Easter 2010

I'm not feeling particularly witty at the moment, but figured I'd better get some pictures and updates on the blog before baby #3 comes. I think this action could be categorized as "nesting," although it may be too new of a fad to be listed in the parenting/pregnancy books as one of the common nesting activities



For all of you face-bookers, this next quote is a repeat. Sorry to bore you, but I need it here on the blog for posterity:
At lunch on Palm Sunday, daddy asked Nat what she learned in church that morning. Nat replied, "My teacher told us how Jesus died on the cross. I told her how Tudor died on the road."
It was all we could do to keep from laughing hysterically. =)

On Saturday, the girls and I went to Nana and Pop-pop's. I wasn't feeling very chipper so they watched the girls while I did my last minute shopping. I went back to their house and made my "Mom Rauch's Carrot Cake" with help from mom and sis.
The entire time I was gone Nat was chomping at the bit to get started coloring eggs. She was ready to go the second I hit the door but in true kid-torturing fashion, the eggs weren't. =) There were 12, yes TWELVE different egg colors in the Paas pack and we didn't even get the fancy pack! Jess and I think we had about 5 colors back in the day. 12! Good thing my mom has saved every little wire egg dipper we've gotten over the past 20 years so we still were able to manage one dipper for every color. (pheeeww. Crisis averted.)
Pop-pop was a great help in assisting Jules with the dipping and instructing Nat on the finer points of egg-coloring, like using the wax crayon and egg holders. They were tickled with their results.
Easter Sunday was a nice time. We made it to church and actually got some pics of the girls before we left. Nat was all about squeezing Jules to pieces for those shots. Later, we went to my mom's, had dinner, and an Easter egg hunt. The girls loved running around in the sunshine (and I'm sure Nat loved not having to fight 1000 little kids and their pushy parents for eggs at the Hershey outlets. At Nana's house you're a winner every time.)
We cajoled my prego sis to get a belly shot with me since she is finally showing a little bit. We played the "this is a once in a life-time photo for us" card. Unfortunately, we couldn't get her to show her real belly, just her clothed belly, but I'll take it!

I Cor. 15:17

The Eggstravaganza

We colored eggs on Saturday. Nat had been waiting and waiting. (She has already asked when we are coloring eggs again. "Next year?! But that will be so long, I know it will.") Jules was super enthused to participate this year and actually did a pretty good job of leaving them in the dye. On the other hand, she was a little over zealous to crack the eggs. She was really stressing Nat and me out because she kept cracking them before they were colored. Daddy saved the day. "Julsie, you have to be careful with the eggs, like they are babies." Immediately, Jules and Nat held eggs in their hands and rocked and snuggled them to their faces like little babies.

Daddy and I each had one egg to dye. I did mine in a star-burst pattern with white, yellow and orange (used tape.) Luckily Daddy has a wife who remembers her art classes and could produce a perfect brown for his egg. Brown? Along with green, he made a beautiful camo egg. Yes, nothing says "spring" like camo.

As was tradition in the Graham house, the girls hid their baskets for the Easter Bunny to find. (The bunny fills them and hides them in a new spot.) Here is a pic of Nat hiding her's in the shoe closet. Apparently Jules thought that was a pretty great idea and decided to hide her's there too.

Although Daddy wasn't home when we all woke up that morning (he wasn't home yet from work), there was no stopping the finding fun. The bunny had been there! Before I went to bed, I set out presents from us and Nana and Pop pop too. N&P sent (for each) an Easter dress, another outfit and candy! (mmm including that yummy chocolate peanut butter egg made by Sugar Lake Church.)

Making Madness

We began our Easter festivities bright and early on Friday morning. We headed over to the Hershey Outlets for their annual egg hunt/grab. When we got there, the place was so packed that we struggled to find a parking spot finally finding one behind the outlets in a semi-construction zone. After hustling the girls through the mess of people, we arrived at the "scene" just as they were yelling "go." We hustled to Nat's age group and luckily, a friend yelled to us and we got Nat wormed in beside another mom friend. It was crazy. It was madness. For those of you who've been to the spillway in Linesville, it was like that, but instead of carp, it was 4 and 5 year olds. Candy was flying, parents were yelling and holding their cameras above the crowd to take pics of the mayhem. Being late combined with Nat's mild temperament, she was out of luck when it came to the candy dept. I mean really out of luck. She didn't even get one piece... until our sweet friend gave each of the girls a lollipop from her bag. =) Hmm. A little sacrificial giving -- It may be Easter after all.

Later, we had our friends, K & K over to make and decorate some cut-out cookies. Here are the cuties with some of their creations. Much of the icing was simply licked from the tops of cookies and we made a big mess, but had a good time. The mess is half the fun, right? At least it is in our house. Poor little K kept saying "Messy... Messy."

John tried one and said it was the best sugar cookie he has ever eaten!!!! I got the recipe from my friend's blog..... The Gourmet Mom herself! Inspired by her valentine cookies, I experimented with Royal Icing (after the kids were in bed.) For my first try, I think they turned out ok. Not professional, but I learned a lot.

Can anyone tell me where my healthy eating trend got off course?

Easter

Does anyone know how hard it is to get both kids to look cute in the same picture? It's nearly impossible (especially with me taking the pics). It doesn't help that I'm indecisive, so you know there will be a lot of single pics of the kids. Oh well.
We got dressed up in our new Easter outfits from Nana and Papa. Nat had a beautiful little hat, which she actually wore and a matching purse. Dad was working so it was just us girls.
On the way home from church we get something close to this:

Mom: "Nat, did you have fun in your Sunday school class today?"

Nat: "I wanted you to come watch me."

M: "You wanted me to come back to your class? Oh. I was upstairs in MY class."

N: "Why?"

M: "Well, because there's a class for big kids and one for little kids and I went to the big class."

N: "Did you have fun?"

M: "Yeah, I had fun."

N: "Did you have a little bit of fun?"

M: "Yeah, I had a little bit of fun."

N: "Did you miss me a little bit?"

M: "Yes, I did miss you a little bit. I had a little bit of fun and I missed you a little bit. "

I know this won't last forever, so I'm immortalizing it here.

Hippety-Hoppety ...Does this stuff stain?

On the Friday before Easter, we colored our eggs. (Ghetto mommy did not get the girls official "Easter" baskets. I just emptied baskets we typically use around the house and used those. I know!) So, back to the coloring. We had a good time. This was Natty's second year for coloring and her first year she was really in-command. She did a great job and wanted to color eggs again every day for about 3 days. Gramma and Grandpa watched via webcam. We just started gently dropping the eggs in the color cups, but she really was doing her best to use the little wand to pull the eggs out. Tob and I were talking to Gma and Gpa when we looked over and the wand frustration had reached its peak. Nat just reached her whole hand right into the color cup and pulled out the egg. Man, that was easier!