Dying eggs.
(Sorry for the nudity! The kids were supposed to get into there swimsuits to dye the eggs (both to save clothes and because we were going swimming after) but apparently Maddi was too anxious!)
Rolling eggs.
In the flattest state in the country, the only place we could find to roll an egg was the side of the overpass. Quaint, I know.
Easter egg hunts. This series of pictures went something like this:
On your marks,
put Mason back on the step. Get set,
Oh what the heck! Go!
As all of the other kids have had past Easter egg hunts, we focused mostly on Mase in these photos. It was really his first hunt, and he loved it! Like most little kids, he didn't seem to care if he found more than one egg. Once one egg was in his possession, the hunting ended and the eating began.
Oh, kids are so darn cute! (and by the way, don't laugh at the pink Easter bucket. When I bought cheap baskets and buckets at the store, I thought Emma would choose this one. Oh well, he'll only be embarrassed in later years!)
Our Easter Eve picnic, (sorry, no photo) and new Easter Eve jammies.
Then we enjoyed a quiet Easter morning. We cut back a little on our usual Easter trappings, though I think we're probably still more like Christmas at our house than most.
The "less is more"stratedy was actually quite nice, and part of my long term plan to come away from toys at holiday time. We have so much stuff at our house that I just want to be done getting more. I don't want to deprive my littlest kids of the chance to get the full measure of magic and excitement at holiday time, but in the near future we'll be forgoing toys and making other things like travel higher on our gift lists.
I would also like to get my kids more trained into giving. A friend of mine recently got back from a medical mission trip to Honduras. When she returned, she immediately started collecting children's items to have the next group take back. I felt like this was a good time to try to teach my kids about giving. We went through all of our toys and books and I helped the kids choose things that were still really nice, but that they would be willing to give up. After first they were reluctant, only picking little toys they didn't really like. Then, a few things changed the tide.
First, I reminded them about one of the stories their Grandma McArthur had told them during our family history unit. It had to do with a family that had their home burn down on Christmas Eve. Grandma took the doll she got for Christmas and gave it to the daughter of the family. My kids remembered the story and were moved to be more generous. I also had my friend come over and tell my kids the story of "The Crayon". She had told me this story when I asked her what kind of used things they were looking for. I was so affected I wanted the kids to hear it too. The sum total of the story was that while she had been there, there had been one woman on their mission that had brought a box of crayons. While amongst the Honduras people, she offered some of the crayons to the children so that they could color. She gave each child one crayon. They prized that one little crayon so much that when it came time to gather up the crayons and paper, the kids were heart broken to give their crayon back. She ended up letting the children keep them--just one crayon, and that was like the biggest Christmas they had ever known. What a contrast to our American children of plenty!
It put in perspective for me that we have such a responsibility to give. Sometimes in this land of plenty I don't know who to give to. If people don't have what they need, they just buy it anyway and run up the credit cards. But these third-world children don't have parents with credit cards. As a result, my interest in international service has been greatly peaked. The kids were likewise moved and I was so proud of their selections. Spencer gave all of his matchbox cars, admitting that some other child would love to play cars too. He also sacrificed one of his prized lego sets, and some other smaller toys. Among the girls choices was their beautiful Cinderella dress up dress. I wouldn't have guessed in a million years that they would give up one of their beloved dress ups, but they had caught the fire and knew that some other little girl would prize that blue ball gown and that satisfaction made them willing to sacrifice. It was so beautiful, and it made me realize that this is the direction our holidays need to be heading very soon. Maybe even next time we'll be the ones to deliver them. That would really be amazing! And by yhe way, after going through all of our own toys, we also had to make a trip to the store to add lots and lots of boxes of crayons to our contribution.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Happy Easter! And I'll post a picture of the kids in their Easter clothes when I remember to take one. Apparently I forgot on Easter morning, since there isn't one to post here.
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