Lewis did find the egg in the jewelry box on the sofa table.  He also discovered one of the eggs hidden in one of the blooms in the fake tulip display to his left, but missed two other eggs in the other colored blossoms, which Catherine picked up later.

Meanwhile Patrick needed help.  We feared that his natural competitive spirit would make him Easter egg champion of the world, but quite the opposite occurred.  Patrick scurried around like the Tasmanian devil, running from one hiding place to the next, but never lingered long enough to actually discover the egg concealed within.  Seeing Catherine with a basket filled with a half dozen eggs or so while his basket remained empty frustrated him all the more, and we were compelled to step in and lend a hand.  We directed him to examine the mantel over the fireplace.

Soon Patrick discovered his first egg, shrounded behind the mesh of the candle holder.  However, sighting it proved to be not the same as acquiring it, and Patrick developed a kind of Easter egg-rage as he furiously tried to shake his sought-after egg loose from its cage.  Meanwhile, does anyone else see the bright orange, and much easier-to-access, egg hiding behind the picture frame that Patrick has missed?  There were two more eggs hidden in the wooden ornamental vases on the mantel, but Patrick had by then realized that his brother and sister were lifting eggs right and left downstairs, and scampered down the stairs to stake his claim, leaving the other two prizes for Lewis to gather later.

In the end, out of forty-eight eggs, Catherine wound up with about twenty of them, while the others were about evenly split between the boys.

One might wonder why all the excitement about a few plastic eggs?  After all, it wasn't as if we were actually going to eat them.  Well, in the first place, they were filled with jelly beans and chocolates, which would, in itself, be enough to make Catherine walk the earth on hot coals for them.  But even more, they were also filled with coupons for mugs of hot chai, video rentals, extra helpings of meat (O Happy Lewis!), and letters to spell the word "E-A-S-T-E-R", which feat was necessary to accomplish to claim the Grand Prize!

In order to increase the chances of everyone being able to spell "E-A-S-T-E-R", enough letters were included that the kids could have spelled Easter six times over, if they'd found enough eggs.  It turned out to be just about exactly right, that each kid was able to spell Easter once, at least they could after Catherine and Patrick had each traded an egg.

Click to see the Prizes!