Eastertide is upon us!

We have camped out on our early morning Easter breakfast tradition for the past 5 years, feasting on monkey bread with the same posse of friends and family. But this year the majority of people who usually join us were out of town, and we switched to the earlier service when Henry dropped to one nap, so the logistics looked a little tricky. We decided instead to haul the monkey bread along to a laid-back brunch with friends who also have toddlers. I find that the best way to manage little person chaos is just to multiple the numbers and create such a ruckus that everyone ceases to care.

Our Easter morning was chaotic in another sense. The Hot Cross buns I made to deliver to neighbors turned out barely edible (good recipe anyone?), and we missed the change in service times, barely making it to church on time… only to find out we were half an hour late already and had missed the marvelous Easter hymns I anticipate all year. I was pretty crushed, though we stuck around for the opening of the following family service, and Henry breaking it down with an egg shaker and then trying to rush the stage twice did almost  make up for it.

After church we headed to brunch and managed to only get one photo of us together to prove we can clean up, and even then Henry isn’t really smiling. But as he’s not grimacing, I call it a win. I didn’t snap any pictures of the awesome food, as the kids (ok, and pregnant/recently postpartum moms) started snacking before we even finished putting out food and ruined the tablescape. We weren’t sure if the kids, most of whom are around 2, would be able to figure out the concept of finding Easter eggs, but we were mistaken. It’s like the need for sugar is engrained in them and even kids who usually avoid following instructions (Henry) were intent on gathering those eggs. They also managed to eat way more candy than any of us realized, and we ended the day with some seriously wired kids.

 Henry was content to search for eggs until he found a tennis ball, and then abandoned his basket to go give the “egg” to the dog, very pleased that he had discovered a special puppy egg.This picture makes me so happy, as we have an almost identical one of James from my brother’s wedding:These boys. They make my heart explode. Especially when they are in bowties.And now begin the attempts at wrangling all four kids into one picture.I guess we will call that a success?

Happy Easter!

PS: Loved this article about “The Easter Effect” in the Wall Street Journal, and some of my favorite Easter quotes here, as well as my favorite Good Friday quote.