Easter Baskets

This year, the Easter Bunny copied what was done last year and hid the Easter baskets. I really hate having to wake up at 6am so my kids can gorge themselves on candy, making it impossible for them to sit through church as they are like miniature energizer bunnies at that point. By the time we get home from church, the sugar crash comes and they are too tired and cranky to enjoy Easter dinner. Last year, we found a solution. The Easter Bunny hid their baskets, providing clues that sent them on a treasure hunt around the house to find them. The catch was that the first clue told them that Mom and Dad had the second clue . . . and the second clue was not given out until AFTER church :)

This year, church started later (last year it started at 8:30am; this year we're in the 11am slot) and apparently Daddy did not talk to the Easter Bunny about this plan. I got to sleep in a bit, but was told upon waking that Daddy had said they could get the second clue as soon as I woke up. We need to have a talk with Daddy ;)

Anyway, the Easter Bunny always leaves a few presents out for the kids to find with the first clue. This year, each child got a new pair of flip-flops and all of them got a bunch of new toys for their sandbox ~

The first and second clues read ~

This year it’s sand toys 

And flip flops for all 

Mom and Dad have the next clue 

Happy Easter y'all! 

To fly to the moon 

You need a special ship 

Run and go find it 

Be sure you don’t trip! 

Obviously the next clue was hidden in the rocket ship in our playroom, so the kids ran off to get it ~

The next clue read ~

At the press of a button

Your shows will all play

What do you use

To watch shows every day?

The kids flew upstairs to find the roku remote (a roku is a box that allows us to stream netflix and other channels to our TV). Jack got to read this clue ~

If Eva is baking

She can’t use Mom’s stove

What would she use      

To make several bread loaves?

They thundered down the stairs so fast that I only caught Beth and Jack in the picture. This clue was hidden in the toy stove in the little kitchen ~

When Cricket is hungry

Dad feeds him food

From a container

To better his mood

I got tired of following them up and down the stairs, so I don't have a photo to go with the clue they found in the cat food container, which read ~

To make a great dinner

Mom needs to use pots

Where does she keep those

When in use they are not?

Upon making it back downstairs, they ran to the cabinet where we keep the pots and pans. The Easter Bunny had moved all of them into other cabinets to make room for their stuffed Easter baskets ~

This year, they didn't get much candy. Enough to satisfy them, but most of the loot was non-edible. They each got a book (or a couple of books). Megan got 3 Nancy Drew mysteries, Kylie got a compilation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books, Beth got a Strawberry Shortcake scratch and sniff book, and Jack got a superhero coloring book. (Eva didn't get one as she mostly eats books at the moment.) The older four also got books on tape. Megan got "A Wrinkle in Time", Kylie got "Tom Sawyer", Beth got "Little House in the Big Woods", and Jack got a collection of fairy tales that turned out to be DVDs instead of cds. Eva got new shoes (her others are getting a bit small), two baby bottles (she's really into dolls at the moment), and some new onesies (she also loves clothes).

After taking a small taste, Eva ate her entire Cadbury egg in one bite ~

To the kids' credit, they limited themselves to one plastic egg worth of candy before church and saved the rest for afterwards. Plus they were super fast and co-operative when getting ready for church. Eva was the exception. She did NOT like her Easter dress. I laughed as I overheard Rob as he wrestled her into her outfit, telling her "C'mon Eva! These priceless memories aren't going to make themselves!"

For dinner we had leg of lamb, cheesy au gratin potatoes, steamed veggies, cucumber and tomato salad, frog-eye salad (which I made for the first time and which we decided we are not big fans of), and crescent rolls with key lime pie for dessert. Kiki came over for dinner, as did an older couple from church, Linda and Graham, as their kids all live in other states. We had a wonderful dinner!

Later that night, Eva found one of Rob's t-shirts and proudly dressed herself. She stuck her head through one of the sleeves, and one arm out of the neck. It was quite the fashion statement. She insisted on wearing it to bed.

Attempts at Easter Pictures

You would think I would know better by now, but I scheduled Easter pictures for right after the kids' bath on Saturday afternoon. Since we did the egg hunt in the morning, then baths afterwards, Eva hadn't taken a nap yet. Bad combination. I only got a few pictures with her as she spent most of the time crying on the kitchen floor. Oh, well. We got two semi-ok shots of all 5 :)

The best shot of the bunch ~

What most of our pictures looked like ~

The three older girls ~

Super Jack!!!

And one last attempt that turned out ok ~

Egg Hunt

First, a photo of Beth and Eva swinging together. Beth held on to Eva's swing and kept Eva moving along with her :)

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! We started it off with Rob and I going on a date Friday night. We went and saw Jake Shimabukuro, a solo ukelele player. It was an amazing performance! For those of you who haven't heard of him, here is a clip of my favorite song from the show (although this isn't from the performance we watched) ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqozsGJGdM

Ashley stayed with the kiddos and all of them had a wonderful time :) Rob and I went out to dinner at FreeBirds Burrito, which was wonderful! They use all natural and grass-fed meats, which I didn't know. We then headed into Dallas for the concert. The range of songs covered amazed me! He played everything from bluegrass to rock and roll. He had so much fun on stage and you could tell how much he loved to play. Rob and I really enjoyed it!

Saturday morning, we invited Ashley, Josh, and Caitlin over for an egg hunt at our house. For the first time, Eva was old enough to be part of it and she LOVED it! We hid 160 eggs, including a golden egg. Ashley decided to help hide the eggs instead of looking for them.

Eva was very excited to discover that the eggs were filled with things like candy and balloons!

The littler kids found their portion of eggs (we always divide them up by the number of kids we have and tell each child how many eggs they get) and sat down to open them and eat their candy. The golden egg hadn't been found yet, so Rob gave the older kids hints.

Ashley found the golden egg! Rob hid it when she wasn't looking, so she was allowed to be part of the search for it. It was filled with money, of course, although Rob is a cheapskate and filled it with pennies. Ashley gave the pennies to Jack, who was over the moon with his 22 cents!

Megan in Peter Pan

I've been trying to upload pictures from Easter, but for some reason, it's not working at the moment, so I'll have to try again tomorrow. In the meantime, tonight was Megan's performance of Peter Pan! She was a star, Wendy, and Tiger Lily. There were only four kids in her drama class, so they only did a few scenes from the play, but she was great and had a wonderful time :)

We taped the show, which lasted about eleven minutes ~

http://youtu.be/cxOygMkwBGs

We Should Buy Lottery Tickets

Apparently we are pretty good at beating the odds. Our chance of dealing with the same issues from Eva's pregnancy was only 2% higher than normal. The contractions have already started. Anyhoo, this time we're dealing with it differently. I talked to a friend who is a master herbalist and he put me on red raspberry leaf tea, which has eliminated about 95% of contractions. I'm also going to try acupuncture.

I had an OB appointment today. The baby is doing very well :) The heartbeat was in the 150's today (and last time). We set up the appointment for the sonogram for two weeks from now. We definitely will try to find out the gender :) Any guesses? Rob and I both think boy, although the high heartbeat is making me doubt my guess (the girls' heartbeats were all around there; Jack's was usually in the 120's-130's). All four older kids think boy too. We're apparently all in for a surprise if it's a girl!

I have not been officially put on bedrest yet, but have been told to minimize physical activity. I am not being put on terbutaline again (the medication they used when I was pregnant with Eva) and they have taken it off the market. Instead, Rob will be learning to give me weekly shots of some new type of progesterone. I think it will be easier having him give them to me than having me do it myself. I don't mind needles, but sticking one in myself does not sound fun.

We're Fine :)

Apparently when the area you live in makes national headlines for tornadic storms, people who care about you tend to worry. We're fine and I think the worst is past us :) Our neighborhood (and the area Rob works in) didn't get hit by either tornadoes or hail, just really heavy rain. There's an incredible video of tractor trailers being tossed around like tinker toys by a tornado that hit about 10-20 miles away from us though and several nearby towns got hit by golf-ball sized hail - which is big enough that every car outside was totaled.

It was fun walking to school to pick up the girls! I made a cover for the stroller out of a clear tarp. Eva didn't like the cover and kept pulling it back behind her, so she got to sit in the back. By the time we walked home, she had figured out how to get her head out the side though, so her head got a bit wet. The girls were all in the school library and we had to go in and get them. The school was on lockdown because of the weather so they weren't even allowed to get their backpacks or coats (not that they had coats as it's been in the 80's). We hit a break in the storms on the way home and it wasn't even sprinkling. I was glad I brought the girls' rainboots (and raincoats and umbrellas, but they didn't need those as much)!