Easter

Despite unseasonably cold, rainy, and windy weather most of this week and weekend, our Easter festivities went off without a hitch.

Friday we had a church egg hunt which was Peter's very first egg hunt with others outside our family.  Dozens of toddlers running around looking for eggs weirded him out at first. "You pick it up!" he kept telling me as he stood over an egg.  I'm not sure if he was worried it would hurt or what.  When I picked up the first and showed him there was candy inside, he warmed up to the idea immediately and needed no more prompting to look for and pick up plenty more.

Friday evening we went to special Easter meeting with Elder Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the 12 apostles.  He taught powerfully of Christ and the atonement and resurrection and it was a wonderful evening and such a perfect way to spend Good Friday.  What a blessing to have one of Christ's apostles with us at Easter time.

Saturday we decorated eggs at home.  Bella enjoyed it the most, obviously.  Peter hung in as long as I'd expect a 2 year old would - 2 eggs.  Christian did a few but is such a left-brained perfectionist that when his eggs didn't turn out like the masterpieces he had in his mind, there was no joy in the activity anymore and he left.  So, Bella and I painted eggs for over an hour, she creating one stunning/adorable egg after another and I falling miserably short of my standards but still having a great time.  It's nice to be older and not so beholden to the standard of perfection.  I can just enjoy the journey so much more than I ever could as a kid.  I hope Christian can one day do the same.

Saturday Elder Anderson was doing training for all the stake presidencies and bishops and so Kelly was gone until the afternoon.  We waited on the egg hung until he was home.  He accompanied Peter around the yard helping him find all his color coded (blue) eggs and while I helped the older boys search for theirs.  Bella had gone to a friend's house for the afternoon.  I was surprised Benjamin wanted to participate in the hunt, but I guess he won't turn down candy.  I hid his eggs pretty carefully because I figured at 15, he'd be much better at finding them.  He wasn't.  Nothing has changed since that little 5 year old couldn't find a single egg and would whine in frustration after everyone else had found all theirs and he was still carrying an empty basket.  Luckily I take a picture of every egg I hide, so I went around the yard with him and helped him after a while.  He did, however, have no trouble finding the Easter baskets my mom had placed for everyone, and soon was proudly walking around with all the Easter baskets for himself.  He did eventually agree to give them to their rightful owners.

Christian wasn't much better at finding eggs without help and walked around with a look of frustration on this face nearly the entire time until I started giving him clues.  Everyone said they had fun at the end of it, though.

When all the eggs were found, we skedaddled back inside to escape the cold and open eggs.  Peter negotiated with Kelly to exchange an entire bunny for one little chocolate egg under the guise he would only smell the bunny and then give it back, but he ended up chomping into it and feeling pretty proud of his little deal.  Kelly learned a valuable lesson not to negotiate with 2 year olds.  They're con-artists.

Despite Christian's frustrations about how hard I'd hidden the eggs, he was perfectly happy to find all his favorite candy in his eggs.

In the end, I let Peter have a little chocolate and then threw the rest away when he went to bed that night.  He was perfectly happy just playing with the plastic egg shells today.  

Sunday we went to two different church's Easter services - the local mega church, Ward Presbyterian, and our own.  I love Ward's holiday services.  It's amazing what you can do with a staff of hundreds.  Then we invited our friend Thea, an elderly woman in our congregation, over for dinner and had a fun evening of dinner and games.  It was a perfect Easter weekend of both spiritual and secular.  I'm so thankful for my savior, Jesus Christ, and all he has done for me.  I know he lives.