Easter totally deserves a post of it’s own because while it’s taken three weeks to blog it, the kids were ADORABLE. We made a weekend of it at the end of spring break. And there are lots of pictures!
Rob had off on Good Friday so we did Easter baskets early. I realized that with Simon being the age he is, giving him the basket Sunday morning would be stressful for me because he’d want to play and eat treats and I would be trying to get us all ready for church. So Friday morning baskets with breakfast seemed about perfect. This also means Sunday can be about Jesus. We’ll see how the Easter Bunny develops. I have no real plan for specifically introducing the mythical beings (Bunny, Santa, Toothfairy, etc…) and no opposition to it as I loved these parts of my childhood, so it will be interesting to see how Simon and Caleb believe or play along as they grow up.
I saw a lot about Easter baskets this year and conversations about it being a present giving holiday. I never really thought about it. Growing up we usually got new church clothes and shoes, but that wasn’t part of the basket so much as a “white shoes allowed between Easter and Labor Day” thing.
Church is much more casual now though and we don’t really have dedicated church clothes – although I did buy “outfits” this year (see below). The basket for me as a kid was candy, socks (there were always Easter socks) and usually a piece of jewlery, hairbow or something like that. One year we got Bibles. When really little it was probably a small toy – Mom? Dad? any answer on this?
I’ll probably always do summer shoes with Easter as Spring marks the start of sprinkler season and it’s a nice milestone. This year Simon got a travel train track – but that is mostly because I wanted him to have it for our upcoming travel but didn’t want to just buy it for him. Sidewalk chalk and bubbles seem the most natural toys to go with the candy.
Saturday we went to the park for an Egg Hunt. It was a little stressful because we got there right when it started at noon thinking we’d hunt then go nap. But the bigger kids were just following the egg hiders and picking up eggs as they were put down so Simon didn’t stand a chance. Then the big kids were going to the “baby” area where they eggs were just out in the field because there weren’t enough hidden or hidden fast enough, so Simon didn’t stand a chance.
Lucky this was more upsetting for me and he just gave up and went to ride a tricycle. Then around 2 the crazyness calmed down and Simon got to hunt for his five eggs. He was really happy to exchange them for candy. Then we went home for a late nap.
Sunday the boys got dressed in their best. I still need to lose a few pounds… but I bought them matching bow ties and suspenders. These will double as wedding attire for Emily and Scott this summer, but in the meantime they are super adorable Easter dress. And probably will be used for the next few years.
After church a talented friend took some family photos. I’ve already lowered the bar for family photos – this happened the day we brought Caleb home. All I want is all four of us in frame and reasonably happy. Everyone looking at the camera and / or actually smiling is bonus.
I think we did good.
Then we went out for lunch with Val, Josh, and Rikhia. I think that I’m a convert to restaurant meals at holidays and it would be so easy to lobby for never cooking again. At least until the boys are bigger.
That was our Easter. Oh happy day!
I love this recap! Those outfits are beyond adorable. Looks like a great holiday.
I’m with ya on not thinking much about mythical beings one way or the other. I’m not entirely sure how we’ll do this with the kiddos!