quarantine easter ’20

first easter in my life where i did not spend it with my extended family! as you saw in the previous post about our situation with covid-19…it’s been several weeks of unknown, unfamiliar territory.

let’s be clear…i am not scared. i am not upset. i’m not living in fear but i understand that what we are doing is for the greater good of our world. i’ve loved our time home and if that’s what we need to do to flatten the curve, then so be it. i’m quite content.

celebrating the rise of Christ was so good. we started the morning off with easter baskets and gifts. the girls loved their presents! they spent some time opening up their treasures and then we ran outside for the easter egg hunt!

it had rained the day before, so we figured it would be safe to have the hunt outside and it was suppose to be 55 degrees, which was a great temp for us to hold this outdoors.

after the egg hunt, we came inside to open up all the colorful eggs to see what toys or candy it held inside! after playing around a bit with their egg hunt favors, we all got dressed up for the day and watched sunday easter mass via online.

we had our easter brunch catered through foxtail in downtown downers grove and all we had to do was heat it up! while we were preparing our meal, we were also waiting for the easter bunny to arrive!

a month back, our favorite shop, waterlemon offered easter bunny visits through their site! when i saw that, i thought hell yes! how awesome would that be with us not being able to visit the bunny this year but to have the bunny come to us?! i was on it.

as we were waiting for our food to warm up, the bunny arrived! we started screaming for the girls to come upstairs! olive rushed up and ellie was perplexed. we said, ‘the eater bunny is here!” and ellie was like no thank you. she said, “i scared! i scared!” well, we didn’t care. LOL we all rushed out and left ellie behind and she had no choice but to follow us outside.

oh what a treat! the bunny was waiting with balloons and gifts and asked if olive and ellie were around! olive was SOOOO excited! she was jumping up and down, so ecstatic to see the easter rabbit and so excited the bunny knew their names. the bunny was so sweet and loving towards the girls. they exchanged a few words and ellie busted out, “where are your carrots?!” hahaha! the bunny so wisely responded with, “i ate them for breakfast!” the visit was short, sweet, and socially distance. what i loved most was that ellie has always been afraid of life sized character costumes and she totally warmed up to the bunny…we are breaking through!

wow…it was such a fun 10 minutes of our day! the neighbors all came out to catch a glimpse and the bunny visit put a smile on everyone’s face!

afterwards, we all went inside to a delicious easter brunch and relaxed on the couch, in our jammies, for the rest of the day!

check out all the pics from our easter week!

*****

B U N N Y  C R A F T

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[ready to paint!]

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[blue…her FAVORITE color]

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[my sweet girl getting so big!]

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[full focus]

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[this girl is full of funny faces…she knew i was snapping a pic and wanted to display how hard she was concentrating and working on her artwork]

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[finished product]

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E A S T E R  W E E K  F U N

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[ellie’s easter shelfie]

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[easter bunny lunch]

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[easter basket goodies]

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[i love creating their baskets]

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B U N N Y  C I N N A M O N  R O L L S

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[yummy cinnamon bunny rolls]

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[olive’s creation]

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[ellie’s creation]

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[she’s like – what you looking at?! LOL]

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E A S T E R  E G G  D Y I N G

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[she’s been on either a cat kick or purple hair kick]

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[i was very surprised at how well ellie did with dying her eggs!]

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[she’s wild and sweet]

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[first batch]

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[painting]

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[working hard with the glue, glitter, and confetti]

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[olive’s batch]

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[watercolor]

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*****

S A T U R D A Y  M O R N I N G  F U N

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[i had this donut decorating kit delivered to our house!]

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[they ate more than they used on the donuts]

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[working so diligently on her creations]

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[the girl’s works of art]

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[thumbs up yummy!]

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[we packed up donuts for our neighbors!]

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E A S T E R  S U N D A Y

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[easeter goodies]

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[excitement]

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[she loves her walk a lot unicorn]

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[she was excited to get this minnie mouse phone]

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[olive’s glitter chalk easter eggs]

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[gummi’s]

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[easter dress]

*****

E A S T E R  E G G  H U N T

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[ready to hunt eggs! i told hc to make it easy but i didn’t expect him to just dump the eggs in the middle of the yard. LOL]

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[going through her goodies]

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*****

E A S T E R  B U N N Y

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[my sweet babes]

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[here comes the easter bunny!]

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[waving from afar]

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*****

E A S T E R  B R U N C H

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[bunny cookie from foxtail]

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[bb’s baby donuts! so good!]

