How did your Easter go?

[Hound dog]

Weather tried to foil our plans, but it didn't work.

I made the augratin potatoes and the deviled eggs. Nichole made the from scratch rolls and bunny cake (also from scratch). easy child made the ham with brown sugar and pineapple. Green beans were those we'd canned last summer. I made the meal good but simple on purpose.

The egg hunt was supposed to be in the back yard. Over night rain and drippy / misty wetness this morning nixed that plan. I considered cancelling the egg hunt....but since that is the high point to the holiday.......decided to come up with a new plan. Nichole's husband filled the eggs.......most were filled with candy but there were larger ones filled with quarters.....each egg has a child's initial on it. They all get the same amount. (no squabbling that way) Because there are 8 grandchildren.......we did it indoors in shifts. Younger kids first. The sils hid the little kids eggs in the dining room and the older kids eggs in the living room. Little kids got to go first, then the big kids. They had a blast. Although what I love about it is that they have a strong tendency to help each other as much as look for their own eggs.

Then we served up dinner. I noticed Katie's kids went back for 3rds. Evan went bonkers for the ham. lol We visited while we ate. I can no longer fit everyone at the family table. I set up a little tykes table for two of the little kids and Oliver used the booster seat with tray on the floor next to his Mommy. Still we needed 2 more chairs.

M didn't come, he was still getting over his illness. Hmm. Maybe he was actually sick with a bug. But biomom did come and she had a wonderful time. She was treated as if she'd always been a part of the family. (just how we are) And honestly, in a way, she is just in sort of an odd way. lol Lots of visiting, some catching up. Some educating biomom with the diabetes, some educating Katie with the diabetes......as Katie has it in her head her mother can't eat anything sweet ever. Uh, no. Not quite how it works, especially for type 2.

The grandchildren had a fabulous time playing with each other. I timed the meal so they would have more time to spend together before easy child and Nichole had to go to in laws. Kayla is trying to be so grown up, it's adorable. I have trouble not snickering at her. She was wearing purple eye shadow today. lol Maggie had to be crated until she got over her initial over the top excitement........and until easy child's boys left.......Connor was getting fussy due to it being near nap time. But man was she in her element playing with Nichole's kids and most especially Katie's kids. She adores Katie's kids because they're not the least bit intimidated by her and will roll around on the floor with her ect.

Although I had quite a number of difficult children in the house, there wasn't a single difficult child moment. Just a warm loving fun family gathering.

And of course the sun appeared the moment everyone left.

How was your Easter?

 

[PatriotsGirl]

That sounds so great!! Our family is up north and with difficult child, you just never know what you are going to get, so it is just another day here...maybe after I have a grandchild it will be different...

 

[BusynMember]

While we do make a big family event out of Thanksgiving and Christmas, since we are really more spiritual than religious, we don't make Easter a big deal, but we did go visit daughter Julie in suburban Chicago (at least me and Jumper did). Husband stayed home with dogs.

We spent all day Saturday at Woodfield Mall (famliar to all who live in Illinois). Julie's SO took a pass on the girl's shopping day! H e stayed home too. We had quite a workout walking in and out of all the stores and trying things on. Julie bought Jumper an expensive hair straightener for her birthday (which isn't until July!) and Nicole hugged her and hugged her, jumping up and down. We also helped Jumper pick out jewelry for Jumper's upcoming prom and we goofed around and had fun. I just LOVE my girls..I have so much fun with them.

We ate at this Meditarranian restaurant. Yum!!!!

The hotel we stayed at allowed pets and there were dogs walking in the lobby!!! I loved it since I'm a huge dog lover. Next time I'm asking husband to come with us because there is no longer the excuse that somebody needs to watch the dogs. Our other dogs, the ones we gave to the sanctuary, were very high needs and peed all over and growled and fought with one another and hub DID have to stay home with them. We could not have taken them even to a pet friendly hotel. These two dogs (see avator) are both very good. One of the ladies at the hotel had a sweet, rescued pitbull. I know some people are afraid of them, but not me and not anyone else there...she got tons of attention, especially from me.

Sonic stayed in Wisconsin with his BFF all three days...first time he was away from home three days in a row and did fine. He also wanted nothing to do with the shop-fest, even if it included going out to a nice restaurant and his sister's great cooking later on.

