the new tradition...

...has been established. On Saturday night, Ave and I prepared a small plate of baby carrots and lettuce, which we then placed in his empty basket on our front porch. The idea being we were luring the Easter Bunny to our house and he might fill the basket with treats as a thank you. We sat on the porch steps in our pajamas, cuddling in the dark for what seemed like forever, waiting to see if we could spot any bunnies. One of us would gasp "I see one" and point. And right as the other would turn to look, say "aww - I think it's gone."

Ave burst out of bed (figuratively, as he's still using his crib) in the morning and raced to the front door. I cracked it open for a peek and he noticed the basket had disappeared and the plate of carrots had been eaten.



You can see Ave's confusion regarding the whereabouts of his basket. The Bunny left a trail of eggs into the yard, starting with the one on his plate.



He collected the eggs, leading him into the azaleas, where he was beyond excitement when discovering his basket.

In case you were wondering, the contents included a Mr. Potato Head (in bunny costume), a few chocolates, and a Folkmanis bunny puppet (I'm a huge fan of Folkmanis puppets, but that's a whole different topic).

We then ate breakfast, consisting of freshly dyed hard boiled eggs, and put on our spiffy duds and headed to church in time for the annual Easter egg hunt.



Avery was determined to collect as many eggs as he could.

We attend a historic church built in the 17th century, so the courtyard is also their cemetery. The eggs were hidden amongst the tombstones, which I find especially touching being that Easter is about discovering new life from death.



Afterward, we went to my parents' house and feasted on barbecued chicken and pineapple.



And ate my little brownie bunny treats for dessert. The brownie and mint ice cream are the perfect pair.



The weather was perfect, so we lounged in the backyard until the sun went down.



Hope you guys had a relaxing weekend, too.