easter 2011: finishing up with matchy matchy outfits

Samuel woke us up to tell us that the Easter bunny didn't come.  

Eva told us she cried twice already when she saw that he didn't come.

I must admit.  I don't ever actually remember ever believing (my parents are from Japan) in the magical bunny myself.  I didn't realize it would be such a big deal to them. 

Lucky for them, the Easter bunny had no problem missing the last bit of church and hiding the eggs around the house for them to find when they got home.  What a nice bunny to sacrifice his time like that.  (And yes, I do see the irony in this).

Eva, all excited to see that he finally came.

The kids checking out their collection.  Unfortunately, they are getting older so we couldn't just recycle the candy in our cupboards (tee hee, for the most part).

Baby Maximus and his giant hands palms the egg and tries to put it in his mouth, which was already occupied.

This is the get-everyone-outside-for-a-photo-to-remember-our-nice-day-come-back-here-and-sit-or-you'll-lose-all-your-candy photo.  

The baby was the easiest one to get to look at the camera, BTW.

There are so many reasons why I love this age.  Just one more reason, I can put him in an outfit with smocking and embroidered bunnies on the front and he doesn't complain.  

The outfits came together easier than I thought they would.  Maximus is sporting a hand-me-down.  I love hand-me-downs with all my heart.  Eva's dress was a K-mart special.  On an island where our shopping choices are seriously limited (I'm not complaining.  It's like I'm at fat camp.  Only for shoppers.  I am at shop camp) good ol' K-mart pulled through.  I mentioned earlier that I had a goal not to buy clothes for a while.  I have done really well.  This was my first non-garage sale clothing purchase. You're welcome, landfills :).  I actually don't really like the dress much at all.  But it matched, the price was right, and it came with a matching doll dress.  I shortened the sleeves on the cardigan (we hardly ever need long sleeves here and I wanted her to wear it) and turned the sleeves into ruffles.  I also moved the bow to the side and turned that headlight of a rose into her headband.  It went from about a 2 to a 7.  Oh, and Samuel's shirt?  It showed up in the mail, thanks to Grandma, the day before Easter.  We didn't even know she was sending clothes.  Opened it up and it was a matchy shirt!  Lucky.  So, if this no buying clothes thing is for the budget, I am happy to report that I only spent $11.99 on this whole shabang (and that is including an outfit for the doll.  Hooray!  Even the doll matches!).

the dress before I chopped it up

Sadly, we didn't have any ties to tie dye eggs like the last couple of years.  I am sure the kids were grateful.  They get sick of it after about 2 minutes because it feels more like work (heaven forbid).  And we also missed rolling (throwing, chasing, smashing) eggs down Old Main Hill like years in the past.  I also missed my family, terribly, but I already said that.

But there was plenty of scavenging for candy, dying boiled eggs fluorescent colors (plus glitter this year), eating eggs with said colors on them wondering if it's really okay, taking away candy from kids that choose not to have their ears work, sticky melted candy since we haven't learned how to deal with the humidity, Easter bunny letdowns and redemptions, and, of course, matchy matchy outfits.

to my heart

The posed, matchy, happy photos.  Yes, I love them.  My eye are always drawn towards them.  But my heart?  My heart likes the candid shots.  The ones that remind me how our life really is.  

Like this one.  Reminds me how I had big plans for the kids' day off of school.  A playgroup to do Easter eggs, lunch at the beach... but Eva woke up with a fever so this is what they did all day.  

This one Maximus was super hungry (which is the case ever 120 minutes, I need to do something about that).  He doesn't usually complain much so when he is hungry or tired it is pretty easy to tell.  We could all learn a lesson from that :).  So, nice Auntie was trying to help Maximus find some eggs and he was so sad.  I love that sad face.

And this one will help me remember the day that we went to the easter egg hunt and before they let the kids find the eggs, they had a show.  It had puppets, some hip hop, a play... all about Jesus.  Then someone came out and asked who wanted to be born again.  All the kids stepped forward, including mine.  

