Easterpalooza Day One: The Church Easter Festival

Our Easter weekend started out on a grouchy note with our church's Family Easter Festival on Saturday. I say "grouchy" because that was my condition...I'd not had enough sleep, we were running late (as usual!), and M was giving me a run for my money on her three year-old wardrobe battles. Sister girl turned up her nose at my carefully-chosen casual dress outfit with her sparkly flip-flops and opted instead for her Valentine's Day long-sleeved top with her dark brown corduroy pants. And her hot-pink cowboy boots. That didn't even remotely match.

I decided I could let it slide if she'd only wear a bow in her hair. I didn't even care if it matched! But no...she knew how to get to me, and she initially chose to wear about 7 headbands instead.

Sigh...

I'd love to find (or make) shirts for M that read "I dress myself!". I'd make her wear those every day.

I may have done this to myself...I've always been careful to let her have independence in as much as possible, and I figured clothing wasn't a big deal. And it's not on most days, unless they're holiday days that include lots of picture-taking. Those situations are important to me, but it's getting increasingly hard to get M to wear what I want her to even on those rare occasions. I was ready to spit nails by the end of the weekend!

Blah blah blah...so for all the grandparents reading, here's how Saturday went down:

M, J and Rosie taking in our church's children's Easter service. (Notice she'd finally shucked 6 of her headbands.)

J dealing with a restless Rosie...the program is a little long for the younger kids!

Of course, M wanted to hit the bounce houses first thing. I remember last year she was scared of them! You've come a long way, baby. :0) Now we can't get you out of them.

J took M to meet some of the characters from the childrens' service (the Tooth Fairy, Spider Man, Lady Liberty...), so this preggy mom took a little rest break with Rosie. Here she is sorting all of the snacks and condiments from our lunch bags. (Our church provided free lunches for all the guests! How cool is that?!)

*****

She even rebelled that morning and would not wear a bow in her hair. Seems M's teaching her some bad habits!

J and Rosie goofing off while they wait for the start of the Egg Hunt. Rosie put her basket on J's head.

When the hunt began, we opted to divide and conquer. J took Rosie, and I took M. She actually brought in a decent haul for only being a year old! He'd hand her an egg and she'd pick it up and drop it in the basket.

Chaperoning M on an Egg Hunt is much easier. She's totally self-sufficient now, so all I had to do was follow her a bit and snap photos. I was so proud of her--she got a ton of eggs!

We came home and put the girls down for naps. I had to make an Easter shoe and Easter basket filler run. I can't believe it, but I waited till the day before Easter to buy the girls' contents. And I'll never do that again...the shelves were bare, and T*rget was a madhouse!

*****

The shoe hunt was nuts, too. I've been searching for shoes to go with the girls' Easter dresses for weeks now, but it seems that kids' shoe manufacturers are under the impression that all kids have 5-inch wide, 4-inch tall feet! I've not been able to find sandals that fit my girls...I guess they have narrow feet, maybe? They can't even wing it in sandals...their feet slip out because the shoes are so wide and tall.

*****

J ended up having to make another shoe run that night, and we ended up with closed-toe dress shoes for both of them. Which was just as well with the rain and all the next day.

*****

The photo above is the girls' baskets! I think they turned out cute!

*****

And in my grumpiness, I even forgot to set out the Easter Bunny's snack with the girls before we went to bed. And we never got around to dying eggs. (But I bought all the stuff to do it! That's gotta count for something, right?!)

*****

Lucky for me, they're not old enough to call me out on all this stuff yet! :0)