Fabulous First: Easter Basket!

Although this is not our first Easter with Little Bear, it's the first one that I've had to put a basket together for him (he was only 6 months old last year).  I may have gone just a little overboard, but here's what he's getting (NO junk candy and NO useless crap here!):

Because Little Bear and I fly relatively frequently and because he LOVES to pack things up, I used a Melissa and Doug Trunki instead of a standard Easter Basket.  He is obsessed with the pillow packs that come in Amazon's packages, so I used those as a base filler.

To make it pretty and Easter-y, I topped the pillow packs with pretty green Easter grass.

I did a little dry run tonight, and hid a few eggs to get Little Bear ready for the big day.  Before he would put any eggs in his bucket, he wanted to open it and check the inside out - I have NO idea where he learned that Easter eggs were filled with goodies, but it made my job a whole lot more fun :)

I filled 2 dozen small plastic eggs with organic whole grain cheerios, bulk organic raisins, chocolate Earth's Best cookies (over half whole grain), and the marshmallows from my all-natural lucky charms (these are my mommy crack - I have a bowl almost every night, but shhhh don't tell anyone).  These will mostly be for hiding around the house/in the back yard.

Nevermind the beer in the background :) Momma needed a little Blue Moon action after today's tornado fiasco!

I filled some bigger eggs with Annie's fruit snack packs.

Ok, so, don't judge...  I may have had a little too much fun with the non-food goodies that went into the basket.  I think there is an element of mommy guilt that comes with keeping the "good stuff" away from Little Bear (i.e., foods/candies filled with unhealthy and even toxic additives, colors, artificial flavors, etc.).  Even thought I know that I'm making the best possible choices for his health, I still don't want him to feel left out or isolated - especially during the holidays.  Sooooo, I more than compensated :)

Here's a list of some of the fun fillers I used:

• Melissa & Doug Animal Sounds Puzzle
• Easter Egg Chalk
• Water Gun
• Peeled Dried Cherry
• Elmo Ice Pack (he's been super clumsy lately but HATES the ice pack)
• Elmo Smoothie Pouches
• Elmo Snack Cup
• Raisin Boxes
• Melissa & Doug Sprinkler Toy
• Melissa & Doug Sunglasses
• Tub Star Crayon
• Small Drinking Cups
• Stellaluna Board Book

Sooo, now I have a huge basket to hide until Sunday!  While at this age Easter is all about the treats and the gifts, I can't wait until Little Bear is old enough to really understand why we celebrate Easter - there is so much awesomeness for me to teach him!

Romans 6:8-11 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.