The month of April and Easter in Oz

In order to try and catch up yet again on the happenings of our life, I am combining the happenings of April and our many Easter events into one post.  Easter weekend is a big deal here in Australia, which I find strange, because overall, it is not a widely Christian country.  The way it's been explained to me, is that it's more about the long weekend than the reverence for the miracle of conquering death.  Okay, we all like a good long weekend, but it was still strange being away from our home church for such a special weekend. Over the course of the month we had lots to do and plenty of Easter events to help us celebrate.  Here's a quick run-down...more for my own preservation of family memories than anything else.

We attended the Easter Party at Gaythorne Community Kindy, where the girls go to school, and chaos ensued as kids were given the green light to search for their little chocolate Easter eggs.  Over here they don't dye eggs like we do in the States, instead opting to let Mr. E. Bunny hide chocolate eggs to collect.  Later, Mr. E. Bunny himself made an appearance.  Then it was a bit of playtime and back home again.

see.  chaos.

we got eggs.

check out the ears on this guy!

he's not so bad.

playtime.

On another weekend we met up with some good friends at our favorite BBQ park - the Kangaroo Point Cliffs.  It was a fun afternoon filled with cupcakes, BBQ and another chocolate Easter egg hunt.

fun Easter cupcakes.

Jer & Cory

Ms. Brynn giving the kids their goodies. 

On April 7th, we had another first at our house when Caden lost his very first tooth!  The Tooth Fairy only had a few days warning after Caden announced his wobbly tooth before the gap appeared.  Here is the proud grin.

They're tiny little things, those pearly whites.

Look at the cute tooth fairy bag that Ms. Kylie made me!

And, in case you didn't get a close enough look, here ya go!

One of the great things about living in Brisbane is the alfresco dining.  It's so nice to eat outside when the weather is good, which is the majority of the year, and we probably eat 95% of our meals outside. In April it was still amazing weather, and as usual the girls enjoyed taking their lunches outside. When I stumbled upon them all cozied up next to each other, I just had to grab my camera.  Another great sister moment in the making.

Later in the month Wilston had Cross Country Day, which back home, when I was growing up, we would have called a Field Day.  It was a big to-do with races in all the different grade levels.  Boys against boys and girls against girls.  The preps were obviously really excited to get in on the action and had a really hard time sitting still while waiting for their turn. I guess all that pent up energy worked out okay for Caden because he came in 6th out of about 100 boys! It's funny when you have no idea how your kid will do in a competition and then they end up surprising you!

Caden & his buddy Andrew.

Caden & Ed H.

Prep F giving a silent cheer for Cross Country - Love it!

Gearing up by cheering the girls on.

Boys lined up.

Almost there!

6th place...whoo-hoo!

Getting his ribbon.

Almost directly after cross country, it was time for the annual Wilston Easter Hat Parade.  Not sure why the school thought it was a good idea to host two big events on the same day, but the kids had a good time at both none-the-less.  I wish I could have captured some of the crazy hats better.  You should have seen them...a few looked like they weighed more than the kids themselves!  So funny.

Like. So. Excited!

A sea of Easter Hats.

On Easter morning we woke up before church and found what the Easter Bunny had left.  Pretty cool stuff.  Thank you Easter Bunny...bawk-bawk (sorry, I couldn't resist!).

I think the next word was "sweeet!"

happy girl.

My sweet little bunnies.

And, last but not least, a few photos of the kids in their Easter outfits to wrap up the month of April...well not quite.  A fantastic family trip to Hamilton Island actually wrapped up the month, but that's another post all together.  Stay tuned.