A relaxed family Easter

What does Easter mean to us? Well, like many celebrations it revolves around food, and I kicked it off by making hot cross buns, shortly followed by Easter nests. For us, Easter is a spring festival, a celebration of all the fun to be had in the great outdoors and a time when we get to spend lots of time together as a family. Oh, and it's a good excuse to eat lots of chocolate!

In previous years we have spent Easter with my family, but this year we decided to spend the weekend at home as just the three of us, our little family.

Good Friday was a bit of a washout, so we ended up just strolling into town in the morning on a mad hunt for mini eggs to enable us to make our Easter nests in the afternoon. Rosalie had fun helping Daddy stir the chocolate and shredded wheat together, but was better at eating the mini eggs than placing them in the nests, the cheeky monkey!

On Saturday we headed over to Basildon Park to do the Easter Egg Trail. Although the rain had cleared it was grey and the wind was bitter. It didn't stop us having fun though! We did the trail and Rosalie received a chocolate egghead - she thought she was going to get to eat it all herself, silly billy!

We enjoyed our picnic in the grounds, before heading into the house to warm up. The main staircase at Basildon Park always has something interesting on show, and this weekend was a spring scene set out with a picnic rug and hamper.

The weather got progressively better over the weekend, and on Sunday we enjoyed a morning at our local Wildlife Trust nature reserve. We took some seed and grain to feed the ducks and Rosalie enjoyed watching all the different birds. Birds are her new favourite thing; she can say the word and often spots the blackbirds in our garden or the pigeons on the neighbours' roofs.

As Rosalie is still quite small and doesn't really need lots of chocolate, granny and grandad got her a dolls pushchair as an Easter gift, and we got her a doll baby to go in it. So far most of her soft toys have been teddy bears, so this is her first proper dolly! She had so much fun on Sunday afternoon pushing her little baby around and giving her big cuddles. It was very cute to watch. Excuse the hat, she just loves it, and puts it on all the time!

She did also receive some milkybar eggs, which she's crazy for, but we're rationing her! Mummy and daddy did pretty well in the chocolate egg department too.

On Easter Monday the weather was absolutely glorious so we headed out for a walk from the house, over to the canal and then on to the common. Feeling the warmth of the sun was so welcome; once we reached the top we got Rosalie out of the carrier and let her have a toddle around in the sunshine, exploring the new sites, sounds and smells. I only wish we had brought the kite, as it was perfect kite flying weather. Instead we had a little snack and then headed home. What a perfect end to a wonderful four days with my little family.

And here's a little video of our weekend: