A Very Easter Post

Last year, our subdivision held an Easter egg hunt/spring party for all the kids. There was musical entertainment, candy stuffed eggs and a petting zoo. Fun for all. The best part being that our Jewish neighbor organized the whole event! She's been doing it for years; the first year she forgot the Easter bunny and when she was told this, she was like "what's an Easter bunny?" This year, after two monumental blizzards, the HOA's extra funds went to snow removal and such, so the Easter egg hunt was cancelled. This news, no doubt, sent shock waves through the 10 and under Island Creek residents crowd. I've never seen such frowns on a poor child's face.
Not wanting to destroy the magic of Easter, since it is all about eggs and bunnies, you know, I took Caroline to the Easter egg hunt on Ft. Belvoir. The hunt started at 9 and the kids were finished, with every last egg swept up, by 9:01. I think we were only at the community center for 10 minutes.

It took longer to drive there.


Suiting up



There was a mad swarm of people around the egg hunt field, so I held back. I trust Caroline had enough sense to not trample any little people while she gathered her plastic egg haul. I don't know, though. She's pretty cut throat.

I slept very little the night before, so after the hunt, Starbucks and their promise of caffeinated beverages, called our names.

Hot chocolate for Caroline.

Dirty sleeves are optional.

Caffe misto for me. I'm quite fond of the misto. It's half regular coffee (not espresso) with steamed milk. Espresso has more caffeine, no? But, the misto tastes better to me. Especially with toffee nut syrup.

Blurry pix by Caroline:

Saturday ended up being a full day. While I had hoped to rest, after my poor night of sleep, and watch two hours of The Gilmore Girls on Soap Net, I was somehow coerced into taking Caroline and two friends for a walk to 7-11. The weather was beautiful, so I obliged. They walked ahead of me the whole time, pretending they didn't know me. That's okay, I was pretending I didn't know them, too.

Later in the day we colored eggs.
Last year we colored eggs with Caroline's friends, Sarah and Rachel. This year we did it solo.

Like last year, we followed the food coloring directions.
Unlike last year, I didn't allow willy nilly color combos. Because, really, those colors always end up looking like a greenish shade of brown. Not exactly Easterish.




And then we encountered a problem.

Evidently those dinky plastic cups, the ones I thought would look so great all filled with different colored egg dye, do not hold up well when hot water is added. They started to melt instantly.




Solo cups to the rescue!

A couple of eggs did not survive the boiling process. We kept them to dye, but not to eat.

Orange sunset





The cracked rejects




I wish the colors were more vibrant. I guess we should leave them in the dye longer. Or do you think it's just the food coloring method? As opposed to the Paas color tablet kit method?

The best part is next: dumping out the colored liquid.

Why are the fun things always the messiest?

As you might expect, we don't have any big holiday plans. Last night, in honor of Easter, I ate too many jelly beans and then we read the resurrection story. Today, well, we're just hanging out. No Easter ham. No bunny cake. Maybe a few jelly beans, though.

Hopefully your Easter is more exciting than ours.

Did the Easter bunny visit your house?

The Easter bunny mom made good at our house.

Doesn't Caroline look thrilled?





Or maybe not.

Aww, that picture kind of reminds me of this one...taken six(!) years ago.

PS--if you're wondering what that blob is on Caroline's face, it's a tattoo. I asked why she chose her face and her reply was " because I didn't want it to come off in the bath." Apparently face washing is optional.


For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16