Easter 2011

Our Easter preparations began last night when we dyed a dozen hard boiled eggs. Claire was eager to dye the eggs and helped me prepare the dyes, then told me which eggs to put in which teacups and when the eggs were a satisfactory color ("Leave it in longer. It's not dark enough!" "Take it out. It's perfect.").

The result was a bright and colorful dozen. Since no one else in our family eats hard boiled eggs, I suppose I will be eating all of them this week. Anyone want to join me for an egg salad sandwich or other meal where hard boiled eggs are the main ingredient?

This morning, Claire woke up and went straight downstairs. I could hear her gasp, "Oh my!" when she saw that the Easter Bunny had made his yearly visit. She quickly ran upstairs to show me some Pocoyo figurines (aka "guys") that were in her Easter basket. I removed the figurines from the packaging and she took them to her room and introduced them to her other guys. After playing for a while, she came to get me because she was hungry for breakfast. We went downstairs and I saw *for the first time* the loot left by the Easter Bunny. I read the letter he left which informed Claire that he had hidden 12 shiny eggs in the family room. She immediately started hunting for the eggs and, with a little help, the was able to find all 12.

We drove to my parents' house for our official Easter celebration. After feasting on appetizers, the big kids began hunting for 30 eggs (hidden by yours truly) in the yard. I think I overestimated their abilities because they needed some help finding some of the eggs. With 6 eggs left, we took a break and went inside for a delicious filet dinner. The kids were eager to get back outside to find the rest of the hidden eggs after dinner and they were able to find five with assistance, but no one (including me!) could find that last egg. Grandpa was sure he was going to eventually run over it with his lawnmower. Grandma, however, found the egg a while later after it had rained. Needless to say, the egg and its contents were not able to be enjoyed.

We finished our Easter celebration with some low key desserts (low key = There were less people than number of different desserts served.). My grandmother brought a sweet little Easter cake which gave us the perfect opportunity to start off Claire's Birthday Week by singing happy birthday to her! She will be an expert wisher and candle-blower-outer by this time next week!

We had such a nice time together today. It's a good thing we like each other so much because we will be spending the next two Sundays together. Stay tuned!