Happy Easter everyone! Easter was very eventful in my home. For better or worse, I chose to stay up until 1:30 last night to catch up on blogging, so I was quite tired today, but it was a beautiful and splendid day nonetheless.
Lily was a rock-star and got up before me to get the kids going while I got a little more rest after my late night. When I finally got going, I go Clarissa bathed and dressed.
The picture below characterizes very well how Ammon was today. He was fun, wiggly, so full of energy and a bit wild 🙂
For breakfast everyone ate Peeps cereal, and ate yummy things from their Easter baskets.
Here is Clarissa munching on her chocolate Easter bunny.
Here is a video of everyone opening their baskets.
After everyone had “breakfast” (Mostly just sugar today), we started the egg hunt! The Easter bunny said in her note that there were 107 eggs. The kids were so excited! Lydia was in an awful mood, largely because she woke up while it was still dark, I think probably from her Easter excitement. Her mood got better throughout the day, but she was very distraught when she didn’t find all the eggs that she wanted to get at the end.
Here is a video of Clarissa figuring out what an Easter Egg hunt was.
Here is a video of a more seasoned Clarissa finding eggs around the house.
Here is a video of both Clarissa and Ammon Easter Egg Hunting.
Here is another video of Ammon and Clarissa hunting for eggs.
Here is Mary with her bounty. I can’t get over how much I adore her toothless smile. That girl melts my heart!
All the girls got nail polish in their Easter baskets, and after the egg hunt, Lily painted everyone’s nails.
I love how glammed out Clarissa is with her pink sparkly toe spacers, her pink dress, and her pink flower hairpiece. She seems a little subdued in the pictures, but I’m pretty sure she was having an amazing time.
Here is a video of Clarissa getting her toes painted.
And another video of Clarissa getting her toes painted.
Her toes are so cute!!
Mary wrote the Easter bunny a sweet letter and gave her a gift which was a paper cutout drawing of a white bunny. Here is the Easter Bunny’s reply.
Clarissa is supposed to be holding her painted nails out to dry.
There she goes!
After the morning festivities Lily and I relaxed and rested for a while. We listened to some of the Community of Christ Easter service and Lily spent time with friends on social media. I was passed out on the couch so buried that Lily commented that I looked like part of the couch. Haha. I never really fell asleep, but I was definitely resting for a fair chunk of time and I loved every second of it.
After I got rolling, we did home church. We had an opening song, I blessed and passed the sacrament, and then I read most of the last three chapters of Matthew. Lydia looks very bored here, and she may have been, but she’s an amazing listener, and I’m always surprised by her intelligent comments and questions when I’m thinking she might not be listening. Sweet Ammon is getting back scratches from his doting sister in this picture :).
After I read the scriptures, I turned it over to Mary and Georgia who prepared a wonderful lesson.
Here is a video of Mary’s puppet show
Here is a video of Mary’s Easter message and the family discussion that ensued as a result.
After the discussion, Mary had two more parts to the program. We colored paper Easter Eggs in the basement, and then planted cilantro seeds to signify new beginnings. It was a very delightful and well-rounded home-church. Thank you Mary and Georgia for all you contributed!!!!
After home church, I played “nobody leaves the couch” with the kids while Lily started on dinner. We also did a facetime with Clark and Swathi and my dad and Suzanne. It was so nice to talk to them!
Dinner was leftover Mo-Bettas, a Trader Joe’s Lasagna, an amazing Kenoa, beet, carrot and feta salad and yummy rolls. The kids were a bit of a disaster at dinner and the adults were tired and stressed too. I shared a gospel message during the chaos, which added to the chaos and stress, and Lily and I agreed after dinner that I was too much. We are going to suspend “Come Follow Me” dinner lessons during Covid while we are already taking on home church. Lily and I both felt very burnt out after dinner. Lily did all the clean-up while I put the kids to bed, and then Lily and I just chatted for a while. Lily has been feeling so stressed because she has so little time that feels like it is truly hers. This Covid situation has really put additional pressure on her (having the kids home all the time), and our conversation really opened my eyes to what she is going through. I love that woman so much and am so profoundly grateful for every sacrifice she has made for our family. Lily, when you read through this blog and see all the fun, and joy and cheer, I hope your spirits are lifted a little because you make this all possible. I also hope we can work together to find ways to give you more space for you, to thrive, to write, to learn, to think thoughts without the constant interruption and needs. I love you and I am so so so grateful for everything you do for us. Our first focus, as you rightfully requested, will be to make sure the kids are down by 8:00 so you can have at least two hours per day to yourself. Thank you my love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
After dinner, some of us ate bunny cupcakes. Our sweet neighbor Lynette Bateman dropped off a bag for us with all of the ingredients and instructions to make them. Lydia did most of everything, I just helped with some of the finally assembly. Lydia made such cute ears for them!!
