Easter egg-citement

I have so many fond memories of Easter growing up. No matter how poor my mom was being a single mom, I sported some frilly dress she sewed for me. I was so excited to have a new Easter dress.

Landry is the boss of the family. Last year, I found her dress on clearance so I decided to have us all coordinate around her. She’s already a bossy girl. Where would she learn such behavior?!

 It was pretty simple considering that I just used the same outfits for the bows and sewed them bowties to match her outfit. Don’t be impressed. They took 20 minutes to sew them both and involved straight lines which is the only type of line I can sew. 

Sidenote: In case you were wondering, no we didn't hunt bananas on our Easter egg hunt. Landry saw it in the diaper bag and if there's one thing you don't mess with with this girl, it's her food. Again, where does she get this stuff?

We were woken up at 3 a.m. by Nolan who threw up in his bed. Nothing says "Happy Easter" like a little 3 a.m. bath and load of laundry. That was a fun way to start the holiday. I was worried that Easter plans would be cancelled but he never ran a fever and was running around when he woke up for the day like it never happened so we went ahead with our plans. Glad it was short lived.

Campbell completely missed the Easter egg hunt so he was moping until sweet Jack snuck up and secretly emptied his basket into Campbell's. How sweet is that? It made Campbell's day.

 Justin’s sister, Rainey, was in town to visit for a short break. She was a good sport as we dragged her along to Easter egg hunts and everywhere else. And Madison, my niece, joined us for church with her brunette side.

I know that people say to savor every moment because time just flies but Easter is always pretty hectic. Trying to get three kids dressed for church, trying to tend to three kids during an Easter egg hunt, preparing lunch, dealing with meltdowns from naps being skipped all make it pretty exhausting. I love Easter and I know that I’ll look back on these years wondering where they went, but I do know that since we’ve had kids I sleep REALLY well after Easter. 

I want to remember the importance of Easter and what it means and I want to relay this to my children. I was trying to have this magical parental moment of explaining that Easter isn’t about bunnies and candy, it’s about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins because he loves us that much. After I’m finished explaining it I asked the boys, “Isn’t that amazing that God and Jesus love us THAT much?”

Campbell replies, “Well except for that dying on the cross part.” He said it like I was insane for talking about someone loving us and dying in the same sentence. I just love these moments.

I hope that I can do a better job explaining that whole "dying on the cross part." There's always next year, right?

Thanks mom and dad for working so hard on Easter for the kids and for lunch. Exhausting means we  jam packed in the memories.

Hoppy Easter

We did Easter big growing up. We were poor as could be with my mom being a single mom of three, but you better believe we looked amazing on Easter at church. I think those were the years when my mom perfected her sewing skills.

So getting my Easter dress every year was about as exciting as prom. So, I guess it's still the same for me because I bought Landry's Easter dress last Easter before she was even born. I'm thankful that it fit.

And did she ever look adorable and mushable in it. I was just praying for no blow-outs in it. There was a close call but crisis was averted, thankfully.

Our buckets that I made from last year came in so handy again. I bought the buckets at the Dollar Spot at Target and cut vinyl for their names and attached ribbon...cheapest "baskets" ever.

The kids couldn't care less about what the buckets look like, they just care about the loot inside.

Easter morning was pretty insane in our house. To get 5 people ready and out the door looking their Sunday best, is a feat in itself. And now our kids are at the age where there are two different Easter eggs hunts so it's really hard to see both at the same time.

Campbell had been talking about the hunt all morning but then when it came down to it, he did his whole hanging on my leg thing he does where I can't walk.

Landry was as happy as a clam sitting there with her one plastic egg while I snapped pictures of the hunt. I know I'll eat my words later down the road but this sweet girl is the easiest thing ever. Not sure if it's because she's a girl or because she my third and third kids just learn that they have to be laid back.

And it's not Easter without a family picture at the Easter cross. This year's edition? Nose picking.

Next we packed up to my parents house and I was so excited about seeing my nieces and being able to be with them. This is the first holiday without my sister with us. The good thing is that it was also Justin's 38th  birthday so that was a good distraction for us.

Rain threatened us nearly all morning long and the sky grew darker as we got to my mom's. We hurried and got photos and did a record time Easter egg hunt at her house.

Normally the girls hide the eggs for us but Madison was way more efficient and just threw them up in the air.

 

The boys didn't care one bit. I think our Easter eggs hunt was done in literally 4 minutes and seconds within us closing the back door to come in, we heard a loud BOOM! of thunder. So I'm glad that we did turbo style this year, because the next two hours were looking like we might need to build an ark on Easter.

