Easter Bunny Almost Caught!

Wow, this weekend was fun and there is so much to tell. Was it Virginia Wolf who wrote in a free association style? I can’t remember - high school English class was so long ago. Anyway, that was meant as a warning. Here we go.

After five years, Liam has become an eggcellent Easter egg decorator (yes, I’m just too punny). He’s learned how to gently place the eggs in the dye without splashing and how to wait to take them out, let them sit on a paper towel to dry a little and then place in the egg carton. Brianna on the other hand likes to see how big of a splash she can create when she drops the eggs into the dye. She also likes to crack the eggs by dropping them on the table. I wish I would have gotten pictures of her holding the egg at about eye level and then letting it go. This brought her much joy and I quickly would wipe up the spillage. We colored three dozen eggs. In the past the adults would get to help color eggs too, but this year not so much. My Dad helped Brianna and my Mom helped Liam. I did a few eggs, but I don’t think Greg got to do any. So for Liam’s last egg, we dipped it in every color which is what Greg does with at least one egg every year. Liam loved the espeariment (experiment – not a flavor of gum) and I loved that we were carrying on a family tradition that Greg started years ago before we had kids (Yes, I made everyone color eggs every Easter before we had kids. What can I say? I love egg salad sandwiches.). Oh and I got smart this year and the kids colored eggs in their undies. No stained shirts or pants to have to worry about. Brianna does have a colorful speckled chest though.

We also made cupcakes. I’m currently doing Weight Watchers at work and have been doing very well – consistently losing weight (not much, but every half pound counts). So in order to prepare for Easter and the chocolate fest that can ensue, my friend, Ashley, and I decided we’d get the kids more little toys and less chocolate. I also decided to try something different for my tradition of lemon cupcakes with green colored coconut. I came up with the idea to make lemon angel food cupcakes. I found a recipe on-line and it turns out that it’s only 2 points per cupcake (sorry for the Weight Watchers speak). They actually turned out really good, although I was the only one that ate them. I originally was going to make whipped cream to “ice” them. When I did that, you totally lost the delicate lemon flavor. So I ended up making a glaze of lemon juice and powered sugar and just drizzled a little over the top with a fork. Well, Liam is all about baking and he told me in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t like lemon cupcakes and he “needed” to make some chocolate cupcakes. So we did that and I did pretty well not eating much of the batter. I then used the whipped cream I had made to frost the chocolate cupcakes. Brianna loved this because she thinks whipped cream is ice cream. She kept asking for more ice cream. Oh and they both helped make the cupcakes. Liam put the butter in the bowl. Brianna put the water and eggs in the bowl. Liam turned on the mixer. Liam got to lick the scraper/spatula. Brianna got to lick the beater. Both had chocolate faces. Much fun.

Autumn had recently told me about the hams they have at Costco and so we bought one. Last weekend I cooked it and it was delicious. Since we still had leftovers this weekend, I decided to make scalloped potatoes for Easter Linner (you know that meal around 3pm that replaces lunch and dinner). It turned out great by the way. Autumn’s suggestions/helpful advice are always spot on. Anyway, we also made deviled eggs and egg salad. I found out that my daughter LOVES eggs. She ate her egg she got at school on Friday as soon as we got home. When she colored an egg pink on Saturday, she wouldn’t let it go until I peeled it for her and she promptly ate it. Then on Sunday she ate another egg before we had a chance to turn it into egg salad or devil it.

The plan was to hide the eggs in our backyard once my parents came over and could distract the kids. Well, I had recently gotten out of the shower when I heard the door bell ring. I quickly got dressed and entered the backyard from the sliding glass door in our bedroom. Oh and I had grabbed the eggs out of the fridge and taken them back to our room when I went back for my shower. I thought I was a genius to use this time because the kids would still think I was in the shower. Unfortunately, I don’t think Greg was in on the plan and my mom thought I would come out before hiding eggs. I’m trying to quietly and quickly hide eggs and every time I hear the kids, I try to duck back into the bedroom. In case you don’t know, we have a glass door in the family room that opens to the backyard and it just has a lace curtain over it. I guess Liam saw me at some point and started getting excited because he saw the Easter bunny. This of course caused the other adults to shepherd the kids out to the front of the house. I actually broke into a sweat and had to relax a little and brush my teeth before heading out of the bedroom to let the kids know I was ready. Later that day we all would just look at each other when Liam would start talking excitedly about how he saw the Easter Bunny and what big ears the bunny had, etc. etc. I’m a little self-conscious about my ears now, so next time you see me please don’t bring up their size and/or shape.

This year, we decided to hide the Easter baskets. Evidently this is a Boyd family tradition and the kids loved it. Have I mentioned Liam’s little British saying? He says, “Straight away” a lot. On Sunday morning Liam says as soon as he wakes up, “We need to find our baskets straight away!” It’s the cutest thing. I don’t know where he picked it up.

Brianna is such a mix of girly girl and tomboy. Sunday the weather was so nice that the kids had water play in the back yard. Brianna was hard charging and ended up falling and scraping up both of her knees - one bad enough that a regular Band-Aid wouldn’t cover it. I put a big bandage on it, which Greg promptly made fun of – something to the effect of putting a table cloth on her knee. She also was climbing all over in her dress with no fear. But in true girly fashion, she changed her clothes five times that day. Okay, I put her in two outfits – her Easter dress to look for eggs, then play clothes to play outside in. She picked out another dress, her swim suit, and later that night a different swim suit (which caused us to explain that when the sun is setting we don’t play out in the water).

We also were trying to find a good time to call Greg’s family to wish them a Happy Easter. This is always difficult. We have to take into account the time difference, but more importantly the child temperament scale. You would not believe how hard it is to get both kids awake and in a good enough mood to talk. Normally it’s one or the other and on really bad days they both go into melt down while we’re on the phone. Fortunately, we got both of them awake and they both talked on the phone for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Liam was starting to get tired which causes him to go into “crazy” conversations. He’ll tell you that you’re a food of some sort and how he’s going to eat you and then your eyeballs are fire or garbage or some other lovely thing.

This post is getting way too long and I still have to download pictures. I guess I’ll stop there then. I hope everyone had as much fun over Easter weekend as we did!