What? Technically it's still April (for the next hour or so), I'm not that behind...
In my head, I have great expectations for each holiday - the kids and I will do creative, fun, theme-related crafts, we'll have special traditional meals and treats, everything will be planned out and organized ahead of time... It all sounds great, but the next thing I realize, the anticipated holiday is only moments away. Thankfully I have good friends, primary activities, and little children who don't know any better, so we did manage to have a fun Easter, despite my lack of follow through.
Our first activity - the ward primary Easter egg hunt had a definite deja-vu feeling. Two years ago (I was hugely pregnant then too), Aubree and I attended the same primary activity. At one point I found her and her best pal, Ella, sitting in a corner of the cultural hall feeding each other candy.
Apparently, some things never change.
The 
big kids got to participate in a big outdoor egg hunt, but first, the nursery-aged kids had a mini-hunt in the nursery room. As soon as we walked into the room, Bryce melted into a puddle of tears and clung fiercely to my leg. Let me back up a minute - this activity came at the end of two months of ward conferences throughout our Stake. Ward conferences that I needed to attend because of my calling, and because of Mark's calling in the Bishopric, my kids "got" to come with me. Aubree handled the constantly changing wards like a champ; she enjoyed going to the different primaries and always came home exclaiming, "they sang to me!" It helped that another Stake Leader had a four-year old daughter she brought along too. Bryce however, struggled significantly. Though he'd come to love nursery in our home ward, no way, no how was he going to go to the other nurseries. All during the sacrament meetings, he's chant, "nursery! nursery!," but when we'd get to the class, he'd cry his rare heart-breaking cry as if to say, "this isn't nursery." So, when we walked into the nursery room for the egg hunt, he had the same initial reaction. It took a while to convince him that I wasn't leaving and that he should try to find eggs. By the time we made it outside to join Aubree, he'd begun to understand the concept of looking for eggs and both kids had a blast. (PS now ward conferences are over and we're back in our own ward and Bryce loves going to nursery again - Phew!).
No doubt, their favorite part of the activity was eating the candy.
Aubree also had a day of Easter-related activities at Preschool, thanks to Amy who definitely is on-the-ball. I got to be the assistant that day, so that meant Bryce got to participate as well. They got to do a bunch of fun, creative, theme-related crafts (like painting wooden Easter eggs - pictured below).
Finally, it was time for the actual Easter day - and this is where I admit my total lack of planning. Late Saturday afternoon, I did stop by the store, but I couldn't convince myself to buy more candy when we still have a bowl full of candy sitting high in a cupboard from past holidays. Mark got home late from Priesthood session and it was then that we discussed what to do the next morning. Mark suggested hiding a few eggs around the house and letting the kids hunt for them. Great idea. So, we filled a few eggs with leftover candy (pathetic, isn't it?) and strategically hid them. Thankfully, little kids are easy to please and Aubree and Bryce seemed to enjoy the hunt.
In the future, I realize I do need to make some more deliberate decisions of how to "handle" Easter morning. Easter baskets or no? Separate for each kid or a group pot? Celebrate on Saturday, so Sunday is free to focus on the true meaning of Easter? Food for thought. Hopefully next year my good intentions will pan out.
In my head, I have great expectations for each holiday - the kids and I will do creative, fun, theme-related crafts, we'll have special traditional meals and treats, everything will be planned out and organized ahead of time... It all sounds great, but the next thing I realize, the anticipated holiday is only moments away. Thankfully I have good friends, primary activities, and little children who don't know any better, so we did manage to have a fun Easter, despite my lack of follow through.
Our first activity - the ward primary Easter egg hunt had a definite deja-vu feeling. Two years ago (I was hugely pregnant then too), Aubree and I attended the same primary activity. At one point I found her and her best pal, Ella, sitting in a corner of the cultural hall feeding each other candy.
Apparently, some things never change.
The 
big kids got to participate in a big outdoor egg hunt, but first, the nursery-aged kids had a mini-hunt in the nursery room. As soon as we walked into the room, Bryce melted into a puddle of tears and clung fiercely to my leg. Let me back up a minute - this activity came at the end of two months of ward conferences throughout our Stake. Ward conferences that I needed to attend because of my calling, and because of Mark's calling in the Bishopric, my kids "got" to come with me. Aubree handled the constantly changing wards like a champ; she enjoyed going to the different primaries and always came home exclaiming, "they sang to me!" It helped that another Stake Leader had a four-year old daughter she brought along too. Bryce however, struggled significantly. Though he'd come to love nursery in our home ward, no way, no how was he going to go to the other nurseries. All during the sacrament meetings, he's chant, "nursery! nursery!," but when we'd get to the class, he'd cry his rare heart-breaking cry as if to say, "this isn't nursery." So, when we walked into the nursery room for the egg hunt, he had the same initial reaction. It took a while to convince him that I wasn't leaving and that he should try to find eggs. By the time we made it outside to join Aubree, he'd begun to understand the concept of looking for eggs and both kids had a blast. (PS now ward conferences are over and we're back in our own ward and Bryce loves going to nursery again - Phew!).No doubt, their favorite part of the activity was eating the candy.
Aubree also had a day of Easter-related activities at Preschool, thanks to Amy who definitely is on-the-ball. I got to be the assistant that day, so that meant Bryce got to participate as well. They got to do a bunch of fun, creative, theme-related crafts (like painting wooden Easter eggs - pictured below).
Finally, it was time for the actual Easter day - and this is where I admit my total lack of planning. Late Saturday afternoon, I did stop by the store, but I couldn't convince myself to buy more candy when we still have a bowl full of candy sitting high in a cupboard from past holidays. Mark got home late from Priesthood session and it was then that we discussed what to do the next morning. Mark suggested hiding a few eggs around the house and letting the kids hunt for them. Great idea. So, we filled a few eggs with leftover candy (pathetic, isn't it?) and strategically hid them. Thankfully, little kids are easy to please and Aubree and Bryce seemed to enjoy the hunt.
In the future, I realize I do need to make some more deliberate decisions of how to "handle" Easter morning. Easter baskets or no? Separate for each kid or a group pot? Celebrate on Saturday, so Sunday is free to focus on the true meaning of Easter? Food for thought. Hopefully next year my good intentions will pan out.
1 comment:
It all sounds perfect to me. You did wonderfully!
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