At the same event, after my kids got saved, they let them find eggs.  My friend, Ani, snapped a family photo for me.  Samuel is checking out his stash and gets inside his bag to do it.   One day, he just might get all mature and actually look at a camera without me threatening to take a toy or candy away if he doesn't.  But, for now, this one shows the real us.  Oh, and I just realized he isn't wearing shoes.  Now, I am wondering if he wore shoes at all at this event.  We are adjusting to HI just fine, aren't we?

And this one.  This is a meal that KARL made.  Okay, the ugly deviled eggs are my fault, but everything else Karl did.  Honey baked ham, herb roasted potatoes, spinich salad with candied macadamia nuts (he candied them).  I told him I was sad and was missing my family, and maybe we should move back.  I went and delivered some easter treats, came back and this was all in the works.  Later, he said he thought I was going to cry so he wanted to do something.  It totally worked.  The fancy food seriously cheered me up.  Or more that he thought to do this.  Good food and acts of kindness are totally the way to my heart.  And it looks like we will be staying in Kauai a while longer.

Matchy matchy easter outfits and posed photos coming soon...

art festival and easter dress

Eva's school has an annual art festival.  This year they had a ton of crafts set up that the kids could make.  The art program also had an art project that each student made that parents could "buy" to contribute to the program.  It has been kind of a pain to drive Eva all the way to a charter school but it has been worth it to see her benefit from the programs that can only exist with the freedom and ideas of a charter school.

Samuel working with fabric dye and fabric.

Eva building something out of wood blocks and glue.

Karl and Samuel working on an "Inuit Mask."  

Some U of U students had a booth set up where they got permission to do a survey with the students about race and ethnicity.  I was curious to see what my kids had to say.  Today Eva asked why Japanese people have black hair when most people have blond or brown.  I tried to explain that most people don't have blond or brown, but it seemed kind of a lost cause here in UT.  It will be interesting to see what their experience will be compared to mine.  

The guy asks Eva, "Do your parents every talk about race and ethnicity?"  She shrugs and answers, "no."  Survey over.

The guy asks Samuel, "Do your parents ever talk about race or ethnicity?"  Samuel answers, "Yeah."  

The guys says, "What do they say?"

Samuel answers, "Like, race cars and race tracks."  Survey over.

Samuel will be starting kindergarten in the same school next year.  And if there is any wonder if he ready for such a big school, the answer comes as another question... 

Is the school ready for him?

The kids loved the art festival. They made so many neat and beautiful projects.  I would scan some but, once again, the scanner is oh so far away.

Easter was a while ago, right?  In keeping with tradition, I got the kids outfits but since we didn't have church on Easter Sunday the kids never wore them.  I wanted to get the annual Easter photo, even though it is almost June. 

And though Eva's hair is mostly gone and though she prefers to wear it down with just a little curl under, she will still let me do it.  Just to be nice.  What a sweet girl.

easter improv

We did Easter with no sugar this year.  That's right.  Me, no sugar.  (Someday I might blog about why).

It worked.  It totally worked.  The kids did not complain.  

Chick egg holding a fruit leather.  

Not only did we improvise on the (apparently overrated) candy tradition, we ended up improvising on the rolling-the-eggs-down-Old-Main-Hill tradition.

This wasn't planned.

We went all way up to Logan, had a lovely lunch at Karl's mom's, got in the car to go up to Old Main and... no eggs.  We left them in the garage at home.  90 minutes away.

So sad.  Karl's mom did not go on a trip just so she could do this with us.

The kids were so sad.

I was so sad.

Never fear.  Karl took us to a near by hill.  Never mind that it is right behind some apartment building.  Never mind that I expected the police to come tell us that we weren't allowed to throw eggs down the hill.

The kids, especially Eva, had a blast.

The hill was rocky.  Some of the eggs didn't make it too far.

The hill did have a lovely view.

Eva making bunny ears on her (soon to be smashed) egg.

Getting the kids to stand together is always a feat.  

And so is getting a real smile. 

