What Was Your Easter Like?

Our Easter festivities began on Wednesday of last week when Cutie Pie had his preschool egg hunt after chapel.

Since I am room mom for Cutie Pie’s class, I helped hide the eggs for his age group in the little fenced yard by his classroom.  It was adorable watching the children scramble around looking for eggs.  The children made the most adorable bunny bags to collect their eggs.

On Thursday evening we got together with the cousins to dye eggs.

I hard boiled 30 or so eggs that afternoon and quickly learned that I’m not so good at it.  A few cracked and I’m pretty sure half of them were under done.  Oh, well.  I don’t really like hard boiled eggs anyway 🙂  It was more about the process and letting the kids have fun.

And fun they did have!

Wildman proved that we didn’t need those little wire dippers to do our eggs!

In the end we had a few trays of very lovely (if somewhat cracked and underdone) Easter eggs!

The boys had a swim then were rewarded with pizza for all their hard work on the eggs.

Good Friday brought more Easter fun in the form of Breakfast with the Easter Bunny!  We went with my friend, B, and her two children.  The bunny was kind of scary, as always

Wildman even had his head patted by the bunny…  I love the look on his face!

After a breakfast of doughnuts and juice, the children were released by age group to hunt eggs.

The children were thrilled with their loot!

After the egg hunt we picked up T-bone and Cousin B for lunch at McDonald’s then a trip to the theater to see Rio!  Steph is on a 10-day vacation to Israel and Paris with her boyfriend.  So, I thought we’d help out Big Red by taking the boys off his hands for a few hours so he could do some work on his business.  B and I had our hands full with six children but it was a really fun afternoon.  When the movie wrapped up, we headed back to B’s house to color some more eggs!  She made some Rice Krispie treat sushi rolls and cake pops for a snack.  YUM!

We didn’t do many Easter-y things on Saturday.  Just a t-ball game in the morning, the Melbourne Art Festival in the afternoon followed by a trip to the beach.  We called it an early night because we had plans to attend sunrise Easter service at Patrick AFB with J’s parents, Big Red and his boys.

My alarm did not go off at 5 AM on Sunday morning as expected so we awoke to the sound of Big Red’s phone call saying that he was ready and waiting for us outside.  Sunrise service started at 6:30 AM and he called us at 6 AM!!!  J and I shot out of bed and scrambled to get ourselves and the boys ready for church.  We sped through town and somehow managed to meet up with everyone just as the chaplain had begun to address the congregation.  Whew!  Naturally, I left my camera at home in my mad panic to get out the door.  No pictures from our early morning adventure…  I will tell you that it was a lovely service that we followed up with breakfast then a spin through Starbucks for a much needed latte.

My mom decided to spend Easter with her sister this year instead of coming to dinner at J’s parents’ house.  So, she dropped off Easter baskets to the boys in the morning before we left for the beach.

We gorged ourselves on lots of yummy food at my in-laws’ house after our beach trip.  A nap was in order after stuffing ourselves to the top with ham, assorted casseroles and desserts.  J and I caught a bit of a nap while the boys played with their new Easter goodies.  I’m sure they also ate more than their fair share of candy too…  Big Red invited us over to hang out with his parents and his boys in the evening.  The boys had their one billionth egg hunt at dusk.

The boys went to bed full of Easter candy and completely exhausted from the day’s activities.  Ah!  To be a kid again…

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Affirmation

Every once in a while it’s nice to hear that you are doing a good job as a parent.  Today, I got such a compliment from a mom friend of mine.  It really made my day.

Today was Breakfast with the Easter Bunny.  I bought tickets for myself, Ya-ya and the boys.  Since J had to work today he could not join us.

We began the party with the Breakfast of Champions: Hawaiian Punch and doughnuts.  The boys and I are sugar junkies.  We inhaled our doughnuts.  I didn’t get this trait from my mom, apparently.  She can’t stand doughnuts but managed to eat half of one for the sake of the kids.  Thanks for taking one for the team, Mom.

After the doughnuts and punch the kids headed outside to hunt eggs.  I use the word “hunt” loosely.  The eggs were merely scattered on the lawn.  The kids just picked them up.  They had a blast though!  Wildman collected so many eggs.  He was an egg grabbing machine.

Wildman’s friend didn’t have such a great experience though.  He got frustrated because other kids kept snagging the eggs he had his eye on.  So, he didn’t end up with many Easter eggs in his bucket.  Wildman went over to him, told him it was okay and shared his eggs with his friend.  I was so proud of him for making that kind gesture.

The little boy’s mom came up to me later and said that she wanted me to know that I was raising such a good person.  Wow.  It’s not too often that you hear something like that.  It made my day, my week, my month…  Like most moms, I never really know if I’m doing things right.  I feel like a screw up all the time.  And I’m sure I do.  Winging it in this mom gig is hard work.  But it’s so nice to hear that someone thinks I’m doing a good job.

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny

Today was Sit-a-lot Beach’s annual Breakfast with the Easter Bunny! Wildman has been looking forward to this event since last year. Every time we’ve driven anywhere near the breakfast venue for the past year he’s said “that’s where the Easter Bunny lives!” This is better than Christmas for Wildman. He’s been intently studying the breakfast tickets that I pinned to our kitchen message board. “When are we going to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny? When? When? When?” I’m so happy that he finally got to go!

The weather looked threatening as we piled the kids in the car. And it sprinkled a bit when we got to the tennis courts where the breakfast was being held. Luckily, the brief shower subsided and the kids got to enjoy the festivities without being drenched!

Breakfast consisted of doughnuts and juice boxes from 9:45 AM- 10:10 AM.

The egg hunt lasted from 10:10 AM- 10:11 AM… Cutie Pie crawled all around the 0-2 year-old area. He knew just what to do with the eggs! He crawled over to one, picked it up, shook it, and placed it in his basket. It was so darn cute!
Wildman went with J to the 3-4 year-old area. J said Wildman took a few seconds to get warmed up then he went nuts picking up eggs! I have visions of him throwing elbows and knocking down girls to get some eggs… Hopefully, that wasn’t the case 🙂
The Easter Bunny arrived on the city’s fire engine after the egg hunt. We waited in line to get our annual photo with him. Both boys were more than willing to sit on the bunny’s lap.
Look how much they’ve changed from last year… *sigh* My boys are growing up…
Then the kids went to check out the fire engine. The firemen opened up all the doors for the children to explore. It was a dream come true for Wildman!
All in all, it was a great way to spend the morning!
Ya-ya (my mom) is taking Wildman to see Horton Hears a Who this afternoon after his nap. And the best part is, she’s keeping him overnight! Woo hoo! I’m having the family over for Easter dinner and a backyard egg hunt tomorrow. So, not having Wildman for a little bit will be a tremendous help as I get ready to host.
I really want to go to a sunrise church service on the beach tomorrow morning. It’s such a special treat to attend Easter services on the ocean as the sun rises over the water. Hopefully, Cutie Pie will cooperate 🙂 I know Wildman wouldn’t be too keen on getting up when it’s dark, going out in the cold and sitting still for church. This is another reason it’s nice that my mom’s keeping him tonight. I can buy Cutie Pie’s silence with snacks 🙂