For two-whole days we did not answer emails or worry about “what needed to be edited.” (Wait… what, how does two Cincinnati wedding photographers manage that)! Instead of working this past weekend, we hung out with our families (for the most part) and put in much needed quality time with the boys. We celebrated Easter the right way!
Being small business owners, it’s HARD to step away from our responsibilities. However, we must make sure we have a healthy work-life balance. The boys will only be kids for so long. We already have a teenager in the house! Now, we will be the first to admit, we’re not the greatest with this at times, but hell… we’re trying and that’s all we can do… keep trying and improving!
Now… back to the real reason for this post… Easter! For us, the hardest part of being married on a holiday, splitting our time between two families equally. Well, for roughly the past 3 Easters, we’ve celebrated with Ryan’s family on Saturday and we’ve hosted Nicole’s family at our place. This year was no exception.
Saturday was just a nasty day all around the Florence and Cincinnati areas… it was cold and wet. (Due to the weather, the engagement session we HAD on the books chose to reschedule… remember us mentioning that work-life balance struggle). Even if the weather wasn’t ideal, it did not stop the annual Easter Egg hunt at Ryan’s mother’s house! Ryan’s family has way more littles than Nicole’s, so we still get to do all “kiddy” stuff.
Ryan and, our brother in law, Tim were in charge of hiding the eggs. Some were easy to spot, while others were a little bit more difficult (the age range for the hunt was 2-13 years old). The 4 younger kids found their eggs quickly since the two oldest were told to let the younger kiddos find the “easy” ones. Tim hid a few eggs so well (and forgot where), it took the adults to find them. Plus, it didn’t help, we were searching about 15 minutes for an egg that didn’t exist. (Jacob miscounted the number of eggs in his bag… he said he only had 13 but he actually had his 14).
Ryan a little excited over hiding eggs… till they attacked!
Caleb’s dance moves after finding all his eggs!
There may have been a sibling fight over an egg…
The oldest and youngest egg hunting… notice the difference in excitement levels!
After the intense egg hunt, all the kids were crazy hyper… all because we allowed the kids to eat SO MUCH SUGAR between the candy in the eggs and dessert. With sugar rushes in full swing, we put all 6 kids at one table to dye Easter Eggs. Not going to life… IT WAS PURE CIAOS. The older kids were trying to create the “ugliest” colored eggs possible, while Caleb just wanted to use the crayon (but the other kids had it), the baby (Micah) was drinking the vinegar egg dye water, and then you had Elijah.
Elijah was concentrating SO hard on his egg dying task and he was so proud of them. As we were cleaning up, he made sure HIS eggs made it into the carton going to his house. He didn’t want to put down the egg carton for anything, including getting dressed to leave. He was at such a fun age this year!
Yep… this was the BEST faces we got from the boys!
Who wouldn’t want a spoon full of… vinegar. Maybe it balanced all the sugar out?
Our evening with Ryan’s family ended with us sitting around watching the movie Hop. Throughout the movie, Caleb kept asking if it was true. This year he was questioning the Easter Bunny’s existence big time. According to him, the parents buy the stuff and put it into the basket because the EB isn’t real. Such a sad parent moment. You want them to stay little and believe in the magic forever.
Even though Caleb was calling BS on our EB story, we had an adult fail but a parent win. Saturday night we left our screen door to our backyard unlocked. Well, when Caleb went to go outside to blow the bubbles EB left in his “basket”, he noticed the door was unlocked. Kid logic was we left the door unlocked for the EB to get in. So of course, since we wanted to hang onto the magic a little bit longer, we agreed. Plus… what adult wants to admit this big of a fail… oh wait… we just did (publicly too)!
Easter morning was spent hanging out with the kids and finishing prepping for Nicole’s family to arrive. Jacob unfortunately had finish some cleaning, while Caleb helped make the banana pudding. After all the prep was done, we spend the remaining time playing with bubbles, picking dandelions, and all the boys played Smash Brother’s on the Nintendo Switch. We think these few hours of just hanging out was the best part! We are typically so busy, it’s hard to find time to just be at home… playing together!
Hey look.. Nicole was around for Easter!!!
Caleb spent so much time picking dandelions… we ended up with two full bouquets. His original goal was to pick ALL of them from our backyard. After 2 cups full, we told him to leave the rest until the next time he is over!
This was how Pixie felt about having to wear her Easter dress.
Nicole’s family arrived (just as Caleb was headed to hang out with his mom). Our Easter Celebration with her side was fairly low key and definitely not as chaotic as Ryan’s side. As her family is mostly filled with adults, we hung out and chit chatted over tons of food and desserts.
This year was a little different, as we were missing 3 key members, Nicole’s mom (who was sick), Sister (who was working) and little bro, Devon, (who was sleeping because he works 3rds). While we enjoyed our time with those who were present, still makes us sad to miss time with the full family. Life happens, but make us cherish the times we do get to spend with people.
Nicole’s dad playing with the bubbles!
They’re both so fluffy!
Ryan and Pecko needed a nap and couldn’t hang till the end.
Now, we’re left with a fridge full of leftovers (so Nicole thought a 10 pound ham might be too small) and great memories of the past few days with our families. This is what life is made for!
Yay for Memories,
Nicole & Ryan
Such beautiful family memories captured. LOVED the difference in reactions to the egg hunt between the oldest and youngest members of the family!! too funny
Looks like it was a lot of fun!
We had a great time!
So glad you had a great Easter with family and these beautiful photos to cherish! Looks like such a fun time!!
We love being able to step away and truly be “in the moment” with family!
What a fun Easter!
We had a great time! Then again… time with the kids and family is a good time!