Easter weekend

It was a lovely weekend.  Spring is such a wonderful time of year, and although the weather this spring has been very teasing (we woke to six inches of snow Easter morning), there is rebirth and renewal in the air.  I find myself much more motivated to make change and improvement, to turn over a new leaf as it were, when there are new leaves bursting out all over, rather than at the beginning of the calendar year when everything is still so dead.  I want to do personal spring cleaning at the same time the world is greening up and coming alive again.  The past two days have been full of family and fun as we have been fed both physically and spiritually as we listened to General Conference.

Kent's business partner, Dal, has a pet chicken (not very manly if you ask me).  Goldie, the chicken, had a brood of five chicks last week, so we went to see the new little birds on Saturday.  I knew the children would love an up close encounter with a hen and her babies, and I was not mistaken.  Both Brandt and Blythe thought the birds (big and small) were wonderful.    

Goldie with her chicks at her feet.  

Brandt petting a chick.  

Blythe and Brandt both eye to eye with a chick

Does it look like I'm trying to squeeze this chicken to death?

I'm not.  It was just trying to escape, and I didn't want it to.

Can you see Brandt's broad grin?  Goldie just pooped and Brandt thought it was hilarious.

"Bird poop!" he shrieked after she made her deposit.  

Goldie is a handsome hen.

I do find chickens inherently silly creatures.  I just can't take them seriously.

We also saw baby lambs on the way home.  I love little creatures.

I asked Kent if we could take one home for our very own.

He said no.

Blythe said, "Sheep! Sheep! Baaaaa."

We made Easter sugar cookies for both the Barrus and DeMartini family get-togethers.  Brandt helped decorate, sort of.  He is so anxious to help but not very patient about the process.  He did slather each color frosting on two cookies, generously sprinkled them, and then promptly ate both.  Blythe's contribution was to deem them "tas-ee" (that's tasty), and also eat two.  I think they turned out both colorful and delicious.

 

Does it look like a plate of Martha Stewart cookies?

Not hardly, but that didn't stop them from being eaten.

Every last one.

There are flowers (little purple pansies touched with yellow gold, and orange tulips), eggs, butterflies, sheep, and pigs.  When I was growing up it was always the Easter pig who brought treats to our house, not the Easter Bunny.  I'm not sure why.  But because of that, I make pink pigs on Easter.

We colored some eggs on Sunday.  Brandt and Blythe both found the whole process tactilely stimulating.  They turned the eggs with their fingers and Blythe wanted a spoon to taste the vinegar mixture we were dying the eggs in.  It was a huge mess.

Brandt with his "Brandt" egg in green, his favorite color.

Notice his hands covered in dye?

Blythe with her yellow "Blythe" egg.  

She is squeezing it to the point of cracking open, even though it is hard boiled.

Notice her hands too?

 

The aftermath.  I had to scour the counter top to get the dye off.

We had two egg hunts, one on Saturday with Barrus cousins, and one on Sunday with DeMartini cousins.  Brandt really got into the hunt this year.  At Grandma and Grandpa B's house, Brandt and Blythe got to go out into the yard first to collect eggs because they are the littlest.  Brandt collected so enthusiastically I wasn't sure there were going to be any eggs left over for anyone else.  He probably had close to 30 eggs.  Blythe was excited about putting eggs into her basket until an egg popped open and she realized there was candy inside.  Candy!  She squatted down immediately and began eating the contents, happy with the three eggs she had as long as they call contained candy.

Madly collecting

And the big haul.  Could another egg possibly fit in this basket?

And could someone please comb this poor boy's hair?

No more hunting--only eating.  There's candy in here!

Jonathan, Jace, Tess, Annie, Brandt, Lydia, Brianne, Micah, and Blythe

Brandt and Blythe both ran around at Grandma and Grandpa D's house too, but they had to fight it out with the other cousins because everyone (well almost everyone--Blake is not so small) is little there.  It was pandemonium at the DeMartinis as everyone ran around wildly shrieking.  

Makenna, Blythe, Blake, Luke, Brandt, Ava, and Crew wearing their bunny ears.

Griffin is missing because he would neither wear his bunny ears nor sit by Crew for the picture.

Lyla is missing because she is too small to sit or wear bunny ears.  At least she was home.

Brandt, Kent, and Blythe, post hunt

My wheat grass filled baskets.  

The grass got very long and very full.  

I probably should have given it a trim before trying to put eggs in the baskets, but they were well hidden.

I did a short Easter lesson with the children on Sunday morning.  We looked at a picture of Jesus and Mary near the garden tomb.  We talked about Jesus who had died, been put in the tomb, and the big rock that was rolled across the door.  Then we read about how the angels rolled the stone away and Jesus was alive again--resurrected.  We sang two Primary songs we have been working on during singing time, and Brandt sang along with me.  It is so sweet to hear him sing, "Did Jesus Really Live Again?"  He was even able to retell the story to Kent using a cut out of Jesus, the tomb, and the rock.  We rejoice in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the knowledge that our familial relationships are eternal.  We had a wonderful Easter weekend.