We have a pretty standard tradition of coloring Easter eggs for Family Home Evening the week before Easter.  Poor Tyler was just a spectator this year, but the rest of the kids had a great time.  It took a while because they wanted some pretty vibrant colors.  We also had the setback of cleaning up the blue dye Tyler knocked over before we even started.  So much fun.

Since school was out on Friday and Monday for Easter break, I decided to have Sydney's birthday party Friday afternoon.  It was pretty overwhelming since Ben was at work, Tyler was teething, and Zack was sick.  But Sydney had a good time.  I don't have any pictures of the games since I was pretty involved.  I also forgot to take pictures of the cute bunny cupcakes I made.

We played Pin the Tail on the Bunny, had an egg and spoon race, and several other plastic egg related activities.

Saturday was the actual birthday, and it was jam-packed.  We started the day with a trip to Independence to get Sydney's portraits taken at JCPenney.  Then we had to go to Pizza Street.  It was Sydney's choice, but that's our favorite place in Independence.

Sydney had also been asking for weeks to go to the B-2 with the flags by the base's front gate for her birthday.  We could go anytime, but that's what she wanted.  Ben took the girls out there while Tyler napped and I got some chores done with Zack.

When they got back we had Sydney's family party.  She got a TON of art supplies from Grandma and Grandpa Olsen.

She got cards with money from other grandparents.  She LOVES money.  She was so excited to pay her tithing today.

And we had a pinata.  There was no way I was doing this with a bunch of crazy 7-year-olds.  Just our family.  Everyone got lots of turns and lots of candy.

Another bunny cake.  Sydney was loving having her birthday the day before Easter.

That evening there was and Easter egg hunt and cookout with our neighbors on our street.  There were 12 eggs for each kid and the big kids were very good about sharing with the little ones.

Tansy spent most of the evening by the fire pit.

Sydney had to try out her new rollerblades and pads that she bought that morning with her birthday money.  We had to go to four stores to find pads that weren't princesses or black!

Zack played basketball with the 15-year-old across the street.  He would hand him the ball then get another one while he was shooting.  It was adorable.

Easter morning was a hit.  There was chocolate and the standard book from the Easter Bunny.  There were also temporary tattoos that are proving to be a bit less permanent than the Easter Bunny expected.  We didn't think about trying to get them off yesterday, and there was no time this morning.  After a week they haven't faded so the Abshire kids were covered in tattoos at church today.

Hunting for Easter eggs.

Poor allergic Tyler was stuck at the table.

Tyler also decided to get himself a snack in the pantry a couple of days ago.  Sigh.

There was a stake women's conference yesterday, but it was also the caselot sale at the commissary.  These are not like caselot sales in Utah.  You stand in a long, slow line with a flatbed dolly and weave through the warehouse portion of the store.  I am usually there at 8:00 in the morning and get home around 12:00.  More than once I have picked up the last box of something I wanted.  Ben asked me which one I was going to go to.  I told him that we have been commanded to attend all of our meeting so I was going to the Relief Society conference.  He reminded me that we have also been commanded to store food.  I told him that since the sale went all day, I would go to the conference, and if there was stuff that the Lord really wanted us to have in our food storage, it would still be there when I went in the afternoon.  I got great stuff!  I was so excited!  They had better items than they usually have and our pantry is super stocked.  That was such a blessing to me.