Happy Easter

Yes, this was a happy Easter, I suppose. Am I the only one that thinks it's kind of a weird holiday though? Not the part about Christ being Resurrected. That part I am so grateful for. Yes, we should remember His great sacrifice and gift to us. But the whole pagan part. The Easter Bunny? Seriously? I can pull off Santa and even the Tooth Fairy. Somewhat believable. But a rabbit, without opposable thumbs, who hides eggs? My kids have serious doubts about the Easter Bunny and frankly, I can't come up with enough ways or energy, for that matter, to make him live on. "Mommy?" said Erin when the 'Easter Bunny' left them each a basket and a new Sunday outfit, "Did you buy these clothes?"And then the dilemma: a. I tell her, "What? No, it was a rabbit who bought them and then carefully laid them out for you" or b. I tell her, "Yes. I did buy them. About two weeks ago", which is exactly what I said.

I don't want to crush any dreams here, I just want them to figure out on their own that their parents are actually the ones giving them gifts and hiding eggs in the back yard. That's just as fun, right? I thought maybe I had gotten to that point, until they rushed to the back window when we got home from church to see if the Easter Bunny had left any eggs. No, there weren't any. Hey, we have 9:00 church. We were lucky to get everyone bathed and dressed. But here they were expecting the magical bunny to deliver. Fine, I thought. So I dumped out the candy they got from last's weeks hunt as well as the same surely to be recognized eggs, sneaked out back and hid the eggs as my parental duty. They were happy with my, ahem, the Easter Bunny's efforts, but wondered why he had taken the eggs and candy that were already inside. Seriously, this is why I don't want to pretend anymore.

Here are the new outfits. Alex's vest was way too big and, of course, he refused to wear it. I should have bought both boys a 12 month size.

The girls.The boys.

We did manage to dye eggs this year, but not before today. This is another really great, fun family tradition that usually ends up being a lot less fun and way more frustrating than anything else. But we still do it. How can you not? This year, however, was much less painful than usual. I was only holding one crying baby and nobody dropped any eggs or spilled dye all over. We're growing up. The very artistic picture at the top is the result.

Like I said, last weekend we had a brunch and Easter egg hunt at our house. Everyone brought a dozen eggs, even the little babies, which was great for our older kids because they just shoved those little kids down as they hoarded all the eggs. It was pretty fun. Here they are.

It takes speed......and focus......and strategy......and... and... will someone just put me down for a nap already? He got the coveted golden egg though.That's more like it.

Happy Easter!