Easter 2012

I think that Easter weekend 2012 was the best one yet! It was filled with fun and family time and there was minimal bickering or whining. Can you really ask for much more than that?

Friday ~

We puttered around the house all morning. I tackled some laundry and Carlos did some much needed yard work. The kids ran around playing and enjoyed having both Mommy and Daddy home. After lunch we took the kids to the park, which was a real treat for them. They love going to the park but we usually stay home and play. Mainly because I have a hard time keeping my eyes on all four mobile children at one time while also tending to Claire. It's a sure fire way to stress me out and ruin my day. So, going to the park is a rare thing.

After the park, we stopped for ice cream! It was yet another surprise and treat for our gang. We usually just have ice cream at home so getting to have it outside of the house made their day.

The next stop was the library! The littles ran around in the children's section while I browsed around for books for myself. Everyone left with an armload of books and DVDs.

When we got home we ordered pizza for dinner. That was a treat for Mom...no cooking! After dinner we pulled out supplies to work on making string eggs...a project I found on Pinterest. I am happy to say that the string eggs, which were a ton of work, turned out really welll.

NOTE*** If you want to attempt this craft you want to make sure you use 100% cotton yarn, regluar latex balloons and craft glue. I know of several people who tried to make these and they didn't turn out. It is important to use the right supplies or this will be a flop. Also, this craft isn't very good for younger children. It's tedious and boring to them after about five minutes and it takes about twenty minutes to complete one string egg.

Saturday ~

The first thing I did on Saturday was to go to the grocery store. Our house was empty of anything worth eating and we were almost out of TP. Two major reasons that a run to the store was a priority. Carlos was nice enough to keep all the kids at home with him so I was able to get in and out rather quickly.

Saturday afternoon was upon us all too soon and it was time to get ready for church. We attend church on Saturday evenings for the most part. However, our church was having several different services for Easter, so we opted to attend the Saturday afternoon service. It took me a good hour to get everyone dressed in their "Sunday best" so that we could take some pictures.

Easter service at our church was great! The message was pertinent and well delivered and the music was fantastic! The kids enjoyed their service as well. They always look forward to Easter so that they can see how Mr. Steve (the childrens' ministry director) will destroy a marshmallow peep. They have seen peeps microwaved, pounded with a hammer, lit on fire and smooshed in a blender.

We hurried home from church so that we could get set up for our annual neighborhood egg hunt. We have been doing an egg hunt with our friends and neighbors every year for the last five years. It's an annual tradition. This year I was hosting so I need to get home and hide all 200+ eggs before the kids could begin. I enticed Annie, my almost 10 yr. old, to participate by filling several eggs up with money and small toys in addition to the usual offering of candy. I think this will probably be the last year she joins in the egg hunt. I imagine next year she will be stuffing and hiding the eggs instead.

*** Notice how all the boys have buckets on their heads? Yes, that was thanks to my son. :)

Sunday ~

We started off Easter Sunday by gathering together and reading the Easter story from our Bible and then praying as a family. It was the perfect way to start the day. We really wanted the kids to understand the true reason for celebrating Easter, so we made sure we led by example and made reading the Easter story the number one priority in our house that day. We did it before anyone had eaten breakfast, gotten dressed or received their Easter basket.

After that we had sprinkled donuts for breakfast and the kids dug into their Easter baskets. They were thrilled with their goodies. I am pretty sure that Noah ate about a pound of chocolate before anyone could stop him! He paid for it later in the day with a bellyache and stomach cramps.

Carlos and Noah headed outside to do some yardwork...very manly stuff. The girls and I made resurection rolls. They came out gooey and yummy! Perfection!

In the afternoon, while Claire and Noah were napping, we dyed eggs. Last year the girls fought over the 18 hard boiled eggs. So, this year I hard boiled about 60 eggs for them to dye and decorate. Wouldn't you know that they got bored after they had each dyed about 8! I ended up finishing up the egg fun while they ran outside to play in the backyard with the neighbors! Oh well. Next year I will stick with the normal 18 eggs and call it done.

So, our Easter weekend was a lot of fun. I decided to blog about it so that I would be sure to remember what a great time we had as a family. I hope it wasn't too boring to read. :)