I just need to come to terms with the fact that things will always come up.  My team does not plan well.  Sigh.  My kids will either grow up anxious or be really good at rolling with the punches.

Easter 2010: recorded.

happy easter 2010

We've all been making stuff.

I love to make these chocolate pretzel nests.  With the best Easter candy ever, Cadbury Mini Eggs.

All wrapped up to give away.

My mom learned to make these sugar eggs this year and made one for each of the grandkids and all of her friends.  Samuel got a blue one but stashed it away in his room as soon as we got it home.

We died Easter eggs.  We did the tie thing again this year but the kids weren't into at all.  They kept asking when we were going to die eggs.  My nephew (the one with the mega long locks) was SO cute when he was dying them.

Eva using her skills to make the sticker stick on her egg.

Samuel drawing a rocket ship on his egg.

The final result.  Kind of hard to get excited about the when I know that they are all going to end up smashed on Old Main Hill.

And I have been baking all night.  

Seriously, all night.

My attempt to make a bunny for the kids.  Eva especially loves it when I make her food cute.  

Happy Easter!

easter sunday

This is the fourth year in a row that we have found Easter eggs in our backyard.  That Easter bunny is so nice.  I can't believe we have lived in one place for that long.

We could not get these kids to hurry before church.  They just would not be hurried.  Okay, and I was running behind, too.  So, the (candy filled plastic, not real) eggs sat until after church.  The day was nice and sunny.  Think: green house effect. 

   

They were so excited (well, not excited enough to hurry through breakfast).  The whole reason why we do it.  I didn't buy much candy because I knew how much they would get this weekend.  So, we pulled out the old stuff.  As in, I had to tell Karl that the chocolate with the orange foil that said, "Happy Halloween" on it might be too obvious.  I am sure they don't care.  I love this age.  

A friend gave me this tip:  For every candy wrapper she spots on the floor, she gets to choose a piece of the litter bug's candy.  I realized that with Samuel I have to go for the good stuff (not the Happy Halloween chocolate) or he does not care at all.  

See the third picture?  I caught Samuel being his usual more-is-better self.  He was totally making sure Eva didn't have more than him.

 Eva's hair like this made her look so old.  Crazy.  Tonight, I explained to her that in few years she will be taller than her mommy.  

These pretty little eggs had no idea what was in store for them.

We headed up to Logan for the annual rolling the eggs down Old Main Hill.  The seagulls come and eat all the smashed goodness.  Gross, huh.  As we were climbing out of the car, Eva says, " When we get back to the car, it is going to be covered in bird poop."  Ew.  This is one day that you want to steer clear of those birds.  

This is the second year we have done this.  Children young and old get joy out of this.You roll the egg (or if you are Samuel, you just chuck it) and then chase it, seeing how far it goes until it breaks.  It started out that way but it ended up with Samuel smashing them into the stairs and trees and Eva searching the whole hill for whole ones (I swear, she and I lived during a famine in our past life).

   

We went with Karl's Grandma Gutke and some of his cousins were there.  Look, our kids matched.  I got Eva her jacket in China and Gabby's jacket is from the Philippines (they live there right now).

The hill is huge and the kids were trying to get Karl to carry them up.  Karl started to ride on Samuel's shoulders and Eva was trying to save Samuel.  

Do you remember riding on your dad's foot like this?  I do.

The tree is just one example of the egg wastage.

   

Did I mention that the hill was huge?  Samuel would just fly.  Megan and Jaxton (cousins) were so cute coming up the hill.  Megan showed just how treacherous the climb was.  Samuel says that his speed racer egg (thanks to Karl, who draw exact replicas) rolled the fastet.

  

After all the slightly barbaric waste, we headed to Grandma Gutke's house.  Samuel walked in and immediately started opening her fridge and cupboards and announced that he was hungry.  

We ended up down in the basement where Karl helped her set up a facebook account.  She is so sharp (and apparently very popular).  I put my camera on auto mode and let Eva and Samuel have at it.  Eva took the shot of Samuel and Samuel took that great shot of Eva.