More Easter Festivities

I feel a little conspicuous posting another full page of Easter festivities, none of which carry any spiritual connotation because of a conversation I had yesterday about this very thing, but let's be frank. I'm not going to snap pictures while we are taking communion together on Easter Sunday. *She is scoffing at my ridiculousness right now, because that conversation did not warrant any sort of an explanation. So here it is, another full day of wonder and excitement on the home front. For the first time, I was in over my head with our celebratory tradition. I didn't realize that on the past the kids have always been at someone else's house to dye eggs and my job was to: a. show up, and b. assist between my own creative endeavors. I never realized how unnerving it is to have all these kids at the table with all that dye in the middle, and not only that but the dipping and the passing and the questions and the frustrations... My sincere apologies to those of you that have passed the baton to me in this arena. I should have: a. shown up earlier, and b. paid more attention to the needs at hand and less attention to the stripes on my eggs. xoxox.
Leila was very excited about dying her eggs at first, but even more excited about dying her hands while I was in the kitchen rounding up more supplies. I'll tell you something brilliant that I came up with for the kids this year. For Tre and Leila I got out two jellyroll pans and lined them with paper towels- only because we didn't have any newspaper. They did all their dying on the pan and if it spilled, it was contained and wouldn't drip down to the floor. It had to be a first for this bunch, and maybe a first in all of the history of Easter Egg dying, but we didn't have a single spill. It was just amazing.
The big this year was the shrink-wrap sleeve with sports decals on it. We had soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs. Some of the eggs were too big so we shed a few tears over that, but all in all it was quite invigorating.

I decided to host a family Easter egg hunt this year, also a first for me. I can't guarantee that I've never stuffed eggs, but I'm pretty sure I never volunteered to hide eggs. And this year I didn't either. Oh, I spread 'em around pretty well, but the boys walking past the park made me nervous so I just sort of sprinkled them quick so the kids could start finding them. I didn't want the little thugs to come over and spoil our fun. *They're not really thugs, they're good boys, I know them both by name, but I didn't want to give the impression that we were hosting the entire neighborhood in our egg hunt. I'm sweet that way.
I'm not sure how with all those eggs and a fifteen- second head start Tre still only ended up with four eggs. I'm also a little confused on how he couldn't come up with an Easter basket- note the trusty Wal-Mart bag in his hand- when he received two baskets the week before. All the kids got two baskets so we actually had ten different baskets in the house; if he would have looked for one, he'd have found six that weren't being used. That's my kid. I found out later that he had a hole in his bag, which may explain how he only had four eggs.
Micah and Kennedy are pros. Who wouldn't sprint for candy? I do pretty often. Well, not lately. I can't run. I tried to race Dale when I was about twenty weeks and it was a colossal mistake. Because of my coed audience I won't go into further detail on that on. It was enough to discourage any thought of running in the weeks and months following. Instead I just horde the candy now; I hide it and eat it when no one's around.
I promised a big surprise for the greatest hunter, which didn't translate very well so Dale gave Leila the inside scoop on where to look and she hit the jackpot.
The other kids were so mad that she found it. I told them next year we'd have to hide a bigger bill to give them a little more incentive to keep hunting. Dale thinks we need to hide more bills rather than bigger bills so that we don't have grumpy kids after the hunt. He may be right. They are good about curbing their attitudes when they go sour, but just didn't seem fair that Leila doesn't even know what a five dollar bill is and when I stuck it in my pocket she didn't notice. Why should she get it??? I can see it. But I can also see a year ahead and the anticipation building for all this time will make next year's hunt all the more exhilarating. That's what I'm all about.

On a grander scale, we had a beautiful Easter service where we shared communion with our families and had a lovely worship service. Our pastor is so tender toward the love of our Savior that it inspires me on a weekly basis. The theme of our Easter service was the return of our King and it was awesome. To have this hope in His return is such a privilege and an honor; but even more so to share with others that genuinely believe and live for this very thing. It's just incredible. Happy Easter to you, my friends. And my the abundant life that He suffered so that we may partake in be yours until He comes.