Easter Weekend 2014

This year, we wanted to get away from the commercialism of Easter.  Josh says, "I hate Easter commercialism even more than Christmas."  In hindsight, I wish I had been more organized and really worked harder to make scripture study and FHE's more meaningful and focused on Christ and his Atonement and Resurrection.  There's always next year!  I think all-in-all, we did better this year of simplifying the holiday, and not having so much emphasis on the "chicks and bunnies".

Saturday we had soccer games all afternoon.  Josh was working out back chopping some wood for a planned cookout later, and he accidentally took a deep slice to his thumb!  Chaos ensued, as we tried to stop the bleeding, assess the damage, numb the pain, and deal with panicked children (Yaks is the most empathetic child I know.  Honestly, I think he FELT Josh's pain, and was in panicked tears over his injury).  I don't know what was worse, having to help bandage the bloody wound, or trying to calm the troubled hearts!

Fortunately, Instacare was open on Saturday, so Josh headed over there, with a bag of frozen peas, while I shuttled kids back and forth to soccer.  *I won't gross you out with a photo, but it's healing nicely with several stitches!* After we got home, the kids said, "Can we have an Easter Egg hunt?"  The thought of stuffing and hiding those eggs and then refereeing an egg hunt was more than I could bear!  Suddenly a thought hit me to have the KIDS do it! I had surveyed them on their favorite candy, soda pop, snack, breakfast cereal, etc.  I didn't want to have tons of Easter candy lying around the house, because I'm the one who eats it!  So, I hit the bulk food and got small little servings of their favorite, perfect for stuffing about a dozen eggs.

Boo's favorite words are, "Would you be in charge of....", so when I proposed that they run their own egg hunts this year, they were over-the-moon excited!  Boo and Yaks each selected a color of plastic eggs, and counted out nine, plus a golden egg.  Then they stuffed each other's eggs with the favorite candy, and each took a yard (front and back) to hide them.  Together they hid Diddles' eggs, and then we went out and each enjoyed watching each other hunt down their treasures!  It was SO fun for them, seeing if they could find their best hiding spot, and playing "warmer/colder" for the really hidden egg.  The fun lasted for more than an hour!

I literally didn't lift a finger.  I snapped a few photos on my phone, and everyone went away with their favorite treats.  Diddles was the only one who was disappointed.  I forgot she likes Hershey Kisses or Starbursts ("flat Kittles").  I got her jellybeans, and after opening all nine eggs, only to find measly Jellybeans, she said, "BEANS?  I DON'T YIKE BEANS!"  It was hilarious.  I traded her the beans for a Hershey chocolate bar, and she was satisfied.  I should have told her..."But these are MAGIC beans!"


 Easter morning, I sent them each on a little clue hunt for their baskets with two-line riddles for each location.  Their baskets had a couple surprises, but really were so simple, I didn't even take a picture!  Bubbles and their favorite bag of chips were the biggest hit.  Diddles has taken a real liking to these Melissa and Doug Colorblast pads, so she got one of those.  If  you ever find any out-and-about, buy and couple and I'll pay you back!  Our one kids store carries them pretty irregularly.

The weather was beautiful all day, and we enjoyed opening up the windows and going outside.
Our Easter feast was yummy:  Grilled Salmon, parmesan rolls, pineapple, salads, rice and cut-out frosted sugar cookies for a simple dessert.  

Boo and Dad had a little pre-dinner chess match, and we finally had that well-earned fire in the backyard roasting marshmallows in the evening!

Finally, our Stake Conference was last week, and they extended a challenge to share this new, wonderful video about Christ with our friends #BecauseofHim.  I shared it on Facebook, but I wanted to share it here as well.  It's beautiful!  Happy Easter!