Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. On Saturday we did our annual family egg hunt in the playroom. This was Jack's first year as last year he really didn't catch on. It took him a minute or two, but once he figured out that there was candy in the eggs, he caught on pretty quickly!

Beth found a few eggs, then sat down and declared "I'm done!" She sat and slowly ate her candy (she is definately our slowest eater) and watched as her siblings ran frantically around trying to find eggs.


Jack, after finding several eggs, opened them all up and stuffed as much candy as he could fit (and in my opinion more than he could fit) into his mouth at once.


When he ran out of candy, Jack joined forces with Megan as most of the easy eggs had been found at that point. When he and Megan had just about filled her basket (actually a bin since I was cheap this year and bought bins that we needed for Meg's room rather than Easter baskets), he sat down and ate all the candy while Megan was looking for more. Megan was not thrilled to discover this treachery, but I have to admit that it made us laugh for an 19 month old to have figured that out :) Don't worry - Kylie shared her candy with Megan, so she got plenty.


Kylie after having found an egg ~


Megan found the "gut grabber" this year. "Gut grabber" is a Knowlton term used to, as Rob puts it "describe anything with a 'wow' factor." In our egg hunts, it is used to describe the egg hidden in the hardest place. This year's egg was hidden in the ceiling fan. After Megan found it, Rob helped her retrieve it. It didn't have anything special in it, just more candy.


Megan searches for more eggs as Jack, having eaten his fill of his and Megan's candy, plays ~


One of my favorite pictures ever of Jack - I think it captures him perfectly!


The filled Easter baskets with Megan's note and Kylie's picture above them. The Easter bunny left them a note too, but I took the picture before it had been put up. This year they got new towels, coloring books, crayons and activities to play with during church, several smaller toys such as bendable rabbits and little containers of bubbles, and more candy. We only put a few pieces in each egg though, so between all four, we only went through two smallish bags of candy (and one ring pop per child) throughout the egg hunt and the Easter baskets.


The girls all had matching Easter dresses and Jack had a shirt and tie that matched the dresses. I bought matching ribbon for the girls' hair. We managed a picture shoot before leaving for church, immediately after dressing the last one, so their clothes were still clean and their hair was still perfect :) It took quite a few pictures to end up with this one, but I think it turned out very well :)


I promised the kids that if they smiled nicely for my pictures, I would take a silly picture of them ~


After I was done, Megan took over. This is one of hers :)


After church, we hurried home to finish preparing dinner. I had made Nona's jello the day before (with Becca's addition of frozen fruit) and had dropped off the ham at Christy's as we weren't home long enough after church to be able to cook it in time for dinner. I made gluten-free herb rolls, which turned out pretty well, and homemade scalloped potatoes au gratin, which also turned out well (but I think we prefer au gratin potatoes over scalloped), and green beans, which were slightly overcooked, but oh, well :) I also made Nona's sweet and sour mustard.

Christy and Ron (her boyfriend) came over for dinner. The missionaries stopped by for dessert (and had small plates of dinner as well - they had already eaten, but I have to admit our food looked and smelled pretty good :) ) and Ron's sister, Dana came over with her husband, Keith, and his daughter, Rachel (who is in her 20's). This was our first time meeting Dana, et. al., and they were a big hit. Keith reminds me a lot of Rob's dad. He would sit in his chair, looking completely innocent, until the kids ran past (they were on a bit of a sugar high) and then he would surprise them. He also pretended to steal Megan's ears and she spent a bit of time walking around with her hands over her ears to prevent him from getting them again. The kids had a blast being chased around by him. Rachel was Kylie's favorite and Kylie spent much of the night sitting next to her. We thought Dana was very nice as well and she and I (and Megan) had a wonderful conversation about books, especially old classics by authors such as Laura Ingalls Wilder and L.M. Montgomery. I always love meeting other Montgomery fans! I lent her a Montgomery book she hadn't read and she is going to lend me Gone with the Wind, which I have never read.

We ended the evening with our traditional Easter night egg hunt, which is not actually a hunt. There are twelve numbered eggs and if you open them in order, they tell the story of the Atonement in Gethsemane, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. There is a scripture from the Bible in each one, along with a little item (such as a piece of rope for when the bound Jesus or a bay leaf for when the women went to dress his body on Sunday morning). The last one is empty, just as the tomb was after Jesus' resurrection. We think it's a really good way to teach the true meaning of Easter. All in all, we had a wonderful weekend!

Not much is scheduled for this week. I have five assignments due, but I worked really hard yesterday and got two of them done. The third is partway done and I am working on the reading I need to finish so I can complete the other two. I have decided I really don't want to take two classes at once most of the year. It really takes an enormous amount of time. I am going to try and at least alternate quarters - take one class one quarter, then two the next. Rob has been incredible helping out and supporting me. We've talked to the kids and explained that I won't have as much time to do chores anymore because of school, so we need them to help out. They are now completely responsible for cleaning their playroom and toys and their bedrooms. They have done a really great job the last two days. Rob and I think it is a good thing for them to learn more responsibility and for them to know they are helping me earn my degree. I want my children to know how important education is. We are trying to spend more quality time with them as well. If they take care of their chores, then we have time to do more with them. If they keep doing well on their chores this week, we are going to have a family date on Saturday and take them to Cabela's (a HUGE sporting goods store that has a two story stuffed animal exhibit and huge fish tanks).