Auntie Lynn made all the traditional foods–Matzoh with Charoset for an appetizer, followed by Matzoh Ball Soup, Potato Kugel, chicken,and of course, her delicious Fruit Kugel. Samantha and Amelia loved their first Passover!
On Sunday, we postponed giving out Easter baskets until the afternoon so that we wouldn’t be rushed before church. Jake gave a great talk on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the girls and I were very proud…well, for the five minutes we were able to hear it, that is! The girls had just gotten up from their nap, but Jake needed to leave for church right then so he wouldn’t be late to get up on the stand for his talk. Five minutes after he left, I got a frantic call. “YOU LEFT YOUR KEYS ON THE HOOD OF MY CAR. THEY FLEW UP AND HIT THE WINDSHIELD AS I WAS DRIVING!!”
As Jake recounted later, as soon as my keys hit the windshield, he switched on his hazards and pulled into the median of the busy street next to our church so that he could grab the keys before they flew into the street. Then, he returned home to drop them off and hurried back to church (he made it right on time). I have no idea what my keys were doing on his car (Mommy brain?), but I consider it an Easter miracle that the keys didn’t fall into the road. I can only imagine what my stress levels would have been like had I rushed to get the girls ready, only to find that my car keys had vanished without a trace.
Anyway, while Jake was at church, I changed the girls, fed them (BIG mistake), changed them into their backup outfits, packed the diaper bag and flew out the door. Since I can’t carry both girls by myself, I brought the double stroller, threw the girls in it once I had parked, wheeled them to the front of the church, grabbed Samantha and dropped her off in the foyer where a friend was sitting who could watch her for a minute and then ran back to grab Amelia. We made it just in time to hear the last five minutes of Jake’s talk. I had already proof-read it, so I already knew what it was about, but it would have been nice to hear the whole thing in person. Judging by all the compliments he received afterwards, I’m sure he did a great job. Getting to church that day is definitely on my list of top ten stressful moments of all time…well maybe not of all time, but definitely out of 2014 so far.
Easter 2013
Easter 2014. Yep, same dress. I just fit in it a lot better now!
After church, the girls went down for a nap, which gave me just enough time to set out the girls’ Easter baskets, stuff some plastic eggs with Cheerios and prepare roasted chicken and potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, and homemade parmesan pull-apart rolls for dinner (actually, my rock star of a husband made the rolls AND dessert…chocolate molten lava cake….yum!)
The girls also received a joint basket with sand toys, new sippy cups, some suction bowls, and toddler utensils. Basically I threw in everything I already needed to buy them and called it an “Easter Basket.”
These were taken this morning, but out of all their Easter presents, who knew the girls would get most excited over their new suction bowls and utensils. The suction bowls don’t actually suction well to their trays (the reviews I read before buying said they were good for toddlers learning to eat from a bowl without them sliding around, but wouldn’t stay put if said toddlers were purposefully pulling on them), but as far as Samantha and Amelia were concerned, the suction was the best part! They loved pulling the bowls up over, and over and over…
Back to Easter…after opening baskets, we went to the park and had an Easter Egg “hunt,” which consisted of me throwing plastic eggs filled with Cheerios across the grass in every direction. The girls went wild trying to pick them up.
Once they figured out there were Cheerios inside the eggs, their efforts to gather all the eggs before the other intensified.
Love this so much! Especially the Easter miracle!