5 posts tagged “easter”
The kids had a practice round searching for their snack in the yard...pretzels, crackers and cheerios were in abundance!
Aidan, who takes time to enjoy the finer things in life...
After I tucked the kids into bed, as I was closing the door to Aidan and Alanna's room, I heard Alanna say, "Thank you, God, for Easter." So I listened at the door to see if she'd say anything else. I didn't hear anything, but I decided to go back in. I had rushed them to bed because it was late, and we didn't say our usual prayers. So we did, and, again, as I was leaving, Alanna had more to say. It went something like this, though I don't think I can get it verbatim:
"Dear God, Thank you for Mommy and Daddy, and thank you for giving us to Mommy and Daddy. They are the best mommy and daddy, called Megan and Jason."
Then Aidan sweetly chimed in with thanks for Emory, which was extra adorable, since they tend to butt heads the most. Alanna protested:
"No, Aidan. I'm thankful for Emory, but she's not my mommy. I'm thanking God for Mommy. God, thank you for our Mommy and Daddy, called Megan and Jason."
Then, a random comment: "Aidan, why does Grandad call Aunt Maureen "Aunt Mo?"
A brief pause followed, as Aidan didn't respond. Then she said "That's so silly."
We had a very nice Easter weekend with lots of fun family time. We had an Easter Egg Hunt in our front yard with our sweet neighbor who is 13 months old. She seemed to enjoy it, and our kids were very sweet in helping her find her eggs. I had filled our smallest eggs with Cheerios for her, and I told the kids to let Katie (and Emory) get them. It was a cute scene. At Mom and Dad's house, we were inundated with chocolate...and lots of fun...and delicious food, as always. The kids had 4 egg hunts, and Maureen and I had to make each hunt a little harder to try to extend the fruits of our labor. Mom and Maureen made these delicious chocolate-covered-coconut eggs (a.k.a. moose droppings, as coined by Mom), and little bird nests (like rice krispie treats, but with chow mein noodles) with Peeps and little candy eggs in them. I should've taken a picture, darn. That doesn't begin to describe the amount of treats there...I think I had at least 5 pounds of chocolate candy in a bag when I left. If anyone who reads this needs some chocolate, call me. Seriously.
We are thankful in so very many ways for our many blessings. It is nice to have days like today as a formal reminder; I know we get bogged down in the daily grind at times. This morning I was thinking it would be nice to be able to put life on "pause" now and then, so we can hold on to these times that are so very perfect. They pass by too quickly, and I'm not ready for our children to grow up. (And we could use fast forward for the tantrums and other challenging moments! - I know there was a movie about this in the last few years with Adam Sandler...don't know what it's called though.)
This afternoon we went ahead and dyed our Easter eggs. The kids were so excited all day, and they could hardly wait for Jason to get home. They loved it, and I think I enjoyed it as much as they did. We only dyed 12 eggs, but I was tempted to do more. They kept asking for more eggs; it seemed like the fun just came and went so quickly. In a flash, all the eggs were colored. But what on earth would I do with more than 12 hard-boiled eggs? Besides make egg salad and deviled eggs...which would be great if Jason wasn't already on cholesterol-lowering meds. I can't possibly eat that many hard-boiled eggs myself!
As promised...
This morning I gave the kids a choice of places we could go for fun, and they chose the mall. So off we went with lunch bags in tow. They were patient while I picked up a few tee-shirts...usually they whine whenever I go into a store, but today they were really cooperative! We were hoping to get some time in the play area, but it was much too crowded for me to feel like I could keep an eye on all three of them at once. So we wandered around the mall looking for baseball caps...Alanna wanted purple, and Aidan wanted orange. I knew there wasn't a chance we'd find either one, but it kept them from being upset about not going to play. Along the way, we passed the Easter Bunny. We were upstairs, and we were looking down on the bunny, who was on the lower level. They just looked and had no interest in seeing the bunny up close. I had no intention of taking them to see him, given our experiences with Santa. A little later, though, Alanna said she wanted to go look at the Easter Bunny...just look. So we went, and she pulled back and cried as we approached his general vicinity. We went around the side, just to look. Aidan's brow showed signs of stress, Emory was very clear that she didn't want to see the Easter Bunny. They wanted to go, but Alanna clung to me and stared at the Easter Bunny. It was kind of like watching people watch a horror movie. She couldn't stop looking at him, even though she was very disturbed by the sight of him. I asked her several times over a period of several minutes if she was ready to go. She repeatedly said "no." The bunny waved at us a few times (no one else was around), and no one waved back...except me anyway. I felt bad for the poor Easter Bunny...probably sweating to death in that outfit!
Finally, we made our way back toward the car. We were playing at the fountains; they made their wishes. Emory went into the stroller because she repeatedly tried to climb into the fountain. Just as I was giving her a second chance, reminding her to keep her feet on the ground, Aidan threw out that familiar refrain, "I gotta go potty!" Poor Emory, she was just getting back to having fun, and back into the stroller she went. We were halfway between the car (our destination anyway) and the public restrooms (not my favorite place.) We usually keep a potty in the car, but I couldn't recall whether I had noticed it in the van as I was loading/unloading them. I asked Alanna (because she seems to know everything anyway,) and she said it was in the car. So I had to make a choice, and we went to the car. As I'm sure you can guess, I chose wrong. So I hurried as fast as I could with the double stroller while carrying a toddler who may very well lose control of his bladder at any moment...on me. I wasn't intending to exercise today, but between carrying kids who were tired of walking around the mall while pushing a 60 lbs of kids and stroller, and running back to the mall for a potty break, I definitely FEEL like I exercised.
I think I need a nap!
