What are your Easter Traditions?

I love Easter traditions! There are so many out there that it seems that every family puts their own unique touch to the holiday. I hear about egg hunts and bunnies and then there is the Holy side of Easter. All of the traditions are fabulous!!! Have you ever looked into the history of Easter and how the correlation between the resurrection of Christ and bunnies ended up co-existing together? If not, check this out!

When I was a little girl, we combined both holidays like many families today. We would dye Easter Eggs! This was a BIG deal in my household! My Dad was usually home for Easter, so the family always did this holiday a little bigger than many other families. (BTW, my dad was in the Navy and out to sea 4-6 months out of the year). My Dad was king of dying Easter Eggs too. They weren't fancy, but he really enjoyed dying eggs! It wasn't uncommon for us to dye up to 5 dozen eggs! Wow! Right?

This is me around 7 years old. We were just getting started dying Easter eggs. :)

After all the eggs were dyed, we would set them out for the Easter Bunny to hide them. He didn't hide all 5 dozen unless we had company, but he would hide a dozen or two outside in the yard! We lived on an acre lot too... It was green and lush around Easter so there were MANY places to hide Easter Eggs!  The Easter Bunny always brought wonderful gifts and treats too! I remember one year I got a bike and a kite! My neighbor used to get this large egg that was made of peanut butter and coated with chocolate every year from the Easter Bunny. The two of us would eat that egg until our bellies hurt! :)

This is me hunting my eggs. One egg at a time! Thank goodness I had cousins to help me! :)

In the late afternoon we ALWAYS had ham, potato salad, cranberry salad, coleslaw, biscuits and of course every year my aunt Wally would make her famous Easter Bunny cake... Complete with jelly bean droppings! Ha Ha Ha... It was great to be around family!

I have to admit, Easter was one holiday that my family didn't spend much time in church. I think it's because we spent endless hours re-hiding eggs and hunting them and basically spending time as a complete family. Easter was a fun holiday and a time to spend with friends and family! (And don't get me wrong, we were very schooled in the resurrection of Easter Sunday).

Today, I try to stick with the traditions I grew up with. We dye Easter eggs (not 5 dozen, usually 2), and the kids make signs to warn the Easter Bunny about our cats. Of course the Easter Bunny comes and hides eggs, but plastic eggs have given way to the "real" eggs at our house especially now that we live in Texas. :) And of course the boys and the baby will get an Easter Basket. The most important thing we will celebrate this year is togetherness and many many laughs I hope!




Ahh... Making silly eggs!




Baby A enjoying her first Easter Egg Dying



Egg Dying is INTENSE!

Silly Boy!

Now I know where my kiddos get it from! :)

Happy Easter my friends!!! May your traditions bring happiness to your family too! :)

Happy Easter 2011

Friday Fragments

I sit in front of this computer almost daily to start a blog, and unfortunately everytime I'm interrupted. Most of my blogs are fragments in themselves these days and never get posted, so I'm going to take my blog fragments and share them with you this week. :) Hope you enjoy!

"7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 48.... Hut!" Oh wait!!! I mean 56, 63, 70, 77, 84.  What are all these numbers about? Well it is multiples of 7 of course! In our house you'd think that my oldest child, C, was getting ready to try out for the football team! Over the last few weeks we have been working on our multiplication tables. I have to tell you now that we have gotten up in the higher numbers, it's almost comical to listen to C recite these tables!

Does anyone watch "Food Nation?" I absolutely detest that show. It just irks my nerves! Only in America can you find someone from a foreign country on TV criticizing Americans for poor diets. Seriously, we let this happen! Let someone go into another country say, The Netherlands, and see if that flies! Grrr...

Now, don't get me wrong, do I think we have a child obesity problem? Yes, I do but I think it is more than just diet which is probably another reason why that stupid show irks me! Let your kids run and play without restriction! We keep our kids confined to a postage stamp sized yard or inside where they play video games... Get 'em out and let them run!

Okay, so last Friday I was glued to the TV to see if our family is going to be paid for April, and then stewed at the fact that yeah, maybe we weren't going to get paid, but what about a newly widowed spouse? Really Congress and Mr. President? Really??? Oh yes, I forgot it was more than saving money... We had to talk about abortions. Seriously? No offense, I believe that women have the right to have one if they want one, but really??? I pay for my birth control. I think Mr. Obama could work things into his Health care Reform to include BC for those in need. After all he wants health care for all. Grrr... Too many issues to discuss here on a fragment post, but look for a more detailed rant on this subject.

I took Baby A for her first well baby visit. She is growing by leaps and bounds. She weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces and is a whopping 22 3/4 inches long! So much for the cuties patootie 0-3 month sleepers... She is moving on up! :) I was a little bit caught off guard when the pediatrician told me NOT to give her any pain medication unless her fever was over 101 for her vaccinations. Wow! When did this change? I always gave my kids' meds before their well baby visits. Apparently fever reducers can affect a person's immunity by not allowing the body to fight as hard as if no medication was given. Woo! Baby A suffered a low grade fever... Just enough to make her pretty irritable, so I opted to take the pain meds for MY headache! :)

This weekend is B's birthday party. I am super excited as we are having a "movie" birthday party. B invited 5 of his friends to see the movie, " HOP" and then we will all come home and have hot dogs and cake. We are all excited! I'm not sure if this is going to be anymore economical that just paying for a party at Chuck E. Cheese, but I am saving my receipts to see how we fare. Wish me luck! :)

I leave you all with our blue bonnet picture... Why are we not sitting among the tiny little flowers? Well.... I am highly allergic to bee stings, and I was worried I might be stung. :( I wish I had sucked it up a little since it just doesn't seem the same when you are so big compared to the tiny blue bonnet flowers. :( I can't wait to see the other pictures though... Stay tuned!

Well, that is all I have tonight! If you get a chance and you want more fragments, stop by Mrs4444's blog and see whats' going on!!!

See you next week... Hopefully! ;-)