We squeezed in dyeing Easter eggs in about 10 minutes. That's about how long their attention lasts for things like that anyway.

When I asked the boys at Easter if they knew what was coming up, they said the Easter bunny. So I thought it was appropriate that I start reading them about the Easter story at bedtime. I figured Campbell wasn't listening, but apparently he was. It's amazing to see their little brains soaking in these stories and what they actually take from it.

We did it, we made it through our first holiday without Tonya. It was hard but having the girls there made it so much better.

Who we are

There are so many rules when it comes to blogging...be timely, don't put music on your blog, etc. As you can see, I don't really care and don't listen to it. I mean I want this to reflect who we really are. So what if we're procrastinators who write posts a week late and that love to jam to some music? It's how we roll, it's who we are.

Something else we are...people that drive across town to the mall after an exhausting week just to get pictures with the Easter Bunny for Grandma.

Sidenote: Since when does the Easter Bunny charge $25 for a picture? Seriously, I'm thinking I just might buy a bunny suit and give this gig a try.  Not to mention this bunny needed a serious Spring cleaning paw washing. If you're going to charge that much for a picture, please wash your bunny suit. My favorite part is that one inch to the left and Campbell would have been out of the picture. Do we love Grandma, or what?

 

 But the Easter Bunny knows that if you'll just overlook his lack of OCD hand washing and give him a hug, he'll visit your house and give you a fresh and clean bunny that can be perfect for some good snuggle time. 

And as great (or dirty) the Easter Bunny may be, there's nothing greater than heading to church on Easter Sunday for day of church family, our family and celebrating the greatest gift from God.

 

 Seeing this cross full of flowers with vibrant colors...with life, is more powerful and meaningful than any white fluffy animal, chocolate or plastic egg can even touch.

 Every bit of Easter is exactly what I need. It feeds my soul in way that holidays are known to do. They bring back that feeling of knowing that in more ways than one, I've hit the jackpot.

Every plastic egg, every smile feeds my soul.
 

 
And sometimes when you're on the other side of the camera you really look at your life and think, "Oh my goodness, this is one of those pictures that we'll look back and remember so well."

 

 Oh I dread the day when he's too old for baskets and the surprise that each egg holds. 

When you dread that day of no more Easter eggs, the easiest cure? More egg hunts, baby... Grandma and Granddad style.

And when you give a grandma a task of doing a hunt, it ain't a grandparent hunt until two baskets are involved because one just isn't enough.

Double fistin' baskets is another way our family rolls...

I'm so grateful for the gifts that have been given to me. I notice them each day but on days like today those small things are the big things.

Every bubble breath...

 

every cookie decorating moment...

 

make me appreciate exactly who we are.  

Egg artist

It's been while since I've seen my sister, Tonya, and my nieces. So I invited them over for some egg-cellent dyeing fun. Cheesy, I know, but just hear me out.

Lesson #1- Two years old is a little too young to be dyeing eggs but don't you dare tell him that. In his eyes, he's perfectly capable and beyond excited about being an egg artist. I'm not sure how many of these actually were cracked by little chubby hands reaching and rolling them like they were ping pong balls.



There were innumerable gasps and people holding their breath knowing that Campbell was within reach of the colored dye liquid and breakable eggs.

And he was quite the comic relief dipping his egg holder into the dye and blowing with such force wondering why in the world bubbles weren't coming out. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't a bubble wand.

 

Notice Campbell still just-a-blowin' that egg holder...

A five year old on the other hand is extremely meticulous. Well, my 5 year old is, who obviously inherited his father's artistic gene.



Guess who made the biggest mess of them all? My 37-year-old husband who spilled blue dye all over my niece and the table. Good times.

 
My nieces were by far the most patient with their decorating. That's what being 10, 12, and 15 years old will do. I absolutely love having them there because with Campbell alone, that's how many extra hands I needed in order to actually snap some pictures.

And in sticker obsessed fashion, my boys went nuts plastering their eggs with stickers. But I can't blame the kids, I was pretty sticker obsessed myself as a kid. I distinctly remember my mother hiding band-aids from me because they're stickers too, right? Anyone?

Here's some proof that this guy had enough patience to keep his hands in the dye long enough to do his own Incredible Hunk finger impersonation.

Finally Campbell lost interest and there was an audible sigh of relief from all the hands on deck. Those 15 minutes of interest were exhausting for all involved.

And when the kids lost interest, my biggest kid (Justin) went in for some creative egg therapy. Can you tell which ones are his?