Easter Madness,Part 1

I love Easter.  It is one of my favorite times all year.  Most importantly because of what we have a chance to celebrate.  The whole season culminates with Christ is Risen!  What a wonder that we have time once a year to reflect on the sacrifice Christ made for us and the miracle that followed. 

I also love the spring all around you at Easter time - particularly this year with everyone posting photos of bluebonnets and daisies.  And now that we have toddler triplets, we're in the thick of the Easter bunny/ Easter egg merriment as well. 

However, all that bunny/egg business is one big enchilada.  I had no idea.  It is SUCH a cheesy mess of activities wrapped in a tortilla of Martha Stewart-ness that this post had to be a two-parter so I didn't wear you out in a single post. 

Let's focus for a bit on the eggs.  Weekend before last we had the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  This is the only hunt (of the five I will write about - I am not kidding, FIVE) that didn't involve me stuffing and bringing eggs.  A relief I thought initially.  Oh. No.  First of all, it was the neighborhood hunt.  One at which we are the only set of triplets and among people that are not our close friends.  I am a tad on the competitive side.  My children MAY have inherited that. 

So off they careened, pell-mell, in opposite directions, scooping up as many eggs as possible in the 1 - 3 year old category (since they were near the top of that age bracket, they had a decided advantage over last year).  After uneven results going to the Easter bunny to thank him for our eggy goodness, we plopped down on the ground to enjoy our bounty.  And what were in the 1-3 year olds eggs you ask?  Jawbreakers.  Lemonheads.  Taffy.  I kid you not.  This is why bringing your own eggs isn't a terrible burden (a little effort versus massive choking hazards).  I figure this is the last year I have where the kids do not obsess over the fact that their candy disappeared (and I gave up sugar for Lent, so they disappeared into the trash can). 

So that takes me to the "bring your own egg hunts."  From what I can tell, and this is really my first year at it, the rule of thumb is 12 eggs a kid.  The stores should make smaller baskets.  This means, for each bring your own hunt, I'm responsible for 36 stuffed eggs.  The hunt yesterday was for our moms of multiples group.  Because of the multiplier that creates, the hunt areas were divided roughly into one year sub-groupss which made the hunt more competitive but less interesting because the hunting area was SO small.  In this round, after I was up Saturday night prepping eggs, outfits, snacks and the like for the effort, the kids were less about quantity and more about QUALITY.  While I had initially been concerned about the effort it would take to constrain them to 12 eggs, it was all for naught.  They opened each egg they picked up to see if there was something "good" inside.  (Aka, something they could immediately squirrel away in their mouth.)  It was all we could do to get them to 12 eggs before they disappeared - smart kids. 

Last night, my girlfriend Natalie came over and we stuffed MORE eggs.  Thirty-six for today's Easter egg hunt at their school, and then 120 for the Easter egg hunt I'm hosting at our house for the kids and six other nieces and nephews (following roughly the 12 egg rule - and hoping it doesn't get me into trouble).  I didn't realize the sheer QUANTITY of eggs that would be involved in this two week season, so of course I had to pay extra for expedited shipping from the fabulous Oriental Trading this week in order to get an assortment of stuffed animals, rubber ducks/chicks, cross painted Easter eggs (trying to inject a bit of remembrance during this free-for-all), and other assorted stuffing goodies. 

Stick with me Thursday (we'll take a break for Wordless Wednesdays) to see how this saga ends.  It involves making Easter bonnets for boys, a disastrous attempt at egg rice krispie treats, and Easter meal planning for 22.