Sportsfan, Mr. 35 in MIssouri, called me at least ten times on Saturday, even though he knew I was with his sisters doing special things with the girls. I'd left my phone in the car. Didn't matter. I wasn't going to deal with his problems this weekend even if I'd brought my phone in with me. I wasn't going to ruin the fun by talking to the grump who stole Easter and every other holiday!

Easter itself was just driving home from the hotel after a small vacation that left Jumper and me feeling really great.

How about the rest of you? Check in! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

 

[DDD]

We have never made a big celebration out of Easter....although I have to admit today was an all time low. Sigh. I worked, came home and made dinner. Not very festive for sure. Somehow when I was elementary school age I "got" the mesage that everybody bought new clothes and dressed up etc. on the other hand I noticed that poor people showed up for Mass and sat or stood in the back of the church wearing clean work clothes. Literally It made a HUGE impact on me. I have a gene that makes me abhor lack of equality. I do "know" the significance of Easter but sixty some years ago I decided that it should be different than what I observed at church. So...I have never emphasized the holiday. DDD
PS: Yes I did Easter baskets for both generations of children but I was really happy to retire from that ritual, too.

 

[ctmom05]

My husband and I had dinner at our house, just the 2 of us & that was just what I needed.

 

[KTMom91]

Hubby and I went to lunch with mother in law, then Hubby had to go to Harbor Freight to get a flashlight. After that, we came home and are watching TV after he cleaned the cat yak off my computer.

I was helping Miss KT with her homework earlier today. It seems so much easier to help her long distance than having her right here.

 

[Wiped Out]

We were in Michigan with husband's family today. About 50 family members were at the dinner and it was a ton of fun. One of the Hispanic traditions they do is fill eggshells with confetti and then cover them with tissue paper. Then on Easter Sunday you run around the yard chasing others and gently smash it on their head. Sounds kind of goofy but it is a ton of fun!

 

[Liahona]

We are going to celebrate after everyone is healthy. Good news is that it looks like they are starting to get better. Maybe next Sunday we can have Easter.

 

[DeterminedMama]

Hi Sharon. I just joined the site tonight. Desperately looking for help with my son & saw your description. My husband is my fiance. difficult child has become my son over a period of 3 years. His Bio Mother used crack, pills, who knows what else while pregnant. By age of 1 year he achieved very few milestones. Bio was out of his life before 1st birthday. difficult child was diagnosed with ADHD recently and it seems as though your experience could be helpful to me. I'm struggling. We have come a LONG way in 3 years but are still way behind and I am so frustrated.

 

[nerfherder]

One of the Hispanic traditions they do is fill eggshells with confetti and then cover them with tissue paper. Then on Easter Sunday you run around the yard chasing others and gently smash it on their head. Sounds kind of goofy but it is a ton of fun!

Oh that got a giggle out of me! We weren't Sephardic (Mediterranian Jews) but I have read that on Passover, at Sephardic seders, they whap each other with green onions while singing "Dayenu."

("Dayenu" is a very stereotypically Jewish song, a series of more and more extravagant acts by the God of Abraham, as He sets out to help Moses rescue the Jews from Egypt, and with each line the refrain in a cheery tune is "Day, Dayenu..." meaning "Ah, that would have been enough for us." It's a child's favorite, partly because it's so much fun to sing, and partly because it means it's almost time to eat!)

We're not Christians in this household; I love holidays though, and the little kids got their post-breakfast Chocolate Bunny, then in the evening when RN got off shift, the kids went through the house (it was after dark by then) looking for their dried-fruit and coin-filled plastic eggs. Lunch was Hot Dog Bunnies sitting in shredded-bacon grass, with devilled eggs (of course!) Dinner was a new recipe I found for chicken, and it was easy to eat, easy-ish to clean up, and delicious; with salad made with sprouts the Blacksmith keeps growing in the kitchen.

(Hot Dog Bunnies: Take standard skinless franks, cut them in half lengthwise going only a third of the way down, then rotate the dogs and cut the other end the same way - but perpendicular to the first cut. One end you cut the, well, cut half itself in half lengthwise, leaving the other half intact. The double-cut end becomes the legs and the tail, the single-cut end becomes the ears. You then make a shallow slice under the "ears", think of a smiling bunny when you place that cut. Then you just put the cut dogs in an oven or toaster oven, give 'em about 10 or 15 minutes, enough for the cuts to separate and you'll see the bunny shape form! Fold the "tail" back, if you're lucky you can get the bunny to prop itself upright, or you may have to nestle it in bacon or shredded lettuce "grass" to do so. Dab mustard on for the eyes and nose, and there's your bunny. The kids thought it was hilarious. If I'd had Hebrew National around I'd have used those just to peg the Irony Meter. )

