Easter 2013

I borrowed Curious George Colors Eggs from the library to get the kids into the Easter spirit. Mark’s reading of one of the lines in the story made me laugh long and hard: “THEY WERE GOING TO DYE… eggs.” (Of course I heard “dye” as “die.” See video here.) Because she saw my reaction, Julia then began saying that line just like Daddy which sounded hilarious coming from my squeaky girl. (See video here.)

The Easter season was filled with egg hunts - four of them to be exact. First there was one at Mountain View Parent Observation Preschool. After decorating baskets and dyeing eggs in class, the kids ran around on the grass and collected six eggs each. Inside the classroom they examined their loot to find out what toys and stickers they’d found.

Julia dyes an egg at preschool.

And they’re off!

Finding eggs in the preschool yard

Opening eggs

Julia likes the spring animals, and (no surprise) the bunny.

We dyed eggs at home the night before Easter and decorated them with stickers a few days later. We faced the age old problem of egg dyeing - the kids want to do it more than the parents but the parents can’t let them do much. We’ll revisit the same problem carving pumpkins in October.

Daddy blows their minds by dyeing a two color egg.

So… Easter! I wanted Julia to wear a special Easter outfit but also knew I wouldn’t be able to get her in a dress. As a result I purchased a bunny shirt for her on Etsy and pinned it to a tutu, telling her they were attached and if she wanted the bunny shirt it was a package deal. Well, that didn’t work and she ended up wearing the bunny shirt with - her favorite clothing item - jeans. This time, sparkly ones. And getting her into some new bunny pigtail holders took a LOT of bribery.

Julia’s Easter ensemble, a.k.a. “the best Mommy could do”

Despite labels on the Easter baskets indicating whose basket was whose, Julia quickly declared that she wanted the blue and green basket this year and James got the pink and purple one and that was that. Julia has the eye of the tiger and ran as fast as she could from egg to egg. She reminded me of my super competitive self that still loves Easter egg hunts. At one point she just carried the eggs in her arms, eschewing her basket, so she could scramble (no pun intended) faster from egg to egg. Meanwhile James happily plodded along collecting an egg, looking around, and eventually collecting another egg.

James is a study in calm.

Meanwhile here’s Julia.

“Basket? Who needs a basket?”

The Easter Bunny hid 56 eggs in our newly landscaped backyard. This was also the first time our eggs were filled with anything (M&M’s, jelly beans, and stickers), and the twins sat on the deck afterwards to go through them, compare, and eat candy.

“What’s that Julia has?”

James enjoys all the M&Ms he can eat… until we finally put them away.

Afterwards the twins had a picnic lunch on a blanket in the backyard, complete with bunny-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Even though James is eating, Doggy still likes to cuddle.

Picnic lunch!

Mark’s birthday was the same day this year as Easter so we went out to dinner at Bombay Garden. When we got home Mark read his cards from the twins. I tried for a week to get James and Julia to make birthday cards to no avail. I finally got them to make them that morning by giving them their favorite letter stamps from Bubby to decorate cards, and Mark helped them finish not knowing their sheets of paper were going to turn into his cards. They also helped Mark eat his Kara’s Cupcakes and open his birthday presents. One was Magna-Tiles, clearly a present for the kids though it was something Mark wanted.

The kids are getting really good at using their letter stamps.

"Are shirts what passes for grown-up gifts? Bo-rrrrrrring." "That's it? A shirt? Seriously?"

Next was an Easter playgroup playdate at Vicky L.’s house with her twins Amelia and Sophie along with Rachel P.’s son Oliver, Beth’s daughter Laura, and Stacy’s son Ronan. The kids decorated baskets and also tried on pretty Easter hats.

 

Julia in her Easter hat

Huck Finn in his

The egg hunt was in the backyard. Julia again was Miss Uber Competitive, and James meanwhile saw eggs but didn’t pick up any. Suddenly he started bawling - apparently Laura took an egg he had his heart set on (he was five feet away as she took it), and he kept crying and didn’t gather any more. As the other kids passed him to go inside, each sweetly put one egg in his basket and Julia did too (even though I didn’t suggest it), which filled his basket. I re-hid his eggs just for him. Afterwards James and Julia sat outside and were genuinely excited for each other as they both opened their new treats.

Ronan, Sophie, Laura, Amelia, Julia, and James about to hunt for eggs outside.

Julia has her eye on the prize.

James has his very own egg hunt.

Happily checking out each others’ loot

When my parents visited a few weeks later, I hid eggs in the backyard and held an Easter egg hunt re-enactment, which brought the total number of Easter egg hunts to four.

Julia fills her basket during our Easter egg hunt re-enactment.

The End

Here’s Easter 2012 and 2011.