First and foremost. . .

Happy Easter to all. It was a wonderful Resurrection Sunday here on the mountain. A few takeaways include:

Pt 1: Kicking off the morning: We have a family tradition of hiding (OK, strewing) Easter eggs about the living room for the kids to "find" when they are all up on Easter morning. Many are your garden variety plastic eggs filled with candy (primarily the kind the parents like too so that we can poach unashamedly afterwards). Some are hard-boiled and dyed the night before by all of us. This year included 18 such eggs, some of which were blue with smiley faces, some were plaid, one looked just like a dinosaur egg. They were magnificent. We hide the candy eggs on Saturday night after the kids are asleep; the "real" eggs spend the night in the fridge and are added on Sunday morning.

Much like we do at Christmas with Santa Claus, my wife and I work very hard to make sure that our kids know that Easter is not just about treat-filled baskets and candy-filled eggs. Thus, in addition to candy eggs (total: 94) and real eggs (total: 18), we have 12 "resurrection eggs". We bought these before Easter last year and the are a GREAT addition to the tradition. (ooh, a rhyme!) These particular eggs, which look just like the plastic eggs filled with candy, have inside something representative of the Easter story. It was so great to watch the kids open them this morning and shout "praying hands, like Jesus in the garden", or "a cup, like what Jesus used at the last supper". (OK, she actually said "last dinner", but we got the point). Other eggs contain a spear, a crown of thorns, a cross made of nails, a white linen cloth, a whip, a rock (to seal the tomb), and others that I'm not thinking of at 11:30 at night. Most importantly, one egg is completely empty, just like the tomb. Belle found that one and recognized the significance of it immediately. Isn't it great when they know their lines?! I can't remember where we found these; I'll see if I can find the source and post it in a later entry. All I know is that it was a real blessing to watch all three kids remember why the eggs were there and what their contents meant.

Logistical note: Belle woke up with the sun and entertained herself until I got up (bless her!). I dragged myself out of bed about 8:30 to start the coffee pot (VITAL). The Boy got up shortly after I did. He and Belle waited "patiently", as they knew no-one was allowed to start collecting eggs until everyone was up. I took coffee to my wife in an effort to bribe her out of bed. Then, and only then, did I head downstairs to coax Tinkerbell out of bed. She and her mother are of the same cloth; they would both sleep until 10 every day if they could. This all works pretty well during the week when there are no am deadlines (thank GOODNESS we homeschool). On Easter Sunday Morning, when you have to hunt eggs / eat breakfast /parents have to shower-shave-etc / get dressed in all new clothes (where are Belles new shoes - do we have a slip for Tink - uh-oh The Boys pants are a little long) / "WE NEED TO LEAVE FOR CHURCH!!!!!", it can get a little stressful. I'll omit the gory details, but trust me when I say, it could have gone better.

Pt 2: The Hunt: After church and lunch (including interestingly colored egg salad, of course), we headed to our community Easter Egg Hunt. Tim blogged on theirs yesterday; ours is similarly structured. Remember a few things: 1) while we live in a somewhat remote part of the state, it's a gated community popular with retirees. 2) those retirees like to have their grandchildren come visit for holidays. 3) those retirees LOVE to show off their grandchildren (wearing their Easter best) to all of their friends at a community gathering. "Zoo" doesn't begin to describe the event. In addition to the actual hunt (which started at precisely 3:00 and was largely over by 3:03), you can pet the animals in the petting zoo (including a camel, llama, cow, donkey, goat, sheep, duck, chicken, rabbit, and probably others that I couldn't see through the crowd) and get your picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Actually, we had a lot of fun. One of our friends (also a homeschool parent with whom we'd like to spend more time but it just hasn't worked out yet) shared a precious story about Tinkerbell (our 6 year old) that obviously I must share here. Our friends daughter (age 5) was somewhat overwhelmed by the crowds during the Easter Egg Round-up and ended up with a completely empty basket. She doesn't know Tink that well but, being the only girl in a family of 4 boys, she tends to remember every girl she meets. When she saw me and The Boy just after the Hunt, she turned to her mom and said "I want to go find Tinkerbell". So, they did. They sought out and found Tink over near the Easter Bunny. Tink looked into the little girls basked, saw that it was empty, and without saying a word started moving some her eggs from her basket to the friends. Neither I or my wife saw this, so our friend found us to share the story. She was so touched. We were so proud!

Pt 3: Dinner: After the egg round-up, we returned home for some desperately needed rest. Belle was allowed to stay up and visit WebkinzWorld (after she did her phonics first). The younger two were sent to their rooms with strict instructions to "put their heads on their pillows and rest". We parents actually sat down in the living room and visited for a few minutes, then did some chores until it was time to leave for dinner with the grandparents. Background: my wife's parents live in our community as well - maybe 8 minutes away. We had a wonderful Easter Dinner with them. The kids love visiting Mimi and Papa. We had a lovely dinner (that neither of us had to cook!). We even got to bring home some leftovers. All in all, it was a great end to a great day.

I hope that all of you had an equally blessed day.

"Christ the Lord is risen today, alleluia!"