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[grapefruit mimosas]

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xoxo

bunny good time!

it was a mix of many things this past weekend. it was the weekend before easter and hc’s birthday. we were able to do a lot of fun easter driven things and unfortunately, most of the birthday inspired activities fell through. there was the snow storm on sunday which cancelled plans for a lunch up at hc’s parent’s house. i had planned a spa afternoon and dinner at a yummy restaurant for his actual birthday but that fell through as hc had to stay late at work {his boss was flying in mid afternoon and he had to be there}.

nevertheless, it was still a good, fun, relaxing time!

we had a date with the easter bunny on saturday morning. as usual, our morning started off slow and always winds up in a frenzied rush to get out of the house. i didn’t want to be too late, as in, i wasn’t sure if the line for the bunny would be too long. last year, it was at least an hour and half long wait and we arrived there early!

we were third in line, which was great! the person manning the virtual wait list told us to not go far, as we would be up soon once the bunny arrived. hey, no problem. we grabbed a seat right by the check in and waited until we received a text from the virtual queue. i received the text that we were up next, so i walked up and the host told us to step in the 8 person deep line. um, what? what is the point of a virtual line if your place in line is not honored?? i was annoyed. hc made a great point, it was worthless for us to arrive a half hour early to secure our place in the virtual line and if we had arrived 40 minutes later, we would have not waited and had the same place in line as our virtual queue, because it didn’t matter. we could have just walked up and it would have saved us time in the morning and all the rushing we did just to secure a place that was not recognized. i was peeved.

the good new was that the line moved quickly. the bad news was, ellie was starting to freak out. she was sooooooooooo scared of the bunny. i mean she was freaking the f8ck out! as our turn with the bunny drew near, she started to melt down. i was holding her and she literally screamed for my sister, thuy, to save her {who was standing outside the ropes}, she said, “i want thuyyyyyyy!” and cried. when it was our turn, girlfriend literally belted out in the loudest voice, “noooooooooooooooooo! no! nooooo! no!!” everyone was like “awwwwww” as in they felt her pain.

we got a few pics in and we went on our merry way. poor ellie…i didn’t want to traumatize her! i felt so bad she was freaking out hard core. although olive was a pro! she was so excited to see the bunny and couldn’t wait to tell him what she wanted for easter! i get it though…olive was not keen on santa, bunnies, or anything of that sort until she was about 4 years old, so we have time with ellie {only being 2 1/2!}.

we all walked to a favorite restaurant called the blue door kitchen and garden {off of elm and rush}. we were seated upstairs {it’s so quaint and cute}, where it was a little more spacious and less crowded. the girls were so well behaved but it helped having their cousin with them, reagan, who is so good with them!

we ordered food for the girls right away and libations. we hemmed and hawed just a wee bit on the entrees but finally concluded to a few delicious choices. i really enjoyed everything about the restaurant: the ambience, the decor, how relaxing it was and the great service. i also adore how the girls love to explore and how comfortable the environment was for them to do so. that always makes for a relaxing, stress free dining experience!

after brunch, we traipsed our way back to bloomingdale’s, where we hung out a bit more {we are a bit obsessed with aster hall}. kim and reagan had to head back for his baseball game and thuy had plans with a friend in the evening.

once we arrived home and settled in, we dyed easter eggs! it was such a fun time. olive truly loved it and had a great time creating different colors, drawing on the eggs, and making unique designs. we used shaving cream with food coloring to create swirl dyed eggs, we had mod podge, glitter, confetti, markers, stickers, party hats and metallic paper to promote creativity! ellie, on the other hand, preferred to watch us, yawn, and roll her eyes at us. LOL. she’s such a character.

we crammed a lot into our saturday but i wouldn’t have it any other way. i love being busy and keeping busy and diving deep into anything holiday related! happy easter week my friends!

*****

900 NORTH SHOPS CHICAGO

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[anxiously waiting for the easter bunny!]

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[being skeptical about everything]

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[she styled her outfit and hair!]

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[we really had to talk to ellie and tried to convince her that bunny was a good dude]

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[miss ellie couldn’t stand still for anything]

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[playing around and waiting for the bunny]

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[look at ellie crying!]

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[i totally didn’t want to be in the pic but here we are!]

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*****

BLUE DOOR KITCHEN AND GARDEN

via tandeminlove.com[she was entertained by her little figurines]

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[pretty plates]

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[enjoying our time with family]

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[pretty corners everywhere]

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[high tea]

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[mes seours]

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[classic ellie]

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[hc ordered a drink called the boss and it just baffled olive why they kept serving the boss to dada. LOL]

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[the prettiest restaurant]

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[my sweet tenacious babe]

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[chicken and waffles]

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[i am obsessed with kale and cabbage salads!]

