Reasons to Celebrate

One thing I look forward to every year is the little cluster of celebrations that happens every spring.  Whether true reasons to celebrate (Kylee's birthday & Easter) or just fun reasons to wear green (St. Patrick's Day), special days are always more fun with kids.  You don't understand a bit of the whole "wearing green so as not to get pinched" thing, but you are starting to understand the idea of birthdays and you really got into he spirit of the egg hunt this year.  

Kylee's "Not a Party" Party.  I was still obsessing over the bright evenings.

Party Necessity

Kylee turned 13 this year.  Yes, a teenager.  One teenager just moved out of the house and another sister enters her teens.  It's kind of like a cruel joke.  This year, Kylee chose to take a friend to Disney instead of having a big birthday party.  Still, she requested a cupcake baking/decorating get-together with her two closest friends.  Since I had every intention of making some sort of cake for her anyway, this was a hard request to turn down.  There would be cupcakes, and I wouldn't have to bake or decorate anything?  Deal.  I tried my hardest to keep it a "non-party", in keeping with the rules, but there may have been stripey straws, neon plates & napkins, and a homemade backdrop involved.  Some habits are hard to break.

Cupcake Decorating Mini-Shindig

St. Patrick's Day came and went without much mention around here.  We made sure you were dressed in your greenest outfit, though.  We did embark on a shamrock hunt that morning.  I realize that you don't know or care what a shamrock is at this point, but you're always happy to join in some sort of hunt that requires combing through the dirt.  You took a pretty nasty tumble on the way home, and I ended up carrying you all the way back with blood literally running down your leg.  I'm sad to say that that was the most memorable part of the day!  You still have a little scar from the incident.

I love what qualified as shamrocks: dollarweed and more weeds.

Sweetest pigtails.  Worst lighting ever.

First bandaid.

And then there was Easter.  I was pretty sure that holiday would be a disaster because you came down with the nastiest cold just days before.  You were pathetically sick...the kind where you just laid on the ground next to me (and that literally never happens when you're healthy).  The first indication that things might turn out alright came the night I (finally) took out the Easter decorations an supplies.  You discovered them stashed in the dining room and rummaged through them quietly for quite a while.  I found you on the floor, surrounded by brightly colored plastic eggs and empty baskets.  And happy for the first time in two days.

How I found you.

Evidence that you were quite the sick kid.  This isn't even the worst picture...by far.

One of my favorite things about Easter is dying the eggs.  There's just something about a dozen little blank canvases, sitting there like a carton full of possibilities that turns me into a kid again.  We finally used some natural dyes this year, something I've been wanting to do for a while.  It was a fun science experiment for Sydney, and it made me feel a whole lot better about feeding those eggs to my family.  Plus, the results were quite amazing!  Of course, we also did some traditional colors, too, because an overnight wait for natural colors didn't impress your sisters in this world of instant gratification.  Honestly, you were pretty uninvolved in the dying process.  You were there, circling the table, hopeful for a chance to get your hands on them.  But the thought of breakable eggs and cups full of dye seemed like a recipe for disaster once a one year old entered the equation.  

Labeled, natural dyes.

Professionals.

Your only contribution: coloring on the furniture with the clear crayon.

Finished product: artificial dyed eggs.

Finished product: Natural dyes.

Another thing that I was excited about this Easter was the opportunity to let you join in the Easter egg hunt.  I knew you'd be old enough to hold your own, and what could be more perfect for you than an outdoor scavenger hunt?  We held a little trial run on Saturday with Sydney, so that by Easter morning you'd know what to do and she could just fill her basket.  Who knew that this would be the best egg hunt of the weekend?  Empty eggs and all!  You girls hunted and re-hid the eggs all day long.  By far, my best photos came from that day, too.  Because Easter Sunday was Meltdown-City...

And you were off!

You seemed to get the concept immediately.

Syd was a good sport.

Love your sister bond, even while on the hunt.

The inevitable spilled basket.

Found one!

Obligatory "ears" photo.

Sydney adding in an extra pair of bunny ears for good measure.

Honestly, if I'd known how cute these would be I would've paid more attention to the backdrop.

Ahhh, Easter Sunday...so the good: your dress, that I've been hoarding for months, was perfect.  So, so beautiful.  And as it turned out, all of your sisters dressed up a bit.  You all looked gorgeous.  However, you'd never know because I do not have one single "sister photo", "family photo"...nothing.  Not even just one where you all ended up in the same shot. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I honestly didn't even get any decent pictures that day.  You may have been egg-hunted out because after the first few (enthusiastic) minutes of hunting, you gave up.  You all did.  Monday morning I had to run outside and hunt down eggs  in my pj's like a maniac before the lawn crew showed up to mow.  Naps were late and short and chocolate was the food of choice.  I'm not blaming all of the chaos on chocolate or lack of sleep, but I am saying they were involved.  There were tears and messes, and I was kind of glad when it was bedtime.  But, hey, it happens.  We were all together, and I wouldn't trade that day for anything.

E.B. Wuz Here.

Digging in!

Happy messes.

Checking out the goods.

You went straight for the chocolate.  But the good stuff at least: Lindt!

You, running out back to start the official egg hunt...you looked like you were exiting the tunnel at a football game!

Huntress.

Bubbles were big with the Easter Bunny this year.  You all got some.  These were Kylee's giant ones.

It helps to be tall.

Sweetness.

My bunny.

Glowing bubbles from Sydney's basket.  Pretty cool.

So maybe next year will be a picture-perfect Easter.  Maybe we'll actually make it to a church service.  Maybe I'll have photographic evidence that you girls were together, and even that you love each other.  Maybe I'll cook a fabulous brunch and a giant Easter ham, and you girls will hunt for eggs happily all day and ask for vegetables as a snack.  Or maybe it'll be real life and that will still be perfect in its own way.  I do ask for just one picture of you girls though.  Just one.