Becky and Benton really enjoy playing with our kids. Well, if they don’t then they put on a really
good show. My children are so
entertained by them and it is a joy to watch them all interact. I love that Benton gets just as sweaty as Sam
when they play hard together.
No one was in a huge hurry to get moving on Friday so we
scrapped our plans to go strawberry picking.
A few went on a bike ride for treats while some stayed closer to
home. We made some Easter cookies and
those involved in the frosting were pleased that there were no “decorating
rules” to be followed. This is not
Christmas, after all. But the lack of
rules wasn’t entirely freeing. Becky and
I found ourselves constantly striving for creativity and new ideas, convinced
that each one must be both on-theme and unique.
See this has been my point all along: there is beauty and freedom to be
found in a good set of rules.
We did all make it out the door on time (after a hurried
dinner, hush now!) for Good Friday Service.
Saturday we were at it much earlier in the day. I was very excited to present a new approach
to egg dying for my tactile children: roll the eggs in whipped cream dotted
with food coloring and let them sit for 12 hours. Sam LOVED it and was all about getting his
hands dirty. Annabelle had her heart set
on dropping as much dye in as possible and swirling it with the tooth pick, but
flat out refused to put her hands in the whipped cream. So the grown ups got to roll a few for
her. The technique did work, but we have
a few tweaks for next year to help the dye adhere better (rinse the eggs in vinegar
and less swirling of the food coloring).
And now I have 2 dozen hard boiled eggs to eat, all by myself. Dig in!
In fact we were quite proud of ourselves for arriving at the
neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt on time.
All of us. In one car! But you know, we just couldn’t handle two
kids being crushed by a missed opportunity of free candy. And moments after we arrive and scope out the
situation, find their assigned hunting locations and prep ourselves, we hear
the announcement that the hunt will begin in about 50 minutes. Enjoy the party until then! And all the parents groaned. Once the hunt began, it was over almost
immediately. And Becky and Benton
laughed because almost every child in the 0-3 year old hunt ended up crying,
including Annabelle, who was crushed that someone grabbed the bright blue egg
before she could. And the Bunny that was
in attendance had to be the creepiest one I’ve ever seen. I didn’t even suggest that my children go
visit him! And for some reason the kids
waited until after the egg hunt to get in the long line for face paint, I think
just to torture us. But the kids did
love the bounce house and the swings, and Sam ran around with lots of friends
from school. I was reminded of how far
we have come in making this neighborhood “Home” in the last two years; our
first neighborhood party found us mostly talking to and playing with ourselves. This time we mingled and chatted with
friends, and that felt good.
The afternoon brought a fun first for the kids: first trip
to a major league baseball park! True,
it was only an exhibition game, but that gave us great freedom going into it
knowing that we could bale whenever we wanted without feeling like we wasted a
ton of money. Plus there were no crowds
to contend with, which made it a more pleasant experience for certain members
of our party. Sam ate it all up – the guys
bringing snack around, the Papa John’s Pizza, and he learned to love Cracker
Jacks. He paid attention to the game and
learned a few keys to the game and some new rules that he might be able to
apply himself. Annabelle did really
well, not even asking for something else to do until the 4th or 5th
inning, at which point she was pleased to find Mommy’s bag packed with toy cars
and crayons. Chris and I really enjoyed
ourselves, too, and I think we are both excited that these are the types of
outings that are family will be able to do more of in the years to come.
Sam came out of his
room on Sunday morning and started wandering around a bit. It took me about 30 seconds to read him after
he said, “aren’t we supposed to go look for eggs or something?” He’d been in the kitchen and didn’t comment
on our empty tomb donuts (something I thought he’d be super excited about) and
wasn’t really interested in talking to anyone.
And I knew: he was crushed to see his Easter basket sitting empty in the
place he left it last night. Truth be
told, I left it empty on purpose so that it could be used for egg hunting, as I
had already assembled a second “gift” basket earlier in the week and stashed
them in my closet. He didn’t know that
and thought the bunny had brought him nothing.
Until he went to the bathroom and spotted the basket that the bunny hid
for his sister. Game changer, mood
changer. He quickly hunted for his own
and then helped Annabelle find hers. “Let’s
do it to-ge-der. Will you hewp me Sam?”
Not only were we at church early, we were almost the first
in line for the second service. Good
thing, too, since the line ended up out into the parking lot and the overflow
room was full. What a privilege we have
to worship our risen Lord!
After a nice brunch out (I admit, I got a bit lazy on that
one and couldn’t muster the fancy Easter dinner at home), we went back home for
our egg hunt. I was “texting the bunny”
all morning to confirm details on our hunt, and he did return to re-hide our
eggs inside due to an intermittent light drizzle. We hid LOTS of eggs and the kids had a blast –
Annabelle didn’t need a whole lot of help to fill her basket this time. Yes, Sam got more, but neither of them will
ever eat all that candy anyhow.
The afternoon held naps and a game of baseball in the
cul-de-sac. I felt kinda crummy due to
allergies, but such is life. It saddened
me that it was a school night because I think we could have played outside for
a long time that night. Fortunately our
company was staying!
Monday our visitors got to take Sam to the bus stop and then
watch Annabelle’s swim lesson (always such an amazing time). Grammy took Annabelle to art class while I
accompanied Papa, Becky and Benton to lunch at Sam’s school. Then those of us who didn’t have work or
school took a walk through the wildflowers near our house. We shipped the Portlanders back to the
airport on Monday afternoon and Grammy and Papa were on their way on Tuesday
morning. And by Tuesday night we went
from an excess of adults to not enough, as Chris flew to California for work at
the same time I had a meeting at church and we had to call in the rare
weeknight sitter. Feast or famine, I
guess.
So there you go, more detail on our Easter weekend than most
probably care for. But someday my
children will like to read these recaps, and I just can’t stop the practice
now. Happy Easter!
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