Pictures of a Happy Easter

Chris, Kelsey and the kids arrived on Friday, around noon, to spend the Easter weekend with us. Our house changed, within seconds, from a quiet, low-key, kid-free zone into a place full of life and energy. We loved every minute of their stay, and the time went by too quickly.

This is Clara's last year in elementary school. Middle school, here she comes! She's at that in-between age, where she still enjoys all the fun of being a child, but also shows glimmers of evolving into a bright, compassionate young lady. She reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, whose size keeps changing when she eats the special cake or drinks the mystery cordial. At one moment she's a kid, and the next she's a grown-up.

What's great about Robert is that, although he's all-boy, at seven years old, he is still very affectionate and doesn't miss a chance to tell me, "I love you Grandma. I love you soooo much." He warms the cockles of my heart!

On Friday night we dyed Easter eggs. Not surprisingly, Clara was more into it than Robert, but in between his other, more rambunctious activities, he kept coming back to do another egg. He even got his daddy to join him in decorating a couple of eggs.

Saturday was kind of quiet, but Kelsey and I did take the kids to a park to run off some energy in the afternoon. 

Another Alice-in-Wonderland moment - Our 11-year-old Clara looks a little over-grown for some of the play equipment.

We were all entertained on Saturday evening by a guest band, "Cheese and Sprinkles," featuring Maggie Claire and DJ Fox, playing their paper plate/rubber band banjos, and singing original compositions. 

The final bow.

After the performance the kids ran free for a few minutes, before bath time.

On Sunday morning the kids woke up to find their Easter baskets filled with fun little gifts and candy-filled plastic eggs hidden all around the living room and kitchen. Kelsey and I were really surprised to see these hidden eggs, as we were holding back a cache of eggs for the kids to find outdoors, after church. Apparently Chris, all on his own, came prepared to help the Easter Bunny hide these indoor ones! 

All ready for church on Easter morning.

While I finished up the mid-day dinner preparation, on Sunday afternoon, the kids watched "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," and Chris and Dan hid the outdoor eggs. The kids had a great time searching both the front and back yards for all of them.

After dinner it was time to pack up all the bags and load them into the car, and then say our good-byes. As soon as their vehicle left the driveway, Dan and I looked at each other and sighed . . . back to our tranquil every-day life. Nothing left but putting the house back in order and looking for the next excuse for getting together. 

The first chore I took on was to clean up the kitchen and run the dishwasher. Later that evening, as I was putting away the clean dishes and silverware, I opened a drawer and saw one sweet reminder of a perfect weekend . . . one Easter egg, still waiting to be found.