Easter 2012

It's always a little sad for me when a holiday comes around and I'm not around my family back in VA.  I was a bit sad that my boys would miss out on going to my parents house for the annual Easter egg hunt with all their cousins and my cousins and their kids.  I am used to big, chaotic holidays and I want my boys to have those experiences.  So, I was thrilled when I got a text last Thursday inviting us to a neighbors house for an Easter egg hunt.

Easter started out well.  Despite Colin waking up at 4:30, thinking it was 6:30, we still fell back asleep and got up in time to search for Easter baskets, get everyone showered and dressed and off to church in time for the 8:00 mass.  The boys love looking for their Easter baskets, and even Logan was excited this year.  Church went better than Dennis and I could have hoped for.  All 3 boys stayed in their seats pretty well (Logan of course bounced around a little, but for a just 2 year old he did well).

Colin requested another Egg Fight and since I was going to make Egg salad for lunch, it turned out perfect.  Evan opted to not participate.  At this stage in his life he is happier watching on the sidelines, rather than play and loose.  I don't think it is as much being competitive, as it is just not wanting to fail.  He is very hard on himself at times.

Anyway, after rest time we headed to our neighbors for some yummy treats and the egg hunt.  The funny thing is that Dennis and I had both given the boys a lecture before we went about not taking too much eggs and Colin said he would take 5 or so and then help the little ones.  Well, our neighbor had TONS of eggs, the boys were able to get a huge stash and even Logan was able to have a full basket.  The boys were awesome there.  There are a lot of little boys all the same ages in the neighborhood and often when they are all together, they can't keep from tackling and jumping on top of each other.  Well, we talked to the boys about not doing this and they listened and were great.  I was happy to see that a few times when boys were on the floor tackling, my boys were not involved.  Yeah, for the small victories in life!

We then got the call the Grandpa McLaughlin was at our house, so we walked back to meet him.  He stayed the night on his way back to Wisconsin from Virginia.  I made a great Easter dinner and we sat in the dining room to celebrate.  I figured since we have lived in the house for 7 months and haven't used our dining room yet, it was past time to break it in.  By the evening all the sweets and activity started to take a toll on the boys, and in usual fashion, when they are tired and overstimulated, they started to act out some.  But, there was an easy solution to that...we put them in bed a little early.

So, despite it being a quiet Easter, Easter 2012 turned out pretty perfect.