Easter Sunday was so much fun! Roy & Mary had our family over for brunch, and everyone seemed to really enjoy a little different menu than usual. After we ate, Mary told the story of Easter using the Resurrection Eggs, where each plastic egg holds a different clue to the story. The children were so eager to help open the eggs and tell what they knew about each part of the story. After the Easter story, the children were sent to the basement so the adults could hide eggs for the hunt. I watched as the rest of the adults hurried around eager to find just the perfect place for the eggs. Since I didn’t grow up with strong Easter traditions, it’s interesting for me to see that the adults get just as excited as the kids. Anyway, finally the kids were turned loose to hunt eggs, and every one of them, big and little, did a really good job of finding eggs. Even some of my children who normally don’t compete well held their own and had an armful of eggs to show for their efforts. We enjoyed having some coffee while we visited, an the children ran off to play in the basement again. They got the idea to hide all the plastic eggs again, but this time they would hide the eggs for the adults to find. I inwardly rolled my eyes at the idea, but once the children declared they were ready, I did trudge downstairs at the tail end of the line of grownups. As soon as I rounded the corner, I spied an egg that no one else had seen yet. I couldn’t help but snag it and then glance around for another. Sure enough, I found another one that the other five adults had missed. This was a cool game! By the time we were done hunting, we were all laughing and holding our armfuls of plastic eggs. I decided that this was such a fun twist on the game that we should do this every year! I went back up the stairs shaking my head at my own obstinacy. I can be so unjustly opinionated sometimes!

After another little bit, Mary pulled out some hard-boiled eggs and some egg-coloring kits. The children gathered around amazed at the bowls of color and how the eggs looked after being dipped. I admired Mary’s patience as she gently guided the children so they could have the fun of designing their eggs.

Finally, it was time to gather our younguns and head home. I realized that Mary & Roy had shared with us their fun traditions of Easter, and our children will not soon forget the day. Since I don’t have any Easter traditions, I enjoyed being a part of someone else’s traditions. Maybe it can become our tradition to head to Roy & Mary’s house every Easter.

Yesterday was a rather ordinary day, but each of us accomplished a lot in our own little areas of responsibility. Laura happened to find an old egg-decorating kit in the art boxes that have been in storage for so long, and she asked if she could use it. I told her that we didn’t have any boiled eggs, but that didn’t slow her down. She went and collected the five white eggs in the fridge (the rest are brown farm eggs) and boiled them in a little pan (with my permission). After they were boiled and cooled, Laura was carrying the eggs in her shirt to show me, and two of them dropped out of her shirt. When I walked into the kitchen, I found that Laura was all ready to start her egg-coloring project with only three eggs. I just couldn’t bear to see her make bowls of color just for three eggs, so I called Michael to enlist his aid. He offered to pick up Laura and take her to get eggs. They had a fun shopping date and came back with two dozen eggs that we promptly put into a pan to boil. Laura got distracted from the project, so at bedtime I pointed out that she hadn’t done anything with the eggs. Since I wouldn’t let her start anything just then, she asked if she could color them first thing in the morning. I agreed on the condition that she would set her alarm and get up early so that she would be done about the time I was ready for everyone to start their chores.

At 7 a.m. today Laura’s alarm sounded and she popped out of bed. She was busy coloring eggs almost before she was done waking up.

As each of the kids woke up, they had fun coloring and decorating a few eggs. Soon it was time to put everything away and get busy. The big project of the day was to work on sorting, folding and putting away the mountain of laundry that has been so threatening. We worked hard and made good progress.

This evening Michael helped me move the first of our things into our new storage unit. We’ve been storing our extra things in a room at Todd’s house across the street. Now Todd is planning to put that house on the market and move into the house he owns right next door to us, so he asked us to transfer our things to a room next door. We’ve been working on getting that room ready, mainly by scraping broken adhesive tiles off the floor, cleaning up the sticky stuff, and then painting it with floor paint. Today it was finally ready for the first boxes. I’ve decided I need to be brutal as we carry things over. As I unpacked and sorted my boxes of books, I started a collection of books to take to the homeschool book exchange later this month. I just can’t keep every book in my possession!

The children have been so tickled with this new room. We call it “The Green Room” thanks to its dark green floor. When I took Mike and Amelia over there yesterday morning to see the painted floor, they were so excited. They exclaimed and danced and finally declared that they just wanted to live there. They also wanted to know why I hadn’t painted the walls and ceiling dark green. It was fun to see their joy in a room that has been made beautiful. I’m looking forward to this chance to sort through our stuff again, and I hope I can make some important cuts.

Well, this report hasn’t been about any one thing, but rather a collection of bits and pieces over the past few days. Now you’re all caught up.