Easter

What an amazing Easter we had! And a busy weekend at that. On Good Friday I took the kids to a friends house for an Easter Egg Hunt. Parks had such a good time! He was eager to find as many eggs as he possibly could. He understands what is on the inside of those eggs...his favorite...candy! He packed egg after egg in his basket. When the hunt was over, he proceeded to go inside and open each egg as fast as he could. Well, as I was on momma duty with my other 2 children, I happened to loose track of a seemingly quiet Parks. It is rare for Parks to be the one not making all the noise. :) So in the midst of chatting with friends and playing with the girls I noticed Parks was making his way down his Easter basket, opening every egg and stuffing his mouth with all kinds of candy! See, candy is a treat around our house - and we use it as a potty training tool! So when he gets that much at one time, its like an adult at a casino that just hit the slots big time! So I walked over to him and tried to gently explain that we cannot eat all the candy at once. But how do you tell a 2 year old who just found a massive pot a gold, that they can't have it all?? It wasn't easy. He started to get upset with me. And I hated to take his candy from him. He just simply doesn't understand why I'm doing it. Luckily my friend Ashley grabbed Parks up and took him outside to play on the trampoline while I vigorously opened every egg, emptied the candy into a little bag (to save for potty training treats) and put the eggs back inside the basket. By that time he was back inside the house and I gave his basket back to him (and he was certainly glad to have it back) it didn't even phase him about the candy at this point, he just wanted his Easter basket with all the eggs inside, and I was happy to give it back to him! And back outside to play he went! Even though its hard to explain "why we cannot do something" to a 2 year old, it is super easy to switch gears and shift their attention to something else!


Saturday arrives and we're back at it again! Our church held their hunt at Montgomery Catholic High School. They had several activities for the kids (face painting, crafts, dancing, dying eggs), pictures with the Easter Bunny, lots of snacks and of course a BIG Easter Egg Hunt! We even won a door prize!! It was an Easter Basket filled with more candy! Just what we needed! So after the prepping for the hunt, Parks was after it again! He had some help from his daddy, but Parks doesn't need much help when it comes to finding Easter Eggs...he's got that down to a science!
Will and I took turns strolling the girls while Parks found as many eggs as he could. The girls always have a good time watching their big brother in action. He's like their own little activity! Its so much fun to watch their eyes light up when they are watching Parks. Sometimes they look at him like he's hung the moon! And I must say myself that during the rush rush of the busy day, I couldn't help but to look around myself at all the blessings around me. I cannot tell you how greatful I feel to have such a wonderful family. God has blessed us so richly. Easter is such a magical time. And the togetherness we shared as a family on Saturday meant more to me than anything else in this entire world. My family means so much to me. I could spend every Saturday like that!

Finally... EASTER SUNDAY! Well the morning started off fantastic! I baked cinnamon streusel muffins and made sure everything was in tip top shape from the Easter Bunny. Parks woke up, and wanted his "coffee" which would be his milk. The first thing he has when he opens his eyes every morning and after every nap! But we reminded him that the Easter Bunny came! The days leading up to Easter Sunday we explained to him the true meaning of the day. And told him that if he was good, the Easter Bunny would hop his way and drop off a few treats. So at that moment, the look on his face was like EUREKA! And off he went into the living room to see what awaited him. He went straight to his Easter Basket to look for those darn plastic eggs with the candy!! Now I am only a novice as the Easter Bunny, this is only my third year playing that role - so I regretfully stuffed his basket with a solid milk chocolate Easter Bunny, Cadbury Cream Eggs, Reeses Peices Eggs, Easter Bunny Gummy Bears, Pez Dispenser and a ton of plastic eggs stuffed with candy! Note to self, NEVER EVER do this again! He tried to open everything! So I had to once again shift his attention to the non-edible items outside the basket! I use the "attention shifting" card often! I love the way they are easily amazed by other things. So he graciously thanked the Easter Bunny out loud for his Easter Basket!

After the morning hooplah ended, we proceeded to get dressed for church. Around our house it takes us a good couple of hours to get ourselves and the kids dressed as well as pack backpacks/diaper bags! And of course I wanted to take a few pictures before church, so I had to carve out a little extra time for that. So once we completed those many tasks, off to church we went! Now, Parks doesn't do well in "big" church, so we have to take him to the nursery during mass so that it is quiet. Well, this Sunday (EASTER SUNDAY OF ALL DAYS) they didn't have a nursery! So we got the luxury of taking all 3 kids to big church with us!

Luckily we had an extra set of hands, my mom! So I made sure I packed Parks' bag full of stuff: a couple of small toys, a crayon and color sheet, a snack and his juice...any and everything I could use to occupy his time. Well, on Easter Sunday, folks will come out of the woodwork to go to church! I wanted to be sure we sat on the last pew so that if we needed to take Parks out, we could make a quick dash for the door. Well, since EVERYBODY came to church that morning, there were tons of people surrounding us, there were people front to back - side to side - people standing - people standing outside the church in the lobby - just a sea of people. You always have to arrive 30 minutes early on Easter just to get a seat! And we knew with 3 kids we had to get the "perfect" seat! So as mass began, Parks wanted to talk to everyone around him. He was super friendly. And Collier and Anne Collins wanted to get out of their carriers and look around. So as Will held AC, my mom held CC. Parks was practically all over the place making us very nervous! We were just waiting on him to say something or do something during one of the silent times of mass. And he did!! Then Collier and Anne Collins started babbling loudly. Sweet noises, but LOUD noises! I felt like we were the mass! We should have just sat on the alter! So as we were trying to quiet our friendly brood, I felt like millions of eyes were on us, watching our every move. People were all around us! You felt like you were seeping further and further into a black hole! We were the noisy bunch! Will was pretty uptight so he proceeded to take each child out one at a time! I know we probably over-reacted, but it is an uneasy feeling when you have noisy children who do not want to sit still! That is why they have a nursery!! Unfortunately for us, it was non-existent on the busiest church day of the year! My mom and I were fortunate enough to get to finish the mass and left after communion!! What an adventure that was for everyone!

We then went home and had a nice relaxing Easter meal at our house and concluded our day with a big fat nap! The day was quite eventful, but so incredibly meaningful! Easter is an amazing time of year! And it gets better and better each year!