saturday easter marathon

7:30 a.m. alarm goes off, turn it off, dream that I am getting my kids ready for the busy day.

8:30 a.m. Karl exclaims, "It's 8:30!"  We all slept in.  Freak out.  Get ready turbo speed.

8:53 pile in the car, rush to the rec center, find Mo and Sara, line up just in time for the 9:00 siren.

9:06 the eggs are all found.  Seriously.

So, I'm wondering what it would take for us to hustle to church like that?

   

Look at that, I have photographic evidence that parents were breaking the rules and picking up eggs for the kids.  Karl and I got stopped by the authorities and were told that we had to wait on the sidelines.  The younger crowd is hilarious to watch.  They all just start running and it takes a while before they realize they should pick up eggs.

All of that, for this.  We got in the car at 9:09 and headed up to activity of the day #2.  Cousin Sarah's baptism.

We got there early.  We didn't know what to do with ourselves.  If you know us, you are ready to fall out of your chair, because we are never ever early.

We got out and took a few pictures.  Pictures that we would have taken if we didn't get to the egg hunt 30 seconds before it started.

   

The view was lovely, right?  This place won't exist in a while.  Its getting developed.

    

Beautiful Sarah chose to get baptized and we got to be there to witness the special occasion.

  So glad.  

Those are cute Emma's feet.  I wish my feet would stay all nice and cute and soft like that.

Karl dropped me off at Cucina Deli where my friends were celebrating Kristi's birthday.  I missed the food, but did not miss out on some of the great conversation.  Topics: Baby girl names (hooray, Courtney and Heather), clothes, girls' camp, and my parenting woes (got so much good advice and even a book.  Lucky, right?).  I got some salads to go for dinner.  So glad I did.  They were awesome.

  

Went and joined the kids where they were celebrating Alyssa's birthday.  I walk in and Samuel is doing the Swiffer Sweeper thing on his back.  Michelle's floor is much cleaner than the video, but I posted it just in case you don't know what I am talking about.  

 

  

Samuel made sure to be front and center for the candles, to steal the dog off the cake, and to make the birthday girl cry. 

Then, it was back to mopping the floor.  Get this, then he went upstairs found the toy vacuum (he has a thing for vacuums... he talks about them and draws them all the time) and worked on that for a while.  This is while all the the kids are eating cake.  When they are all getting ready to leave, and he is done cleaning, he goes to eat the cake.  That blue frosting was intense.  Can you see the blue on his face?  Kind of cute on him, right?  Wasn't so cute on MY face.  Stained my face, too.  

   

After dinner (thanks, Cucina Deli), we busted out the eggs.  We tried something new this year, using silk ties to color the eggs.If you ever want to see Karl all nervous and his blood pressure super high, give Samuel an egg, some silk, and a hard slate floor.  

I loved the way they turned out.  I want to do this again and again.

We did half of the eggs the way we have always done them because, well, we are all about instant gratification.

I think I really like Easter.  It represents so much.  I also love how we celebrate it.

Food, crafts, new clothes.  No pressure.  All good.  I like it.

All right, and if I am going to be thorough (I always am) then I can't leave out my Easter favorite: Fernwood's Chocolate Almondettes.  Cadbury Mini Eggs used to get my vote.  But I think Mr. Hershey changed the recipe, either that or I have changed.  Whatever the case, these (very non-photogenic) eggs of chocolate, almond, white fluffy filling are the best.  

All in one day.