 

[SuZir]

We are still middle of Easter celebrations. It's four day public Holiday around here. Our Easter has been rather calm. easy child is little moody after his sport season ended with disappointing lose at Friday, difficult child and his girlfriend came here yesterday and girlfriend will leave tonight, difficult child will stay rest of the week. Our Easter has been traditional to us, lots of outdoor activities (we have had lovely weather, sunny, high 30 F during days, low 20 F's at nights) and sports and visiting friends and relatives and doing activities with them. No real drama which is refreshing, though I'm still not feeling or sleeping too well.

I enjoy having both of my boys home. I know those nights both are on their beds sleeping under my roof are growing very few and that makes me little sad. Normal empty nest feelings I guess.

I also predict some more drama with difficult child in future. I will be surprised if he and girlfriend are still together next Easter. They are not fighting or overly tense but I don't see much attraction or closeness between the two any more. Especially if difficult child ends up moving to another team and city I don't believe a second they could handle a distance. I do hope that it still takes some time before they break up. difficult child really doesn't need more hardship just now and this is his first really serious relationship after all. Break up will be tough for him.

But just now everything is okay.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

The children and I had a nice day. easy child came over pretty early, about 9:30 and she and I putzed around for a little while. I made baskets for easy child and difficult child -- she didn't want to go through hers until her brother was up. She got tired of waiting for him about 11 or so (he's on spring break so I let him sleep until....) and I heard her go up to the top of the stairs and yell, "difficult child, get up! The Easter Bunny is knocking on the door and he wants his basket back!" Needless to say, difficult child was downstairs in minutes!!!

We had a relaxing afternoon and shared a nice Sunday meal together and watched a movie. A long way from the huge Easter dinners and egg hunts (I used to have easily 30+ here) of years gone by -- but always wonderful to spend a drama free Sunday with my children.

Sharon

 

[DammitJanet]

Actually Easter itself went pretty good. Billie has become the official egg dyer. I hated that job even when my boys were young I hated that job and I found a store that sold them pre-dyed and then after that we got several chickens that laid eggs in different colors...lol. They are called Easter egg hens.

I always adored the egg hunts and didnt give it up until Jamie left for boot camp. He was my egg hunter and always loved it. I never gave up baskets for them until they had kids of their own. Now they have taken over the jobs for me.

Billie and I made baskets for the three up at her house and then Jamie hid all the eggs out in a field near house early in the morning so the kids could go find them that morning. Because Mandy didnt go with us up to Jamie's she made up a really nice basket for McKenzie here. I think she is going to be leaving for Seattle any time now. Our kids are spreading like weeds in the wind. Now if we could only get Billy out...lol.

 

[1905]

My Easter was not good. I had been so excited to have a holday where the kids were all gone- off to college, on their own and I don't have to cook a whole huge thing that takes all day to cook and clean. husband and I had ben planning on going to the movies and Red Lobster, that's been the plan. I woke up excited.

Friday easy child called me and said he's bored at school, everyone went home for the weekeknd for Easter, I came and picked him up....he can go to Red Lobster with us, or not, he hates ham regardless. Yesterday difficult child came over and for some reason husband kept complaing to difficult child that I am not cooking him anything. He went on and on, I was getting annoyed but I didn't say anything. difficult child and easy child left and went over difficult child's house, as they were leaving husband screams out, "Bring me back a ham" to them! I had a ham in the freezer and put it in the crockpot, ended up cooking a huge feast for husband, never went to the movies-so much for a relaxing holiday. easy child and difficult child were gone all day, nobody wanted any ham but husband anyway. I also then went outside and started cleaning under my bushes, getting all the dead leaves out of them,that was the rest of the day for me.
It's my pity party right now. I'm sure Mother's Day will go a similar way. I really hope everyone else had fun with their families. Today I have Spring Break, my last day and I'm taking myself to the movies!