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[the prettiest light…auntie kim with the prettiest ladies]

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[hustling through the streets of chicago]

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[the clan gang]

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[my old stomping ground]

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*****

EASTER EGGS

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[easter egg dying]

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[working diligently]

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[eggcited over the colors!]

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[how ellie dyes easter eggs]

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[glitter, confetti, party hats, markers, food dye…oh my!]

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[shaving cream food dye colored eggs]

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[her easter egg bunny creation]

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xoxo

easter bunny

my sister kim, last minute, asked us to come with her to go see the easter bunny at 900 n. olive paid a visit to the easter bunny once {at a local easter egg hunt}, when she was two years old but we didn’t see one last year. we hosted an egg hunt at our house versus going to one and seeing an easter bunny at a local mall or so.

the next morning, we did our usual routine and got ready to head out. i remembered back in the days, something like this stressed me out with two kids {hahaha…and yes, i only have two. not three. not four. referencing, it’s all relative, right?}. getting them ready & dressed, getting myself ready, getting them fed, packing up enough toys, diapers, snacks, etc., not forgetting anything for myself, getting them layered up for the cold weather, getting them strapped into the car seats {’cause, hell, that’s a process in itself!}, do i have the stroller? all sorts of things to remember and plus, i was always late. yes, it used to stress me out but now it’s like second nature.

we were ahead of schedule and hit the road to head to 900 n michigan ave. we parked, i fed ellie, i assembled the stroller, we rolled in, walked around, i had to go to the bathroom, we went to the wrong floor, and then we finally found the easter bunny area and signed up for a visit. it was an hour and forty five minute wait! oy! there were 40 families ahead of us!

everyone finally rolled in and we all gathered around the 6th floor {for coffee at oak tree}, to wait our turn for the easter bunny while the kids played in galt toys. olive obsessed over a unicorn bouncy. she was smitten. the entire time we were there, she bounced on it all around the store. she was sooooo happy! she showed it off to anyone who would listen. it was so cute. when we were leaving, she asked me if she could ‘borrow’ it. her word for, can we ‘buy’ it. i said, “maybe you can tell the easter bunny to bring it to you?”. her eyes totally lit up!

it was finally our turn to see the easter bunny! it went by much faster than estimated {one hour versus the hour forty five}, thank goodness! as expected, ellie was a hot mess when i left her with the easter bunny but overall we received pretty awesome pics!! olive was so good! i was so surprised and my heart was so full that she was excited to see him and not scared! the set up was so gorgeous! the balloon arch was beautiful and the flowers and lights were so springy and fun! i was so happy with the results!

after the easter bunny pics, we headed on over to the blue door kitchen and garden down on elm. it was so cute and cozy inside! the dinnerware was pretty, the libations were tasty, and the food was so delicious! i absolutely enjoyed our service; everyone was so attentive and polite! i definitely hope i can get back there with hc to eat again!

after our excursion at the restaurant, we shopped a little bit more and then headed on our way home. later that evening, the family came over to our house to eat dinner and dye eggs! our day was filled with so much fun!

it was such a lovely day. it really was. we had such a great time with everyone. seeing the easter bunny was so much fun, the restaurant was so good, and the company was even better. it was a really fun day with the family! time spent like that is priceless. oh, and the easter bunny did get olive her unicorn bouncy! yay!

happy easter lovelies!

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[i’m typically walton]

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[how gorgeous is this balloon display?]

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[i could stare at this all day…it’s so whimsical and pretty!]

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[i think i was more excited than olive when the easter bunny came out!]

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[she spotted the bouncy]

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[she’s going for it!]

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[no pictures of this next event but the poor babe fell on her face. eep!]

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[she faired better on this riding toy]

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[sweet babes running through the center]

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via tandeminlove.com[my sweet babe]

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[sweetest cousins]

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[cookie monster]

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[super auntie thuy and ellie]

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[what really happened…oh poor babe was so scared!]

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[blue door kitchen and garden]

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[terry and kim]

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[cutest kiddos]

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[the most delicious tea drink everrrrrr]

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[i love her so much]

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[yummy, yummy hummus]

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[my sweet olive]

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[this kale and brussel salad was ahhhhhhhmazing]

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[lan and avery]

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[these babes are too sweet]

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[i love her bob]

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[eating pizza before dyeing eggs]

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[reagan’s creative egg dyeing]

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[sweet babe ready for bed]

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[olive’s eggs]

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[pj time!]

xoxo