Angelina Jolie Put Motherhood First as She Underwent Operation

For the Jolie-Pitt kids, life remained "normal," a source tells PEOPLE

Photo: Scott Larson/ Splash News Online

Even as Angelina Jolie began the process of having a preventative double mastectomy on Feb. 2, life for her six children with Brad Pitt has remained the same.

“Things have appeared normal. The kids have kept their schedules as usual,” a source tells PEOPLE. “They have been in school during the day and have attended after-school activities like they always do.”

Less than two weeks later, on Valentine’s Day, Jolie and Pitt took their 4-year-old twins, Vivienne and Knox, to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, where the family explored the dinosaur hall and Discovery Center.

“The kids could barely contain their excitement,” says an onlooker. “Brad and Angelina seemed happy, they were chatting and laughing.”

And during Easter weekend at the end of March – Jolie’s surgery had taken place in February, with the last of the follow-up procedures in April – the entire clan, including sons Maddox and Pax and daughters Shiloh and Zahara, enjoyed an egg hunt at the family’s Santa Barbara house.

“The kids were ecstatic, of course,” says a source. “And Brad and Angelina were very affectionate and sweet to each other.”