Easter Gifts!

Easter didn't go unnoticed at the Bass household this year! Imagine my surprise when the Easter Bunny (for the first time in the 5 years since I've known my husband) left me a goody-filled Easter Basket this year. It was even more of a surprise because I didn't find it "hiding" in my craft room/studio until late afternoon. Apparently the Easter Bunny thought that was the most logical place to leave my treats, even though I usually don't go in there until night-time (when I create best). Oh well! I'm just happy he showed up at all!

The second great surprise Easter treat came much later in the day. At about twilight, the door bell rang. While fighting down the oh-so-eager Chance (a.k.a. Chanuisance), I managed to open the door a crack. Would you believe it? We had our first-ever Easter caroler?! I know, I know. One usually thinks of carolers at Christmastime. But, Easter is all about Christ, like Christmas, so it only makes sense, right? Why didn't anyone ever think of that before? Brilliant!

Actually, it was a friend's little girl sporting a bunny-ear headband, singing "Hoppy Easter to you. Hoppy Easter to you..." You get the drift. She was cute, though!

Lori Tolbert is my Visiting Teacher from the Relief Society organization at church. Don't know what that is? See my earlier post about the Relief Society. In the women's organization, they match everyone up with a partner or what we refer to as a "companion". Each companionship is assigned a handful of 2 or 3 other women from the organization to visit at least once a month. Everyone is paired up with a partner, and everyone gets assigned to have someone visit her. That way everyone has at least 2 other someones in the group to look out for her! This is known as Visiting Teaching, because you "visit" the gals you are assigned to and after lots of chatting and catching up, you usually leave a spiritual thought or scripture "teaching". Usually your visiting teachers (those who visit you) and/or your visiting teachees(those you and your companion visit) become some of your best friends simply because you're so invested in one another's lives and well-being.

So, Lori's daughter, Ariana, came to our door and sang us this cute "Easter carol" (while our ever-loving pooch, Chance, kept barking and clawing to get out!) Then she gave us the sweetest gift Lori had made for us!



I love this simple, but elegant Easter expression! How clever is Lori?!



What a great gift idea...something both calorie-free AND reusable each Easter season! I just love how she spent such time making these adorable stuffed fabric eggs! A few scraps of fabric...who knew?!



Lori, herself, is just a pretty amazing gal. I'm always so impressed with how gracefully she balances marriage, motherhood of 3 little ones, AND still manages to come up with the cutest and craftiest things! Even though she and I haven't been able to schedule a time to sit down and "visit" much lately, that sweet treat sure made me feel loved!