Easter

When I was a child I had an aunt who would put together a dinner and Easter egg hunt. To this day it doesn't seem like Easter without family and friends to celebrate. So, we put the packing aside for a few hours and had 17 of our friends and family (making a grand total of 22 people) over for dinner and of course the Hunt. People said I was crazy and I probably am but boy was it fun. The count:

2 hams
92 rolls
31 hard boiled eggs
3 dishes of potatoes
67 plastic eggs
Barrels of laughter and fun

Faith always seems to be helping someone. Did you notice? It is Seattle and the kids aren't wearing sweatshirts or raincoats!!!! The weather let up and gave us this one absolutely beautiful day to celebrate.

Ethyn was the last to be let out of the house. I knew once he got loose the game was over. Bishop Sears had hidden a few especially with Ethyn in mind. Supposedly they were quite the challenge but Ethyn made short work of it.

Here's the happy crew. The hard boiled eggs were surprisingly the favorites for the kids. There were shells everywhere. This was the first egg hunt for 2 of our guests. An infant, Jackson, and my 81 year old great-great uncle who was born not long before the Great Depression.

Life

Sometimes life as a parent can be very difficult. Constantly breaking up fights between children. The loud noises from exuberant playing. The name calling, Abram's latest fun time. Half truths and tattle tales. Constantly having to stay on top of them to get their chores or homework done. Laundry that was only worn for 5 minutes. Coughs, runny noses and sticky hands. Trying to get Faith to wear her sweatshirt, or even her coat for that matter. Keeping the youngest out of the oldest child's stuff. Trying to keep the oldest from tormenting the girl just to see her scream. Getting Ethyn to stay on track and finish the task at hand. Each child tries to get the other in trouble. The toothpaste all over the bathroom sink 1 hour after cleaning the sink. I think you get the picture though I could go on.



Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever going to get through to them. Will they ever learn? Am I the parent I should be? What am I doing so wrong? Can I do anything right? Then I stumble upon this at 10:30 at night.







It's going to be OK. Why? Because they do get it. Ethyn had been in bed for and hour and a half. Abram was doing all he could to keep Ethyn awake. Ethyn asked if he could sleep somewhere else. We told him he could sleep in Faiths' bed (she's in our closet with the humidifier). An hour later he came out and went back to his own bed. We got up to check on things at 10:30 and found this surprise message he had made his sister for the morning. What a wonderful big brother. I don't think we'll get after him for staying up late this time.

"Children are like sponges. You give and give and they soak it all up but one squeeze and you get it all back".