Keeping Up With the Q's...: Easter Weekend, 2012!

Lyla had been looking forward to Easter since her birthday. I suppose starting at around 3 1/2, Lyla became aware of the fact that each year is just packed month-to-month with holidays, birthdays and various celebrations. The minute one holiday/birthday finishes, she asks, "So what's next after this?" She draws attention to the fact that we spend way too much time preparing to celebrate, planning celebrations and then "celebrating." But that's a whole other blog, right?

Thursday was a big day at school for Lyla, because Mommy (the oh-so-wonderful "room mom") came to host a Spring/Easter party. The kiddos hunted eggs, then painted little flower pots and snacked on colorful, sugary egg-shaped cookies. While Ms. Mene read a story, each kiddo from Lyla's class came out with me to plant a little flower in their pot. They were super cute!

We dyed eggs on Friday afternoon at Gia's house. Flint even got to dye one quick egg before he disappeared into the Land of Nap. It was quickly dyed, then quickly smashed. He is quite fond of smashing things lately, it seems. The egg-dyeing was a quick process and seemed a little less thrilling than the new playhouse in the backyard. Soon, the distracted kiddos abandoned their eggs and fled to the great outdoors to play "house."

Later on, we practiced egg hunts inside at Grandma and Pap's. Lyla searched for eggs in the living room, then had just as much fun hiding them and making each one of us go on subsequent hunts, individually.

Saturday, just before Easter, Faryn had her 8th birthday party - a beauty-pageant-themed party, complete with an egg hunt because, well, Easter was the next day! The bigger kids were so mindful of little Lyla and made sure she got her share of eggs. So much so that most of them only had a handful and Lyla ended up sharing with them! It was really sweet! The kids ended the fun afternoon with limo (tractor) rides around the neighborhood, waving to their adoring fans (confused and jealous neighborhood children?).

Sunday morning, Lyla hopped right to searching the house high and low for her hidden Easter basket, and walked Flint around to help him find his. She had to do a bit of detective work and track a small pile of Easter grass toward a kitchen cabinet, where her basket was hidden. Flint's was a bit more obvious, hidden under then entryway table at the front of the house. They were both excited by their goodies, but more so the candy than the small toys or trinkets. Flint had what I believe to be his first taste of an actual piece of plain chocolate. Followed by another taste. And another...

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After breakfast and some family time, Luke headed out to Irving to visit with Great-Grandpa Brunt in the hospital, where he'd been recovering from some recent falls. The kids and I joined him a little later on, after nap time was over. But along the way we stopped at World Market to pick him a "cheering up" present or two, and a few more for Nonna, as well. For Great Grandpa, Lyla selected an old fashioned pop-gun and one of those strong guys - you know the little wooden statues where you push the bottom beneath the base and they collapse? It was pouring down rain, but we managed to sneak in and out of the store in between bouts of cats-and-dogs, and Lyla held tight to her precious gifts for her dear Great-Grandpa.

We made the visit brief, and the timing was just right, as Grandpa was starting to get tired. He seemed in good spirits, though, and it was really great seeing both of the Greats (and Nonna!). Lyla just loves them both. As does Flint, but he was definitely more interested in running laps around the hospital hallway... (which, if you haven't inferred, was the main reason we intended to keep the visit brief).

After we ducked out, we stopped over at Gia's for a family dinner with the Pearson and Davidson crews. And the rain cleared just long enough for us to have a soggy egg hunt outside. The kids were pretty hilarious, really. Lyla has honed her searching skills and is easily 100 times more aware of her surroundings than in years passed. And super sharp. And super excited. Seriously, people, egg hunts are AWESOME! And, remembering back to Lyla's first bipedal egg hunt, I had to do a lot of coaxing and helping, so naturally I was prepared to do much the same with Flint. However! The boy really didn't need much direction other than, "Look, an egg! Put it in there! ..." He caught on immediately and kept right on going. He has had the great advantage of a smarty-pants sister's example to follow from his Day One, though, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.