Easter 2011

Here is a recap of Easter 2011. It was much like Easter 2010 and 2009, with the exception of the weather being gorgeous and our eggs looking the most lackluster of any I can remember.

The Saturday before Easter was so sunny and warm, we actually believed that spring would finally appear in Oregon. Don't worry, folks! It's been overcast and rainy since, so you needn't worry that we're enjoying the sunny weather. We were grateful for the sun, since we had decided to take over the post of Easter Egg Hunt chairmen since our neighbors had moved out of the area and relinquished it. The Easter Egg Hunt is one of our favorite events of the year, especially for Noel, who has a quasi-unhealthy obsession with all things hunt-related. We could not conceive of an Easter without our neighborhood hunt.

First we gather as a group, then walk over to the beautiful park across the street (convenient, right?), where Josh had been busily hiding eggs and transporting cupcakes he had spent the last 24 hours making. He was busy, but it's hard to guess who had the raw end of the deal, since my job was to take the three kids to go get baseball pictures. What am I saying? It was not hard to guess. It was me. But anyway, thanks for the hard work, honey!

Here are Jonah and Lila heading to the park. Why is she not wearing shoes? Because she's two, that's why.

The hunt begins. The boys run to the wooded area and start searching high and low. Lila looks down on the ground, and begins the difficult task of picking up scads of eggs within her arms reach. But she did it beautifully!

I think Noel's heaven most definitely involves a 24 hour a day egg hunt.

Here are the cupcakes that Josh spent so much time making. And they were delicious. And when we had 3 dozen leftovers at our house and I'd eaten four by noon, I cursed his name repeatedly.

The ceremonial opening of the eggs.

Sometime on Friday evening, the Easter Bunny decided that, while it could be charming to wake at 6 AM to excited children ready to hunt for eggs, perhaps he wanted to sleep in that day, so he visited on Saturday afternoon instead! If you were thinking that we were hoping to reserve Easter Sunday for a spiritual reminder of the season, you'd be wrong. (Though we did attempt an Easter FHE on Monday that was 85% successful, which is 84.2% more successful than it has been in the past two years. No mumbling about ingrate children or anything!)

The Easter Bunny left a note on the front porch with instructions to a short treasure hunt.

Treasure Trove #1: Various stuffed animals for the kids! Jonah got Bowser, Noel got Donkey Kong Jr. and Lila got Ruby. Lila likes it when I make that super obnoxious, middle-aged Ruby voice and boss Max around.

Treasure Trove #2: Shirts! Do I note a sense of disappointment? That Easter Bunny sure is dumb! Doesn't he know that shirts don't count? (Except for Lila, who promptly stripped off her shirt and pants and put it on, pantsless -- p.s. I love her.)

Then the hunt began. It was further proven that my boys have inherited a little trait from their dad called "the inability to find things". As you can see, there are many, many places the eggs could be hidden. Like on the grass. Or on the chair. Or on the bush.

Noel, sad that the hunt has come to an end.

This photo demonstrates a few things, 1) Jonah opening the loot from his hunt 2) Our kids are spoiled and 3) Wow, our kitchen is messy. Oh, and 4) Maybe that Ikea table has seen better days (see egg picture at top of blog).

This is kind of adorable. They're watching the video that was just taken 7 minutes previously. Which they will now watch 452 times before the end of the month.

And finally, a picnic dinner.

Sunday was not impressive. Here is our half-hearted attempt at egg dyeing. I could not look more bored if you paid me. And Jonah is drawing.

I hope they publish our egg photos in the next issue of Martha Stewart Living! Look at that sticker, so jauntily placed on that egg. It's art. It's ironic, I think.

And finally, our Easter photo shoot. Here are some things that we failed at this Easter: 1) We forgot that Lila would not be the only one alive on Easter Sunday, and pulled out some old, ill-fitting, un-ironed clothes for the boys. 2) We took these photos as we were literally rushing out the door, late for our 1:00 church. 3) I expected the kids to look decent in them.

You guys, seriously! We are NOT going to let these photos appear in your children's catalog! Stop asking!

Happy Easter from The Binghams