East Egg, West Egg

Those town names from The Great Gatsby always amuse me, and they have nothing to do with this post, except that I couldn't think of anything more creative to title this Easter recap besides "Eggcelent Easter" or something equally cheesy.

So here's a little rundown of our Easter. Due to our kitchen remodel (which you can glimpse a bit of in these first couple photos) I didn't do any decorating for Easter until Friday and Saturday, which is probably good, so the fluffy bunnies don't overshadow Lent too much. Friday morning, the girls and I dyed eggs, and then Kate helped me decorate.

 

 

Kate actually created our mantle banner herself, drawing rows of eggs on printer paper after bedtime one night, then asking me the next morning to help her color them, cut them out, and tape the ends of the rows together to make one long chain. (She gets so creative when forced to stay upstairs by herself after bedtime. She's such a night owl. The pediatrician just told us "well, they say the people who run the world don't need much sleep," so we don't make too big a deal of it unless she's keeping Claire up or is still awake when Matt and I want to go to bed.)

The child care worker during our Good Friday service made these cute bunny visors with the kids. Kate was being grumpy about putting it on for a picture, but I love the look on Claire's face here, looking up to big sister as always.

Usually I say the Easter bunny comes on Holy Saturday for PKs, but I finally decided that it takes like five minutes and the girls get up early anyway, so why not do baskets on Easter morning?

 

BGC got puffs and melts (she's doing better with non-pureed solids these days), and some new bibs since the velcro is really wearing out on the ones we've had since Kate was born. All three girls got matching kitty socks, and the big girls got flip flops, a chocolate bunny, Reese's carrot, and the Disney Princess lip balms Kate has been begging for since before Christmas. Typically I don't like to pay for stuff with licensed characters on it (cue my high horse about commercialism, pink-princessification of girls, the price markup for licensing, etc.) not to mention I don't need eight tiny plastic things floating around my house (they only came in an eight-pack) BUT, all that said, I do enjoy giving my kids something fun that I know will please them once in a while—especially when saved for a gift-giving holiday.

Then my girls donned their pastel, smocked dresses and we were off to church! I actually got the big girls' aqua dresses at a consignment sale. I like smocked dresses but will never pay full price for them, so I went back and forth between the 2T and 5T racks, comparing what colors and styles they had, to find two that coordinated!

You can see BGC's hearing aids in this picture. She's had them one month now, and while she still pulls them out sometimes and they squeal a lot, they seem to be making a difference in her cognition and connection with people. I also love how Claire is holding her hand in this picture. Kate and Claire just adore BGC.

I began a children's church program for the kids at our church, starting last week, on Palm Sunday. There are just a handful of kids in the pre-K through elementary age range, but it was time to have something more age-appropriate than the nursery or big church for them. We do a song, lesson, craft or game, and prayer. This is the paper plate tomb we made on Easter. (Anyone looking for Christian crafts and activities should follow my Pinterest board I've started for collecting children's church ideas!)

After church, we had lunch with Matt's family at the nursing home where both his grandmothers now reside. They had a nice catered buffet for all the families of residents to come and eat with their loved ones who can't get out. I accidentally left my camera at church, so no pics from lunch!

We headed home and let the girls watch "Frozen" on the tablet so Matt and I could enjoy a rare Sunday afternoon nap. That was our tradition pre-kids, so it's a nostalgic thing as much as a delightful indulgence. Then we headed across the street to a neighbor's house for an Easter egg hunt and playdate. Kate's the oldest one among this group of buddies, but there's quite a brigade of 2-3 year old girls.

It was nice to cap off the holiday with some neighborhood socializing, followed by a walk/bike ride, during which the girls were terrorized by a family's three or four dogs that all broke free at once. They both have quite a dog phobia, so that was pretty traumatic, but they survived.

My favorite part of the walk, actually, was seeing a bunny (our neighborhood has rabbits the way most have squirrels—they're everywhere) and this bunny was examining a seasonal yard display full of wooden and stone Easter bunnies, as if to say, "What's up with you guys? Why aren't you moving?" Silly rabbit...