Easter

As much as I hate Lent, Easter is definitely worth it. We had our annual Easter egg coloring party. There were about 30 people, more than half of which were children, and every mug we had in the cupboard spread across two tables with different variations of vinegar-induced dyes. I had boiled 12 dozen eggs (so you can imagine how lovely the house smelled!) and fun was had by all!

I was so impressed with Dax and his friend Lance who are both four. This was the first year that the eggs got more coloring than they did! I was so busy running around and helping/cleaning that when I finally decided I should check on the four year old, he was off and playing and his 12 eggs were neatly lying in a row, perfectly colored! Once again, a downfall to being number four--you learn to fend for yourself more quickly than you should have to.

Drew served at the Easter Vigil even though he was pretty sure he would, "fall asleep and torch the place!" But he made it through and didn't fall asleep once. However, all of the other kids did. In their defense, the mass starts at 9 PM and didn't end until almost midnight. At which point they all wake up and start their frantic cries of "we have to get home!" and "What if HE came already?" I try to point out that I don't really see the Easter Bunny as a male figure, I mean he wears pastel, lays eggs (at which point Drew points out that I just lost all scientific credibility), and makes lots of candy. I start on my rant of being disappointed that I was raising my kids to assume anyone in a role of power was male, when I realized I had successfully gotten them all to fall back asleep in the van on the way home. So, by the time we got them all in bed, and made sure "Easter" had arrived at our house, it was nearly 2 in the morning. The kids were still up by 6:30 ready to find their baskets and the eggs!

I keep thinking there will be days that I will get to catch up on sleep, but the image that pops in my mind is when they are all teenagers, and they all want to sleep all day and do nothing even remotely close to family time, and then I realize I won't be sleeping at all then. I guess I prefer mindlessly holding an egg carton as my kids push each other out of the way to get to the eggs, then remembering I need to start breakfast as Easter grass is strewn from one end of the house to the other! Yeah, I think I'll take that for as long as it will last.