 

[TerryJ2]

Lisa, that's wonderful!
MWM, so sorry you were feeling upset but so glad you left your ph in the car ... but glad you got to eat at a Mediterranean restaurant.
DDD, interesting, about the people in the back, and the impact. That was worth the trip to church.
Sharon, lol about the Easter bunny knocking at the door!
Upallnight, YES go to the movies on Mother's Day! I'll be there with-you.
Janet, speaking of dying eggs, I tried the "natural" method I found online. DUMB! The red wine turned the eggs gray (must have been the calcium in the shells?) and the curry wasn't strong enough so those looked gray, too. I found a bottle of green food dye and of course, the carcinogenic ones turned out fine, lol.
Nerfherder, I always learn such interesting things from you...
Patriotsgirl, CTmom and KT mom, sometimes, calmer and quieter is better.
I woke up to a cute little blue wrapped choco bunny next to my bedside. Nothing like dark choc Godiva for breakfast.
husband is a health food nut so I bought him a book about GM foods.
I cooked for 10 people, incl Cousin P, who complained the entire time because her caregiver, S, left and didn't stay for the festivities. Um, it's a job ... sigh. The turkey was never ready and I've never had that happen before. It was supposed to take 3 hrs and it took 5-1/2. Maybe because husband thought he was doing me a favor and turned it off after 2 hrs? What was he thinking? We also had ham, which was precooked and delicious, and rosemary potatoes, yams, mixed veg, homemade gluten free carrot cake (I had easy child peel the carrots this time; I hate skinned knuckles) and a guest made gluten free almond cookies with-powdered sugar. I am getting the recipe--they were delicious.
difficult child and his girlfriend stayed in the LR nearly the entire time. He has a cold but they were being antisocial anyway so we set them places in the kitchen. Not what I'd planned, but better than forcing a conversation. We still had to add chairs to the DR table and it was a tight squeeze. (At least he put on a nice, new collared shirt.)
husband was so discombobulated about the turkey, that he forgot to do a real blessing, and instead, did a toast for a happy Thanksgiving, rofl!

 

[AnnieO]

husband had to work at 6 AM, so Jett and Meggie and I had a pretty lazy morning... I did start the green beans and salt pork in the Crock Pot, and used my mixer attachments to slice potatoes and onions, and then to shred cheese to make homemade potatoes au gratin (the sauce was a bit thin, so in addition the the sharp Cheddar and Monterey Jack I added a little Feta and Parmesan...Mmmmmmmgood). My parents got there about 4 PM, with a ham, deviled eggs made to look like hatching chicks, focaccia bread and cupcakes, and a bottle of "Red Velvet" wine (also MMMMMMGOOD). husband got home right about 6 PM so we sat down to this feast, with Bunny Megoo eating carrots and cereal. Jett said, "DIG IN!" before the blessing so he got to do the blessing. During that, Meggie was smacking her lips and gurgling and talking - hungry baby!

It was good till Onyxx called at 9 PM wanting to come by for clean clothes. husband wasn't letting that happen... Told her to do laundry.

 

[TerryJ2]

Step, is Red Velvet wine chocolate?

 

[AnnieO]

No... It is a very smooth red, hints of pinot noir and merlot...

 

[Jody]

I was really disappointed and still mad as can be. Trying to let it go. difficult child was a major pain, destroyed any good times that could have happened. easy child didnt call or anything. Really kind of irked me. I have spent years as a single parent making sure they had great experiences on Easter. I took them to every Egg hunt I could find, made homemade baskets, we'd go to church, then they would come home and look for their baskets and hidden eggs in the house. We colored Easter Eggs. Lots of fun with a nice big meal. This weekend, cursing bratty difficult child, and she just wouldn't let up. easy child couldnt come home, glad that she didnt now that I know how her weekend would have been. But I did expect her to call. Nope. I called her three times and she never answered. Mother's Day I am going to go do something for myself, by myself. I think I'll find a child who needs someone to make a fuss over them. I still like doing kid things. Maybe I'm just getting old. ugh.

 

[SuZir]

Our last day of Easter has been good too. There is something to be said about kitchen reno - no one expects you to cook or entertain. 'Poor us' were swamped with brunch and dinner invitations from extended family and few friends and neighbours. So I have been able feed my ever hungry flock with almost no cost or work from my part. And we have certainly eaten well. Isn't that wonderful! Why can't every holiday be like this?

Also difficult child's girlfriend has been a better guest than she was over Christmas. But as I said, I don't believe she will ever end up being my daughter in law or even being here next Easter. Now difficult child is taking her to train station and it will be just us for rest of the week. Next weekend difficult child and girlfriend are planning to join few of their friends to a ski resort where parents of their friend have a cabin. While difficult child was very child like last time he visited, now we have gotten the more adult version of him. At least till now.