in this picture because I made her stop and take a picture with Rane. I don't think she could've fit another egg in that basket of hers!