Easter Morning

I somehow forgot to include this picture of the kids after the Easter Egg Smackdown:

They're all doing their best to look like they're happy. They weren't all happy (obviously) but there were points in the day when they were all happy, so that's pretty good. For example, here they are after their Easter egg hunt:

There was one tense moment (truthfully, there were probably multiple tense moments, but there was one particularly memorable tense moment) when Zoë and Alexander both went for the same egg. I had called out that I thought there was one beside me on the couch (because (not to brag or anything, but...) I'm pretty good at guessing where the Easter Bunny hides things like this) and they both came rushing toward the couch.

They each grabbed a corner of the pillow and lifted it up...

And then they both reached for the egg. But Alexander got there first.

He happily placed it in his basket while his sister began melting down.

"It's not fair!" she cried. "I don't have any decorated eggs! All I have are plain ones!"

Truthfully, there aren't many "decorated" eggs because our plastic Easter eggs area motley collection we've saved from past years of Easter egg hunts (we've never purchased any, yet somehow we have about a billion of them). A few of them are "special" but most are just run-of-the-mill plastic eggs.

Anyway, Zoë was getting really upset about this, so, without any prompting, Alexander decided that egg was clearly not as important to him as it was to Zoë. So he walked over and plopped that special egg into Zoë's basket (because Zoë is very important to him).

It was the darlingest little exchange.

It made everyone feel very happy, especially Zoë, who got to have the "special" egg in her basket. Why this was important, I don't know...because once all the eggs were collected the kids just sorted the candy out into various bowls to share and we put the eggs away for next year. But it was important.

 

Here are a few more pictures from our hunt, which we actually did after the kids dug into their Easter baskets (but the pictures uploaded backwards and I didn't want to switch them all around manually, so...we're doing things out of order).

Keeping in our reverse-theme, here's Alexander holding up a book that Naanii sent for him. It's by Apryl Stott (and Rachelle Pace Castor), who does some illustration work for the church. There was just a big hullaballoo over an illustration she did for the children's Friend magazine that wasn't slated to be published until June but somehow made its way onto the April issue downloadable on the church app. But, like, only there. The paper copies and online copies had the correct illustration (a little colouring page). Only the app had the June colouring page instead, which was a picture of a child—in a mask—receiving a vaccination from a nurse—also in a mask. And—oh, boy!—did the anti-vaxxers get rowdy with that one!

My mom was upset by all the online furor she was seeing over this that she bought a couple of Stott's books and mailed them to us (believing that Stott deserved some tangible sign of support). It's a beautiful book.

And I'm excited to get my vaccination next week. 

And a little nervous because I don't really want side effects...but...oh, well. 

These younger two had pretty full baskets because while their older siblings all got socks for Christmas, I somehow forgot to get socks for them, and they've been wearing the dregs passed down to them from their older siblings (and others) and...it was time to refresh their collection.

Benjamin was excited for this basket weaving kit. He's been wanting a basket to put on the front of his bike so...we're going to see if we can make one.

Here are the big girls digging into their baskets:

Here's Benjamin showing off his new insulated water bottle:

Andrew got me an insulated water bottle for Christmas and when we've had our days at the park, the kids all come to sip out of my water bottle instead of their own because my water stays cold while theirs gets hot. Rachel would like me to note that she's been literally sucking things up and drinking her warm water because sharing water bottles is gross. And that's the point I'm trying to make! 

We got each of the kids their own insulated water bottle so that they can keep their filthy germs to themselves.

The last "big ticket" item of Easter was this Baby Yoda doll:

At the beginning of the year, when Alexander had yet again crawled into our bed, I told him that if he would fill up a whole "sleeping chart" full of stickers, that I would get him a big prize. A Baby Yoda doll is the big prize that he's been working towards, and the Easter bunny finally brought it to him. He's been doing great at staying in his own bed!

Rewinding a bit to before we got into our Easter baskets...we told the story of Easter as we came down the stairs, using the same paper eggs we've been using since our Durham days (you can see them here).

Here's Zoë asking for help with a hard word:

And here's Benjamin helping Alexander take a turn reading one of the eggs:

They weren't all thrilled to be up so "early" on a weekend (particularly the older two), but they were good sports.