Easter

We've never been very good at planning ahead for Easter, and I've finally realized why.  It's never on the same day!  I can plan for Christmas and birthdays because I automatically think, "That's coming up in three weeks, I'd better finish getting things ready," but Easter sneaks up on me every year.  At least two years, I've been having a new baby too.  (Annie was born 4 days after, and Alex one week before.)  These are my excuses.  Anyway, we did do some things this year.

On Friday evening, we started making sugar eggs from a kit my mom gave us for the kids.  They were so difficult to make that Jim and I were amazed that we ended up with a finished project!  They weren't exactly a kid's project, but we had fun with them.  Next year we'll do them again, now that we've learned from our mistakes.

The boys did a yellow one...

The girls did a pink one...

On Saturday we had a family day out because the kids had filled up their "obedience beans" jar.  It had taken a month and a half to earn this day, but it helped with obedience around here.  We went to an awesome indoor playground where the parents are encouraged to climb around with their kids.  It was like a McDonald's play area on steroids, and it had a big ball pit.  We seriously had so much fun...even when the kids made us crawl through the tunnels with them.  Then we went out for lunch (also part of the reward) and brought ice cream home for after dinner.  That night the kids were so wound up and excited from late ice cream, a very fun day, and anticipating Easter surprises that they went to bed, but stayed up talking for two hours!  In the morning we had to wake them up, and we learned that they'd both slept on the top bunk which probably didn't help them go to sleep.  

The kids found their Easter baskets Sunday morning before we rushed through breakfast and getting ready for church.  (This was the first year we've done baskets...like I said it totally sneaks up on me!)

They all had new Easter clothes and I managed to snap a couple of pictures before we headed out the door (because I knew it would be a disaster to try for pictures after church).

Alex's were actually hand-me-downs from Logan, but he hadn't worn them until that day.

After church we all had naps, and then visited with some new friends we met at the kids' gymnastics class.  They had made dessert, and prepared an egg hunt with lots of candy for the kids.  The kids had already had some sugar, and they had plenty more while we were there.  That night, they went to bed okay, but once again stayed up talking.  They really couldn't sleep!  I was hearing them until just after midnight...three and a half hours after bedtime!  I couldn't believe it!  It turned out that they once again camped out on the top bunk, too.  It was obvious they didn't feel real great the next morning, too.  So now I've been severely limiting their sugar intake all week, and enforcing sleep in their own beds.   It's going much better. :)

On Monday, we finally decorated our now very dry sugar eggs.  Jim was much more tedious than I was and the boys' egg turned out best.

Ta da!

Happy Easter!