Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday began the night before for Jesse and I. We kept Easter baskets very simple this year with one divider plate, one toy, and one chocolate. The actual baskets are the same ones from last year. Each of the trio received a Mr. (or Mrs.) Potato Head. Jackson's toy was a beginners baseball and glove that velcro together.

My mother began the tradition of hiding candy filled eggs all around the house on Easter morning. As soon as we woke up and were given permission, my siblings and I collected the eggs. Some of the eggs were so well hidden we didn't find them until several weeks later. My siblings and I have carried on this same tradition with our own children. Jesse and I stuffed our eggs with Goldfish and Teddy Grahams. The girls never made it beyond their room because they immediately opened the eggs and ate the treats.

Both of the boys were eager to accumulate eggs.

The contents of the baskets were mostly overlooked. Jackson asked if he could trade his baseball for one of the Mr. Potato Heads. He played with them while the trio hoarded Teddy Grahams as if their lives depended on it.

We had to be at church by 10 to help set up for the egg hunt. I recently became the coordinator of the CE committee that oversees all children's events (and adult Sunday School classes). I've spent six weeks delegating tasks to make sure we would have refreshments, story time, crafts, stuffed eggs, tables set up, publicity, etc. It was a surprising amount of work for only 30 minutes of time. The turnout was disappointingly low and I found myself conflicted trying to balance my role as mom and coordinator.

I was only able to take a handful of pictures in between running around. I was able to capture a sweet moment when both girls sat on Jesse's lap. Unfortunately, when Amelia got up Jesse was covered in her poop! He had to take care of an emergency diaper blowout.

Amelia continued to rock her outfit and shades once she was cleaned up. She is so full of herself already!

A big milestone for Jackson was that he received Communion for the first time. It was more accidental than intentional. Rather than going up for intinction, the elders passed the plates up and down the pews. Jackson took a wafer before we really talked about it. As we pass the elements, we always say, "This is the body of Christ, broken for you." Jackson took a bite of the bread, threw the other half down, and said, "I don't like the body." At least he drank all the juice and did not confuse it for literal blood this time.

My CE team bailed on me when it came to cleaning up. Thankfully two other church members assisted, though this delayed our family quite a bit in meeting my side of the family for Easter lunch. The kids fell asleep in the van, so none were in especially playful moods when we first arrived at my sister's house. Thankfully, they perked up with some outdoor play. The fun included: blowing bubbles, writing with sidewalk chalk, playing badminton, walking through the neighborhood, relay races, and an egg toss. Oh, how I love having a big family!

I tried desperately today to take a family photo. For the first time in two years, I bought matching dresses for Amelia and Maddie to wear. All of the boys were dressed sharply as well so I thought we'd be able to take a decent picture together. Most of the photos were some variant of this:

Here was the best photo of the dozens that were taken.

It was 5 pm before we arrived home. We walked into the chaos from Easter morning, with smashed Goldfish, opened eggs, dirty dishes, and candy scattered throughout the downstairs. Four overly tired children, one very messy house, a 3 year old fighting eye drops, a husband returning to work, and a growing to-do list all resulted in a rather frazzled mom!