Easter at the grandparent's house....

For Easter we always go to my parent's house. In addition, my sister and her family come along with my brother and his girlfriend who will hopefully be my sister in law one day if my brother would just finally pop the question!

The six kids range in ages from 8-15. We laugh because my son RJ is 15, a freshaman in high school, and is still very actively participating in the egg hunt. Guess he just doesn't want to miss out on the change put in the eggs along with the big prize at the end.

When we arrive we stuff our faces with appetizers first. Then onto the egg hunt!

To make things fair, we tie an older child to a younger child and they work as a team. In the above photo my 12 year old son Reece is tied to my 10 year old nephew Anthony. My 11 year old daughter Sami is tied to my 13 year old niece Olivia. And lastly, my 15 year old son is tied to my 8 year old nephew Nicholas. On "GO" they run around the yard collecting the eggs.

Once they are done they come in, open their eggs, and divide their money up amongst their team. They end up with 3 or 4 dollars a piece. There is always one special egg hidden that one team finds with two lottery tickets in it.

It doesn't end there! Next, they go on a scavenger hunt following riddle clues that lead them to their baskets filled with very special goodies that my mother puts a lot of time and love into.

Once they have gone through their baskets they play outside (weather pending of course). Despite the age differences, they all get along so well.

In addition, we started a new tradition this year. My brother's girlfriend Betty is addicted to taking care of and painting her nails. Something I don't do to often seeing that they get ruined so quickly while painting and gardening. Betty brought all of her "nail stuff". Sami and Olivia were as intrigued as my sister and I were:

While waiting for dinner, the 5 of us decided to treat ourselves to manis and pedis. Betty is in between the two girls, and my sister Kendra is the one in the black t-shirt sitting next to me.

After dinner, everyone winds down and has desserts. Sometimes we play a family game. RJ and Olivia got into a card game.

A huge THANKS to you mom and dad for loving our kids so much and making their lives special everyday. Mom, you know how much Kendra and I appreciate the thought and love that goes into every holiday we share together.