Easter

It’s a new era of holidays in our family. Should the married kids should take part in the annual Easter egg hunt. Are they too old? Where do we draw the line? But Sammie’s argument, “Searching for your chocolate increases the enjoyment by 99%” sealed the deal. Married or not, everyone hunts for their candy until they have kids of their own. And then, as we know, 99% of the enjoyment comes from stealing your kids’ candy.

So far, sharing our married boys with another family has gone well. Everyone wants happiness for the newlyweds and everyone tries to be considerate. Both sets of newlyweds make an effort to see us on a regular basis– not just for holidays.We know they can’t come to everything; we’re just happy to see them when they can make it. In fact, that’s one of my firmly held beliefs– when you haven’t seen someone at the gym or church or the dentist office or HOME for a while, you don’t make a big deal about “where have you been?”  You simply make them feel so welcome they’ll want to come back soon.

Anyway (I know I overuse ‘anyway’ and ‘actually’ and ‘and,’ but I find them so useful), back to Easter…

Mary creates much of the magic. Poor little youingest child dyeing eggs all alone.

Ever my early risers, Mary and Xander were showered, dressed and curled before eight so they watched all the church Easter videos. Did you see the World’s Largest Virtual Hallelulah Chorus?

Almost time for the hunt. Can you spot the Lindt carrot? Those are the most sought-after candy.

Everyone starts out with a chocolate bunny and a Toblerone in their basket, but someone gave Stefan a few bananas too.

Don’t be fooled by all this maturity. Within the first 30 seconds someone (name starts with an X) threw two baskets across the room and made Mary cry.

After the hunt. Breakfast. Xander almost fooled us with his claims that he didn’t find any chocolate carrots. Mary and Sam rushed to give him a few…

until we found his HUGE secret stash.

Time for the annual Easter candy trade.

They sort and trade and argue, but by the afternoon they throw it all in a bucket on the kitchen counter for everyone to share.

Watching videos of Sammie’s adorable niece.

Easter Jenga.

Look! I was there.After church we try to make a healthy dinner to counteract all the sugar.

The weather was gorgeous (it snowed the next day).