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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Easter Sunday Recap

The Friday after Easter Sunday is not too late for a recap is it?  I didn’t think so.

Easter began early for J and Cutie Pie when they rose in the dark to join J’s mom and brother at a sunrise service on the beach.  Wildman was feeling under the weather so I stayed home so he  (and I) could sleep in a little bit.  My father-in-law wasn’t feeling well either so he skipped the sunrise service as well.  I was looking forward to going and was a bummed that we missed it this year.  It’s always so beautiful to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

My mother-in-law invited us and Yaya over for an awesome Easter dinner at noon.  We enjoyed ham, scalloped potatoes, crescent rolls, Nana’s secret, super special “pink stuff”, squash casserole and the green bean casserole that I brought.  We all ate way too much and yet still managed to consume a hunk of chocolate raspberry cake for dessert.  I guess that’s what holidays are for- stuffing yourself into a food coma.

After we ate the boys went out to the backyard to hunt Easter eggs.  Wildman found a ton!  Cutie Pie held his own by finding quite a few.  Wildman was happy to share his eggs with Cutie Pie to make them more even.  I was so proud.

The grandparent paparazzi was out in full force…

I was thrilled to see that my mother-in-law filled the eggs with something other than candy!

The boys were not quite as happy about the lack of candy in the eggs, however.  But they did manage to entertain themselves with a sink or float experiment in the pool with their egg contents.

It was also nice to spend time with J’s brother, Uncle Chris.  He lives in Gainesville and does not come home very often.

It was very nice not hosting a drama-filled Easter party at my house for the extended family this year.  It was amazingly low stress.  I’ll have to remember that for next year…

Spring Fling

Friday was the Spring Fling at the boys’ preschool.

It was also last day for Cutie Pie’s teacher, Ms. Toni.  I embellished a wooden letter “T” for her as a going away present.  Her husband was laid off from his job and they cannot make ends meet on her preschool teacher salary.  It’s such a sad situation and a testament to the awful economic times that we are in…  Ms. Toni is so sweet and loves the children so much.  She even gave us her phone number so that we can plan a park play date some time soon.  We will miss her!!!

The Spring Fling festivities were held indoors this year due to inclement weather.  The air conditioning was not turned on in the room was quite stuffy!  The air conditioner controls were locked up and lady who had the key was absent…  So, we made it work in cramped, hot quarters.  The kids didn’t seem to mind a bit.

J took part of the morning off and was able to spend time with Cutie Pie and his classmates.  He had to get back to work before Wildman’s class came out.  Unfortunately that’s the way life works sometimes.  I’m glad that he was able to be there for some of the fun though.  I know Cutie Pie loved having him there.  So did I!

The cupcake decorating/eating station was a huge hit!

Cutie Pie asked for a white turtle on his arm at the face painting station.

Cutie Pie also liked pinning the tail on the bunny.  They didn’t make the younger kids wear the blindfold.  🙂

After half an hour, it was time to go outside to see the ice cream man!!!  The preschool arranged for an ice cream truck to bring treats to the children.  Needless to say, they were thrilled!

Cutie Pie and Cousin B both chose ice cream sandwiches for their treats.  Yum!

Once the ice cream was devoured and a sugar high was firmly underway, we headed back to the classroom for an Easter egg hunt!  Ms. Toni had the children make their own Easter baskets earlier in the week.  It was so cute watching them hunt for the eggs.

When J left to go back to work, I headed back over to the sweltering hall to meet Wildman’s class and do the fun events all over again!

I love going in Wildman’s classroom.  There is so much to look at that I’m overwhelmed at first.  Mrs. H, Wildman’s teacher, let me stay for story time.  I can’t tell you how rare it was for me to be allowed into the classroom, let alone stay for story time!  Mrs. H is extremely old school and insists on parents leaving and picking up the children at the door.

While Mrs. H played the book on tape (!) for the children, I sat there trying to absorb all of the projects, posters, art, calendars, chore charts, etc. on the walls.  It’s so awesome to see all of the creative things Mrs. H does with the kids.  They seem to stay extremely busy each day.

The Spring Fling was a great way to kick off Spring Break!  We’re officially ready to party this week!  Stay tuned to see what shenanigans we’ve got planned.