Easter Wrap-Up

I realize I'm a little slow with this, but better late than never.

We left for Aberdeen around 5 Thursday evening. We got home at 7:30 Sunday night. And in between the kids enjoyed every minute at Grandma and Grandpa's house. My parents have a cat with two kittens (which aren't so little anymore), that the kids couldn't keep their hands off of. They spent every minute they could outside holding and playing with the cats. The other times (when it was too cold and snowy to be outside) were filled with a trip to the fire station, an Easter egg hunt with Great Grandma Sorensen, eating, playing with Grandma's toys, and very little sleeping.

Friday Scott and I slipped away for a date. First we went to the Aberdeen Public Library to use their internet. My parents have dial-up which doesn't work so well, and Scott needed reliable (and somewhat fast) internet to do some things for work. So, after hanging out at the library for about half an hour, we headed on to Pocatello for dinner. We used a gift card we'd received for Christmas and had dinner at Applebee's. Then we headed back home to the kids. Just getting a little break away is always nice.

Saturday morning we woke to ice and snow covering everything. We scraped the suburban's windows and braved the icy roads and drove to Blackfoot to the assisted living home where my Grandma lives. They had an Easter egg hunt for all the residents' families. My kids haven't seen my Grandma in years, and really didn't remember her. She is their last Great Grandparent still alive, so it was a great chance for them to get to know her again.

On our way home from Blackfoot, we stopped by my Grandma's house. In the 11 years that we've been married, I haven't been there (which means neither has Scott or the kids). I figured it was about time (before it gets sold and someone else lives there). When I was growing up, it was such a fun place to visit. She lives out in the country, and it was always such an adventure to go exploring. There's the old outhouse, the old train box car, and the old chicken house. The kids thought it was pretty fun to see all that. It wasn't quite the same as when I was a kid, because there weren't any animals running around. When I was growing up, there were always chickens, geese, ducks, peacocks, dogs, cats, etc. running around everywhere. After we looked around outside, we went inside and each of the kids got to pick out some "treasures" to take home. My Grandma had packed up everything she wanted and told everyone to feel free to stop by her house and take anything they wanted. Sara picked out some little bead dolls and porcelain cat salt and pepper shakers. Aaron found some old play cars and tractors. Savannah got a wind chime. And Josh decided he couldn't pass up any of the great stuff there for the taking. He came away with a pinecone turkey, a porcelain alligator, a porcelain cow, a porcelain frog, a little plastic horse and buggy, a birdhouse made out of twigs, and several other things that I can't think of right now. When we were loading back up into the suburban, we discovered that our back license plate had fallen off.

We went home, watched a little conference, then Scott and I loaded back up and drove to Blackfoot and back (80 mile round trip) to see if we could spot our license plate. I kept my eyes peeled to the road, searching, but we didn't have any luck (but it did give us some more alone time away from the kids). We ended up having to just buy new plates when we got back home ($6 plate fee and $9 registration transfer fee).

Saturday night my dad got out his guitar and entertained the kids.


Sunday morning the kids woke up excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought them. My sister Linda came the night before (her husband had the kids) and was there for all the excitement. As the kids were waiting in the hallway for everyone to be ready to go see their baskets, Nate helped himself to some eggs he found in the hallway.




Then they came out to see what was in their baskets.




This pretty much sums up Savannah's reaction. She got some leggings (which she needed), and did nothing but complain about the fact that she didn't get anything "fun" like the other kids. Josh got tennis balls (he loves to play wall ball) and darts for his nerf gun. Sara got a glitter ball and a twirly ribbon baton. Aaron got sidewalk chalk. And Nate got a ball.




Then the egg hunting began. And then the candy eating began. It's still going on. All in all, it was a fun Easter and a good end to spring break. Unfortunately, it wasn't so restful for me. The kids never sleep very well (they don't want to miss one minute of fun) at Grandma and Grandpa's, and then there's all the unpacking and laundry. It's taken me till now to feel like I've starting to get a handle on things again. It's nice to be getting back into our routines again--early bedtime, homework, me running in the mornings, etc. It's nice to have a break from the structure, but then it's always nice to go back to it.