Easter, Exhaustion, and other stuff

Remember the good old days? You know, when I updated my blog more than twice a month? Yeah, I remember those days too. Seems like so long ago. Back before I was HUGE and PREGNANT and sooooooo tired. Did I say tired? I meant down to the bone exhausted. I feel like I'm literally dragging myself through each day, counting down the hours and minutes until a decent bed time. I have to reward myself with chocolate chips or something in order to do housework (see?? bribery works on kids of all ages!). And to top it off, the past couple of weeks have been busy with YW activities, T-ball practice, science fair stuff, and PTA responsibilities (we just finished teacher appreciation week, so it should die down a little). I just hope that when the baby comes I have more energy, or the whole getting up all night to feed may just darn near kill me.

So Easter was a couple weekends ago and my boys were so excited. They wanted to do an Easter egg hunt so bad that the week before Easter they probably asked "How many days until Sunday" like a million billion times. We always try to talk about why we celebrate Easter and if you ask Rix and Bryce, they will tell you it's the day Jesus was resurrected and give you the story (Cole will tell you it's the day Jesus was directed, but he's three so I'll give him a break) but really, kids are kids, and they were most excited about the candy. I don't try to glorify the Easter bunny because I don't want my kids to think Easter is about a bunny, but it did get brought up, and Rix was pretty doubtful that a bunny was bringing him candy. Which is fine, I don't care if they believe in the Easter bunny or not (now Santa is a different story...).

Of course we waited until Saturday to do all the Easter candy shopping. I found some great deals on candy, and only spend like $7 - I know, I rock. Besides, the last thing my kids need is more sugar in their diet. So we went minimal this year. I was also preparing my lesson for YW and making a 30 page booklet of Jesus's last week on Earth, which took forever to make and I only survived thanks to Lindsay, who came over and helped me put them together while we watched Tron with the guys (who didn't help...they just ate candy). Bryan and I got all the candy in the eggs and hid them and the baskets and fell into bed around 1am. We are so not young anymore. It about killed us.

Sunday morning the boys did their Easter hunt. They each got to find 10 eggs, and were so excited each time they found one. It was really cute. Bryce had been battling this weird fever/cough sickness, and although he felt fine in the morning, by 11am he had a fever around 102 and was coughing again, so he didn't go to church, but I got the other two boys ready and we headed out.

Bryce found his Easter basket!

Rix looking for eggs. I, I mean, the Easter bunny, hid Rix's eggs in the play room, Cole's in the bedroom, and Bryce's in the living room. Smart bunny!

Cole found a Spiderman egg! What a cool bunny!

Three happy boys with baskets of sugar.

I know Bryce is sick when he falls asleep on the couch, with the TV on, and his brothers being crazy.

Cole ready for church!

Rix ready for church. Do you ever notice how messy your house is when you take pictures? I often look back at pictures I've taken and cringe. I'm learning not to get lots of background :)

So Easter weekend Bryan decided to rip apart the kitchen. We had already put in a new sink and countertops on the one side of the kitchen, but the other side (where the fridge and stove are) was going to be completely gutted. We need to get this done before the baby comes because things will be pretty crazy for a couple months, and we want to enjoy our summer, not work through it. I'll post pics later, but right now, as I type, Bryan is caulking and priming the new cabinets that he built. Since it's oil-based I can't prime it (not safe for the baby) but Monday night we should be painting the cabinets, then staining them to look antiqued, and we'll install a new fridge, cooktop, double oven, and microwave/hood. And put in the new countertop. But for now we have no kitchen and making meals is making me become creative!

Because our kitchen was (and still is) a mess and not 100% functional, we didn't get around to doing Easter eggs until after Easter. But the boys had a blast and wanted to do like 20 eggs a piece. However, the only person in our house who likes hard-boiled eggs in Bryan (unless they are deviled eggs, and then I can eat my share) so we limited the boys to about 4 a piece. And then donated the eggs to Carissa to make deviled eggs for Sunday dinner the following Sunday.

See how brave we are? Because we can't use the kitchen (Bryan has moved the dining table to the garage) we dyed Easter eggs in the living room over my light tan carpet. Yikes! We laid a blanket down for good measure, but surprisingly the boys didn't spill anything!

We had these shrink wrap things that melted around the egg with heat. Cole was so impressed he did it with all his eggs. And then they all proceeded to cover the whole thing with little Easter stickers.

Cole showing off his egg.

Rix and Bryce took the dying and decorating of their eggs very seriously.

Cole cracked an egg, so Bryan showed him what was inside.

He does NOT want to try it.

My parents were out of town Easter weekend attending my brother's graduation from BYU (congrats dude!). We still all met at their house for dinner, although it wasn't Easter dinner, because Carissa offered to make homemade egg rolls, and we just don't say no to that. I supplied fried rice and Lindsay made a salad, and Kelli topped it off with dessert, and we were all fat and happy. Doesn't Chinese food just scream Easter??

No worries, the next weekend my parents had us over for a traditional Easter dinner with ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, and raspberry jello pretzel salad (love that stuff!!) and to celebrate my dad's 55th birthday. I love going to my parents to eat with everyone. It's always fun (and loud and crazy) but it gives us a chance to hang out and the kids get to play. Hopefully this time next year won't be so crazy, and I can plan an Easter for my kids that will be more organized and meaningful. Here's to hoping!