Easter: The Pregame

The evening before Easter, we went to an egg hunt… err, candy gathering, for the kids with our friends, the Ericksons.  It was hosted at their church, and essentially, every hour or so, a huge balloon full of candy, which was referred to as an “egg”, was dropped from a crane and everyone stampeded onto the lawn to fill up their buckets and paper lunch bags (think oversized Easter piñata).  It was definitely a novel idea, and I don’t think anyone minded the instant gratification.  As for our bunch, most of their candy was foraged before the egg was even dropped from the sky.  They utilized a keen hunting technique known as begging/panhandling.  Not surprisingly, they weren’t too shabby at it either.

       

Bella tells the grown-ups what to do… and they fall in line.

 

This girl reminds me of Betty Boop or Sophia Loren.  Such a starlet.

Egg-citement

When I was a kid, we didn’t celebrate Easter, save it be for this one tradition of going to our neighbor’s house to dye Easter eggs with a PAAS dye kit every year.  For many years, dying eggs was my Easter, and I liked it.  Now, Easter has taken on a whole new and way deeper than the eggshell meaning for me and my little family, but I will hold fast to this tradition of dunking and turning out colored eggs in a way that triggers my nostalgia, so long as my littles continue to enjoy the ritual as much as I do. 

Daddy took charge, so the situation stayed until control the whole time.  In other words, he made sure that our table and floor didn’t change colors.  Each kid got to pick one color and one egg at a time, but this limitation didn’t hamper their creativity or motivation one bit.  They took turns carefully dipping and turning and stirring their egg in the cup until they were satisfied that it was exactly right.  They had far more patience with coloring each egg than I ever remembered having with mine when I was a little girl.  I don’t recall that my eggs ever got past the pastel point and turned out to be the sort of bright and intense colors that theirs were.

Each of my children handled the process slightly differently.  Bella was very cautious and meticulous.  She inspected each egg, never spilled a drop, was precise about exactly which color she wanted next and which egg would be the chosen one; and as each one turned out, she held it up for us to concur that it was, in fact, perfected.  To Gabe, dying eggs was just for fun, like the many other craft projects he has under his belt from preschool and home.  He was also very tidy, but he handled his dying with equal parts conscientiousness and lightheartedness.  Ari was a wild woman in all this.  She was thrilled to death with everything about the project from the rainbow of colors, her freedom to choose, her ability to hold the spoon and stir the egg without anyone’s assistance, and everything in between.  She whacked the egg with the back of her spoon and laughed mischeviously when we cautioned her not to crack her egg, she lifted and dropped the egg into each colored solution splashing everything around her like a crazed artist.  She touched, smelled, tasted, and kissed… yes, kissed, every egg that she colored. 

           

We, in the Taylor household, enjoy savoring the holidays and making each one last a whole lot longer than one day, so it should go without saying that this is only the first of three Easter posts to come.  Stay tuned for the others…

Play Date Pastimes

When the sun shines strong enough for tank tops and flip flops, but the pavement is still cool enough to sit on, you can find us outside in the world.  We’ll be living life as it was meant to be lived; covered in sidewalk chalk and grass stains.  You can bet we’ll be with friends… soaking up every minute with the smell of fresh cut grass, the cool breeze, the warm rays of light on our backs, the sounds of giggling kids, and loving everything that comes with our springtime (some might call it summer, but we know better).

  

We never can go inside without needing a full-on sink bath.  It comes with the territory, I believe.

She’s practicing identifying letters.

Our adorable girlfriends, Taya and Melia, and their amazing mama, Jane.

  

We had two picnics in our front yard last weekend.  I say it’s the perfect spot for that.  Close enough to home that we can run in and out for whatever we need, but far enough away to still be novel and spare my kitchen one more mess.  Then Chrissy, Mike, Lana, & Kiera brought over an insane quantity of chicken nuggets that we somehow managed to devour in full…

Poor Isabella.  Try as I may to take a photo of her without a full mouth, she thwarts me at every turn.  Not an easy feat.

 

Mr. Mike entertained the kids with his IPhone.  Never fails to get instant adoration from the littles.

Gabe & his girl, Lana.  One of many pre-engagement photos.

 

Maybe this should’ve been a post all on it’s own.  We went ice blocking with the Webbs, for the first time ever, and it rocked!  I want to do this every weekend now.  The only part that was a downer was when we were told that ice blocking is prohibited at the park!  Who knew?  No matter, each of the kids got a few turns down the hill and smiled until their cheeks hurt.  So it left us wanting more.  Who’s up for it?