How we spent our Easter

I say this every year, but I love Easter, and I was so so happy that we had a warm Easter this year since the weather here has been so bi-polar lately.  Just the fact that it was warm outside was fantastic.
The kids woke up to their Easter baskets waiting for them on the kitchen table in the morning:

We usually put very little if any candy in the baskets every year because I hate the way my kids act when they have sugar in their little systems.  So instead we put little toys in there and only a couple of tiny packets of candy in there instead of a chocolate overload.

Crystal was so happy to have a little woven purse/bag in there that she could bring her scriptures and pens to church in! She also got stickers and sidewalk chalk, which are two of her favorite things.  Her "bonus toy" was a giant pen that we knew she'd get a kick out of.

Seth Got bubbles, a frisbee, and a water gun. All things which he immediately tried to put into use. His bonus toy was a slinky, which he and Crystal broke by the afternoon, because they tried to straighten it.  Oh well.

Jake had already climbed on the table and opened his up before I could get a picture of him holding his basket.  He got a couple of toy cars in his basket, and toy cars are his favorite thing in the world right now, so he was in heaven.  

So a few things I learned about Easter morning with three kids.  For now on I'm going to make sure my kids are dressed and ready for church before they open their baskets, because they get distracted with their toys and it's harder to get them dressed later on.  Also, Just because Scott says there's plenty of time to get ready, doesn't mean anything because he can get ready in 5 minutes, and I am very particular about how my kids need to be dressed for church so it takes time along with packing the diaper bag with every emergency need I can think of.  Even though I made sure we were up two hours early, we were still scrambling for things and rushing out the door.  The culprit was Crystal's hair, because some of the braids I was putting in it were not cooperating   It's a good thing she's my only daughter.  I get way too distracted with her hair on Sunday mornings.

Sacrament meeting was...not easy.  

Jake was having a hard time holding still, as usual.  Some days he's an angel, but he chose Easter Sunday to be grumpy, which he continued to do most of the day.  Honestly, I think he was over stimulated with all the activity happening in the same day.  He liked it, but it also exhausted him.  I ended up taking him into the mother's room where he ran around in circles and screamed the whole time.  No really, he just yelled and ran around in circles the whole time. So that was Sacrament meeting.

  I got called to teach Sunday School to the 13 year olds, which has the biggest number of kids in our ward.  My class has over 20 kids, and it's basically like teaching a class at a public school rather than a small group of kids.  So for my first day in my calling,  I got to teach the Atonement because it was Easter.  It was awesome.  It was like being a missionary again.  In my second area as a missionary, (which I stayed in for 6 months) I worked with the entire youth in the ward there, which had the most teenagers in one stake in the whole mission.  I love the youth.  My biggest success as a missionary was working with the group of teenagers in the ward there.  They always brought their non-member friends to church, and it always provided us with families to teach when their friends or parents or siblings would want to learn more.  It's amazing how one teenager can influence their whole family when they try to live the gospel, and even get their parents to listen and want to be part of it, when they see the change in their teenager's demeanor. On my last Sunday in the country before I went home, the bishop asked me to come back and visit that ward, and speak in church, and it was so awesome to see my favorite kids still active, and to have them run up to me so excited to see me again, after the meeting to talk to me, tell me how they're doing, and to say goodbye.  It is one of my favorite memories ever.  To his day those kids have a special place in my heart.  So getting this calling with youth again makes me think of them, and it makes me happy.

  The lesson went great, they tried to pull a few fast ones on me, but I saw them coming a mile away, and even though there are so many of them and they all love to talk, I had them quiet, and listening by the end of the lesson.  I'm excited for this calling.  

After Sunday school, Scott looked like he was still having a hard time with Jake in the halls, so I took Jake into nursery, where I used to help teach singing time to the kids.  Jake goes into nursery in 3 months, and I figure the more exposure to nursery he can get before this new baby comes, the better.  So from that moment on, I decided to take him in there for the last hour of church every day, and help him get used to the routine and teachers there. I figured it's a good compromise since he won't let me sit through relief society anyway and he needs to learn to get along with kids his age and get used to a routine on Sundays.

After Church, we went over to my parents house for their Easter egg dinner and hunt.  The kids also had Easter baskets from my parents waiting for them there too.  Here they are enjoying their Easter toys.

These are some of the only pictures I got of them in their Sunday clothes for Easter.  Unfortunately, it was kind of chaotic on Easter with kids running everywhere and Jake refusing to cooperate.  I'm sad I didn't get good sibling pictures of them in their Sunday best like last year, but at least you get a peek.

Looking cute and grumpy.  When he's not in a good mood, he scowls.

Trying to fan the camera

Playing with bubbles

Jake got cars in his Easter basket at my parents house, which was great because they kept him busy.

"Look Mommy! Bunny ears!"

He cheered up a lot when we took him out of his church clothes so he could eat.  He HATES being dressed up.

Playing with his Great Grandpa

This was the only picture I managed to take of all the kids during the Easter Egg hunt, which was also chaotic.  Also, my parents have a bouncy house that they set up for special occasions.  You can see that in the background.  The kids love the bouncy house. 

Crystal and Seth got in a fight during the hunt about who was stealing eggs from who and who was pushing who out of the way to get to an egg before the other.  So that kind of made it less endearing, but that's life.

Jake was more concerned with opening his one egg he found, and eating the jelly beans inside than the actual  hunt.  He didn't really care about finding any more eggs.

It was a good Easter.  More chaotic that I had hoped, but really good.  The food was excellent, and it was warm outside. 

Easter is my favorite Holiday ever, so at first it was frustrating when my kids weren't co-operative at helping me make the beautiful Easter memories I had dramatized in my head with perfect well dressed children, when I was thinking about how the day would be when I woke up, but I came to realize during the day that once you have kids, Holidays aren't "just for you" any more, and it's more about your kids than yourself.  I think at times during different Holidays during the years, I've made the mistake of trying to make it "my" holiday, instead of my kids holidays.  When I relax and think about my kids more than "how the holiday schedule needs to be", I'm happier. After all, holidays are only really meaningful when I have people to share them with.  I may not have had a spiritual sacrament meeting or beautiful pictures of my kids in their Easter outfits  sitting in the green Easter grass, I may not have had an easy toddler who understood everything that was happening, but they all made memories that day, they all had fun, and they all make my life richer, fuller, happier and more meaningful.  

I'm happy to say that at the end of the day when we went home, my little Jakey was calm and good for the fist time that day.  It took all day, but he came around.  At one point he was playing with his cars on the floor and we made eye contact.  I stretched out my arms, and he dropped his things and ran to me as fast as his chubby legs would let him, to give me a hug.  All the hard work with him that day  paid off with that little but meaningful moment.  I could feel the perfect love my little boy had for me.  It was a wonderful Easter after all.  Not because it turned out the way I'd imagined it, but because I learned something about myself, and because that hug was perfect.  The love I had for him in that moment, combined with the love I felt he had for me, was just like feeling the Saviors love. I hope that like my little boy, that after all the grumpy and bad days I have, that it will be the Savior that will open his arms to me and I can run to him at the end of the day and feel that perfect, mutual love.  I'm glad that the real meaning of Easter can remind me of that. Happy Easter!!!