Easter

 Here is our little Califlower, donning my 3 year old Easter dress.

 I just couldn't get a good one of big sis, she kept dancing :)

I was a little late on signing up the girls for an Easter Egg hunt (mostly because I am indecisive - to do or not to do?) However, at a local farm they do an Easter doggie egg hunt, and that wasn't sold out and I knew they would have just as much fun (if not more) helping Syd find some eggs. And they did, they loved it. Califlower however, did NOT love the Easter bunny.

 And we all got a wagon ride.
And you maybe thinking "but what about Dixie?" Well, the dog has to be leashed the entire time, and well Dixie, is an entirely different dog on a leash. She is a bit of a feral dog I suppose, and leashes bring out a naughty behavior in her.
 

 Then we invited family over for a night of Easter Egg fun.
We did learn that the best and brightest colors are not from the egg dyeing kit but from just the normal food coloring with vinegar, we added food coloring to the egg kit colors just to make the colors brighter, bolder, and well, better.

 

B had Brad draw a cat on one of her eggs, but the egg cracked and I let C eat the egg. End.Of.The.World. 

So my niece was so kind and drew a cat on paper for B to keep forever. 

She cherishes it. It's on her nightstand.  

Then it was Easter.

 Easter baskets found.

 Later in the afternoon we finally found the Easter Eggs the Easter Bunny hid.

Motherhood

While dressed in our best on Easter Sunday (and my hair actually styled) I had Brad take some pics. And I think they are enlargement worthy (probably because Brad took them and not me). 

I think I wrote on here about what Brad's uncle said about his grandmother, that she wasn't just surviving 6 children, she was thriving.  That has become my mantra for the year, "don't just survive, thrive". I couldn't get it out of my head. I wanted to thrive as a mother not just survive. But let's be honest, there are some days of motherhood that are just plain survival, but that's in any area of life.

  Motherhood has been just one continuous comedy of errors. Seriously, I am numb to embarrassing situations now (which is a bit liberating in a way). But motherhood has also been a very empowering experience for me. It has taught me more about who I am (and frankly, who I want to be) than anything else.  Before I go to bed I often think about what kind of human beings and I raising? It makes me self reflect as I question my own quality of being. Sometimes I get racked with anxiety about the limited time I have with them. B starts kindergarten next year and I think my time of being 100 percent influential is dwindling, and I wonder "Have I done enough?" 

I love these little girls. They sometimes make me question my sanity but never my love.

Easter Ham

 

Happiness is giggles, curls and sassy little girly girls.

 The early part of the week of Easter we headed downtown.

We looked at the flowers, sniffed the flowers, and some of us tried to pick the flowers.

 

In the fountain picture my first born is taking her shoes off and had I not physically picked her up she would have gone swimming in there. The little one just wasn't quite tall enough or she would have happily joined in on the shenanigans. 

Who needs an expensive double stroller?

 

 

Then the awaited morning came, and the Easter bunny found us. 

In our house the Easter bunny went under new management. 

She isn't complaining.

However, due to new management there were 60 eggs for the Easter Egg hunt. 

Pfft. Show off.

 The littles thought it was the greatest. 

But in all honestly they think everything is the greatest.

Then we had our feast.

I made my first ham, and I will toot my own horn, it was good.

I used this recipe.

if you do try this I followed the suggestions. 

i didn't use whole cloves, only did 1/4 tsp  of ground cloves to the honey sauce

only used 1 cup of honey

substituted the corn syrup for brown sugar 

and at the end added brown sugar then set the oven to broil and let it form a crust

And the Easter bunny, under new management, did such a good job we will keep him.

Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies

  

I saw this cute bunny banner on pinterest, 

I pinned it thinking you needed one of those fancy schmancy paper cutters to make it

 so I pinned it thinking "one day", 

but when I finally looked at the tutorial I learned it's just the good ol' fashion trace and cut! 

 You can find the template here at the 504 Main blog

 B sang the song "Little Bunny Foo Foo" the entire week before Easter. 

You just sang it didn't you? 

Good luck getting that one out of your head. 

 Then we colored some Easter eggs with our special guests (Carrie's family).

 Pretty proud of her egg she did all by her big girl self.

Teaching The Littles

I consider myself a spiritual person, and because of that if there is holiday that has a spiritual or religious side to it I try to teach (or attempt to teach) it to my children.

The Happy Home Fairy 

has a great spiritual lesson for toddlers about Easter, she calls it "Resurrection Eggs". 

And it was a hit in this house.  We did this on Monday night. 

I am a strong believer that you don't need to omit the fun just because it's the spiritual lesson. 

Why can't we have both? Well, in the house we can.

There are 6 eggs, and inside each egg are things that symbolize what Christ did. 

Ex: Piece of bread = Last supper ; Cross = He died on the cross;  Rock = a stone was placed in front of the tomb etc. 

I filled the eggs and hid them around the back yard.

 

Then let them loose on the egg hunt.

 They thought it was great.

The spiritual lesson was 2 minutes, and it ended with candy.

The last egg is filled with candy because the sweet surprise is Jesus is alive- pretty awesome yeah? 

They thought so.

Parenting success!