Easter

Our jolly bunny.

Dying eggs.

"Gentle hands!" was the phrase most often uttered by Mommy. Charlotte would drop the eggs into dye from up high, cracking their shells. Eventually, I stopped micromanaging and let her just dye the eggs her way. 

Final result, with cracks hidden.

The sugar cookies Mommy decorated. I should've also photographed Charlotte's cookies, covered in about an inch of sprinkles each, but that whole process required MUCH supervision. There was no way I was leaving her to run upstairs for the camera.

Our failed family picture on Easter Sunday.

Breakfast at the church.

Effort #2 for a family photo.

Egg hunt.

Watching the Masters with Papa. Well, okay, watching Elmo while Papa and Daddy watch the Masters.

This year's Easter table. I felt sort of bogged down by all the heavy colors I had been using lately, so I opted for a design that was light, springy and simple: ivory runner and placemats. apple-green napkins, deep yellow candles, and ceramic eggs in a vase. Silver chargers and a small, simple silver napkin ring finished it off.

Individual place setting. We ALWAYS use the china and crystal on Easter.

Boy, Easter was a whirlwind. And yes, I'm aware that it was almost a week ago, but sheesh. I've been a busy lady lately.

On Saturday, Charlotte and I baked Easter sugar cookies and dyed eggs. Chris and Papa ate them. I also made a lemon–yogurt cake for the church breakfast the next morning. After my 18th load of dishes on Saturday night, I was quite tired.

On Easter morning, Charlotte woke up EARLY, which was just as well because we had to get to the church pretty early. She went through her Easter basket loot and promptly donned a tulip bracelet, which she refused to remove for the rest of the day. We failed to get family photo of all of us in our Easter finery before church, as Charlotte was screaming and crying for some reason. Eventually, we got to church for the breakfast. Our church is a small one, so everyone joined hands in a big circle for the pre-breakfast prayer. Charlotte had Papa on one hand and Chris on the other. She was the shortest person in the circle, and she had the cutest little smirk on her face, though she remained utterly silent (phew). It was so stinkin’ cute—you could just tell she digged participating with the grown-ups and was fascinated by this grown-up game that sort of resembled circle time at school.

After the breakfast, Charlotte did an egg hunt outside with the other kiddos. I was a tad worried, as she’s the youngest walking-age kid in the church by about 3 years or so, but that girl held her own and collected an obscene number of eggs.

And thus discovered candy.

For the first time.

And she ate a lot of it.

Adequately filled with sugar, we made the stellar decision to bring Charlotte to the service with us. We had only one service that day, and we felt bad about the people scheduled for nursery duty having to miss the single Easter service to simply watch Charlotte. (Yes, she’s often the only child in the nursery.) She held on for the first half, but when she started—loudly—singing the ABC song and shouting “Mommy!” Chris took her to join the bigger kids, who had already been dismissed for our equivalent of primary church.

Church, aside from Charlotte, was lovely. Post-church, we put our sugar-filled kiddo to bed for a nap. I then made a chocolate cake with pale yellow frosting for Easter dinner dessert, set my Easter table (it takes a while to do the fancy tables), and tinkered on the deck.

After her nap, Charlotte and I played while the boys watched the Masters. I eventually became a crappy mommy and plopped her in front of the TV in our bedroom to watch cartoons—I was pooped. A couple minutes later, I was asleep and I vaguely recall Chris removing Charlotte and the sound of the bedroom door clicking closed.

Friends, I napped. I NAPPED! Two hours later, Chris woke me and it was 5:49 p.m.! “I feel amazing,” I said, stretching and breathing in the smell of cooking ham.

“You should,” Chris replied. Well, goodness. I’ve been creating life for 13 weeks, and this is the first nap I’ve taken. I’m pretty sure I slept through most of my first trimester with Charlotte, except for work, so I felt this nap had been well-earned.

Oh, I was so grateful to Chris for taking Charlotte during my nap.

The ham took longer than expected, so Charlotte didn’t get to join us for Easter dinner as originally planned. (I was even going to let her use china!) But eventually the three of us ate, and it was fantastic—the best ham I think I’ve ever had, German potato salad, green beans, and chocolate cake for dessert. Last year, we were lucky enough to have Chris’s mom here for Easter and Easter dinner, and this year my dad was here. In previous years, I always got a little jealous of those who got to share Easter with their families, which I think is part of why I tried so hard to instill and maintain Easter traditions with Chris (and now Charlotte) since before we were even married. You go to church. You drink mimosas (okay, we skipped that this year, as Chris doesn’t care for them and I’m currently responsible for a fetus). You set a pretty table. You eat ham. But my point is that for the past two years, we’ve gotten to be one of those families who share Easter with extended family—well, at least a representative member of the extended family.

I can’t believe this was Charlotte’s third Easter. I remember her first green Easter dress, which she pooped on in the church nursery. She was 10 weeks old. I remember my own dress tugging and tight, as I was still only 10 weeks post-partum. I remember the family room was still being painted (by moi), and we had Easter dinner at the kitchen table, because we hadn’t yet bought dining-room furniture.

And next year? Why, next year, I’ll have TWO Easter baskets to fill with goodies. The big question is, will I end up shopping for two frilly Easter dresses, or one dress and a cute little baby-sized sports jacket and clip-on tie? Either way, I’ll be a happy and super proud mommy!