Happy Easter! Also known as, "We Survived!" Easter itself wasn't the problem, though it contributed to it... here was our day:
Sundays are already tough, with Joe working Saturday night and sleeping all Sunday while I tackle the kids into their church clothes and into submission during Sacrament meeting, so Easter Sunday, with high expectations, was especially challenging. I had high hopes, though! I started the night before by hiding the kids' Easter baskets - a HUGE "Thank You!" to both sets of grandparents, who provided Easter basket goodies for everyone. It was such a relief to not have to shop for that myself, I mostly just give myself a pat on the back if I successfully meal plan and shop for basic groceries, forget dragging the kids along and sneaking in Easter treats! So I did the bare minimum by putting the grandparent-purchased goodies into baskets and then hiding them, but my bare minimum was plenty for my kids - they were so excited to find them! Eli was especially excited, he went and found EVERYONES and then just showed them. Caroline was appreciative, she's not good at finding things but VERY good at getting emotional when the item (in front of her face, typically) remains elusive.
Ethan's fuzzy hair has finally grown back! I love it! I also love baby bellies, they're so squishy!
Patrick being a goof with his Skip-It
Caroline looked like a bomb went off in her hair....
...Let's move in for a closer look! GAH!
After Easter baskets (again, THANK YOU grandparents for minimal candy! We enjoy sweets, which everyone got, but nobody went into sugar coma on your watch) we made bunny pancakes. Just for fun, because they're easy.
After pancakes, before getting dressed, we dyed eggs - quickly! I'd boiled them the night before and mixed up the dye alone, in secret, and then encouraged as little decoration as possible. We're going for "done is best!" After eggs we got dressed for church, which had to be extra-fast because I had to be to church EARLY to practice for ward choir, which was performing during sacrament. It's tough for me to get out the door on time with 4 monkeys, but EARLY? Now you're just being cruel! Kari saved my rear and took Ethan and Caroline, I just had the two older boys who behaved themselves while the choir practiced. Unfortunately, the kids didn't feel the need to behave while the choir PERFORMED - Ethan escaped the bounds of the pew and tried to run up on the stand, got intercepted by a sweet teenager with quick hands, and proceeded to scream through the song. When I wasn't at the piano, I was in the pew wrestling Ethan - I seriously had to pull some squeeze holds on him while snapping at the boys to SHHHHHHFORCRAP'SSAKE for the thousandth time and drag Caroline to the potty amid the ruckus. It was the most difficult Sunday I've had since early last year when Ethan was small and nursing, my other kids were small and restless (and couldn't be left alone in the pew while I went and nursed), I was still single on Sundays, and each Sacrament talk was dedicated to parents being better about having their kids be reverent in church. THAT Sunday I cried in the hallway; THIS Sunday I was just frustrated. Improvement! Caroline unfortunately had a 2-hour meltdown during Sunbeams, the 3-year-old class, but I couldn't help her or take her home because I was teaching sharing time in Primary, which occupies me BOTH hours of the last 2 hours of church, so by the end of 3-1/2 LONG hours of Easter service we were READY to go home, relax, and have a fun afternoon.
Finally! fun! Hunting for Easter eggs
Tricky spot!
Eli's offering his help (which she eventually accepted, she was sure a spider was in there and going to bite her)
Their hauls - 4 eggs each. Again, keeping it quick and simple! Even easier, Ethan was asleep during the hunts.
They all peeled one egg to eat - Caroline didn't like it, but Eli loved it! Maybe I'll pack him hard-boiled eggs in his lunches when he goes off to school.
Patrick enjoyed the yolk. Post-picture, though, he went inside and spit it out on the carpet.
That's why pictures are nice - it only captures the MOMENT, not the time around the moment. Looking through some old pictures, when Caroline was a baby, often my house was DESTROYED - toys! books! shoes! cups! house projects! And I think "Holy cow, I did NOT have it together then, did I?" Then I watched some old home videos, kids running around and pulling out toys! books! shoes! cups! and I realized I just had 3 very small kids who excelled at destruction while I was recovering from the trauma of sleep deprivation. The pictures were fun to look at and easy to judge, but the movies made it all come to life and sometimes life is tough. Like my actually Easter versus the pictures of my Easter post. But all in all, Happy Easter! We survived!
