I didn’t get it together in time to tell you what I was PLANNING to put in the girls’ baskets…and I don’t even feel like I have the energy to give a full recap of Easter here but I’ll attempt ;). It was sweet, the girls are such a cute age, and I treasure every minute I have with them. Scroll down for some photos and some links.
Outfits
It wouldn’t be Easter for us without the perfect Rylee and Cru outfits (always use code “jenkhawkins” when you’re shopping there!) When I saw this plaid during a shoot with them last year it reminded me of a dress I had when I was little, and I knew I wanted it for the girls. It was also perfect because Romy doesn’t like dresses, so I could get her the cutest matching pant/tank set. To make my outfit coordinate, I added one of their matching bows to my hair.
Piper’s Dress (use code JENKHAWKINS for all of the girls’/R+C stuff!) | Romy’s Set | Romy & Piper’s Cardigans | Piper’s Headband | My Dress (Also available in 4 other colors here!) | My Sandals (I’m OBSESSED – so comfortable, so flattering, perfect color, I’ve been wearing them nonstop, use code JEN10) | My Bow | My Necklace | Piper’s Charm Necklace
I can’t even handle how cute there are – letting these photos live here….
Piper’s Dress (use code JENKHAWKINS for all of the girls’/R+C stuff!) | Romy’s Set | Romy & Piper’s Cardigans | Piper’s Headband | Piper’s Charm Necklace
Last year we were in Hawaii, hard to believe that was only a year ago. There we did NoraLee and I still die over that look! They have SO many cute dresses still in stock right now – I almost went with these butterfly ones. Piper and I also love this one in yellow, gah!
Baskets
My mom always used Easter as an opportunity to give us all new swimsuits and flip flops, and I do the same with my girls! This year I did swimsuits from Rylee + Cru (use code jenkhawkins), our very favorite towels (if you haven’t tried these, you need to! So big and soft and last forever!), flip flops, and a restock on pool toys because we needed a restock. I went through and got a ton of this Sun Squad stuff from Target, it’s all aesthetically cute, good for pool or just playing outside in summer, and so cheap. Almost eveything was $3-$10, there are a few things for $15-$20.
A Little Extra
My friend Kaeli is like an actual fairy godmother to my girls – she’s one of my best friends and from my home town, but also an identical triplet who grew up with a single mom. There’s no doubt in my mind that God placed her in my life for verrrrry specific reasons. She also LOVES holidays, and every holiday she sends so many cute things for my girls. She does their stockings for Christmas, sends Christmas gifts on Santa’s behalf, supplies surprises for Valentine’s Day. Aside from the money factor, it means SO much that she takes that mental load for me. Anyways, this Easter she sent the girls Hatchimals and these Nerf guns/arrows with a target and they went NUTS for both! Hours of entertainment already!! Hatchimals would be such a good birthday gift for girls around Romy and Piper’s age, and at $20 they’re such a good value for the price point. The whole process of watching them Hatch was magical, and then they’ve been so cute for the girls to play with since with all the little interactive things they do.
Kaeli also got them these Harry Potter jammies for Christmas because we are DEEP into Harry Potter right now and they insist on wearing them anytime they’re clean!!
The Hunt
I have been so overwhelmed this year, so I was thanking my past-Easter self for stock up on and saving plastic eggs and dye kits – they’re on sale for $2 right now! And because Amy/Waverly organized my garage, I have the perfect place to put the bins and knew exactly where it was when it was time to stuff eggs late the night before Easter. If you see stuff on sale (check out Michael’s or Target!) I highly recommend getting it now and keeping it somewhere for next year, it’s all on crazy sale! I bought some candy and found some dollar bills and coins to stuff the eggs with. I’d even thrown some tiny toys and tiny resin bunnies in the plastic egg bin over the last year. Ok and here’s my new idea that I WISH I’d done this year – buy a cheap kit of fairy garden pieces and separate them into different eggs so the girls can collect them as they open eggs! I linked a ton here – there are so many options at different price points. Will someone remind me I want to do this next year?!
My girls love to hunt with a smaller crew – especially just them two. They’re competitive enough to care how many eggs they get, but not enough to really go for it in a big group😂. They get overwhelmed (and maybe self conscious?) We actually had plans to go to friends’ house for brunch – it’s what we usually do on Easter and we love them, they are like family to us. However one of my girls has been having a hard time around huge groups of people right now, and I’m still sorting out how to deal with it. For this holiday, I had to ask myself what is best for her to have fun and create good, safe memories. As much as it killed me to skip the brunch, my girlfriend is amazing and understood because she knows my girls so well. They also added a (very hilarious) element to the egg hunt where they taped eggs on the dads and the kids had to chase them around. Luckily I knew about it ahead of time – my girls have been really sensitive to events where other kids have dads there and they don’t. I know this is inevitable throughout life because divorce means there will be times where their dad or I aren’t there, but this holiday I wanted to protect them and let them have the happiest version of Easter for them. All with hope that next year we will be back in action at the brunch!!
Easter Dinner
We were lucky to be invited to a friends’ for an intimate Easter dinner with their family, and it was incredible. The roast, the sides, right down to the key lime pie they made for dessert with the limes and zest from their own orchard. At the end of dinner I remembered that I’d thrown this Easter Bunny costume in my car and my friend’s mom JUMPED at the chance to put it on and surprise the kids. It was such a sweet moment!! We’ve had some good memories with this costume and the family/friends who have agreed to wear it over the last five years!!! Worth every penny for those memories, and I just store it in one of my Easter bins. Easy! Romy also insisted on changing into pajamas when we got to dinner, so I was glad I had these cute ones from a girls’ trip earlier this year. They’re perfect for Easter/Spring, and she loves them.
I hope you had a beautiful Easter weekend with people who love you. Our’s wasn’t perfect, and there were some weird/hard moments, but that just made the beautiful moments feel that much more special.
xx
Jen
Leave a Reply