Epic Easter

Having the girls sleep together in one room went ok-ish.  It took them a little longer to fall asleep (Emily was very good though, we heard her over the monitor shushing Charlotte and explaining to her that it was time to sleep) and they woke up at 5:30AM and didn't really go back to sleep (and so neither did I) but overall, not bad.

All too early, it was time to get up.

Chocolate bunnies!

Acting out "Little Bunny Foo Foo"

 The girls opted to have mostly treats for breakfast, but I had Saturday morning breakfast (on Ezekiel toast instead of the english muffins) instead.  And a big cup of strong coffee.

After breakfast, we noticed some eggs outside, so we went out to investigate.  The Easter Bunny had hidden eggs along one of the trails in the woods, so we had a somewhat linear easter egg hunt that was fun and different.

We headed back to the house with the goodies....

...then we continued down the trail to take an Easter morning hike.

Approaching the cabin

We paused to enjoy the view down to the creek from the cabin's porch

The redbuds were beautiful!

Checking out an old well

 We did the whole mile-ish loop (with lots of kid-carrying after Charlotte hurt her finger on a thornbush and needed to be comforted for about half an hour afterward), and we of course ended up back down at the creek to throw more rocks in the water.

After that I started my all-morning cook-a-thon to get ready for our early Easter dinner.  

But before dinner we had to get Easter dresses on, and much twirling ensued.

 I had to get some pictures of the girls in their finery, but SOMEONE was not happy about posing for pictures.

No, I did not manage to get out to buy white dress shoes in time for Easter

I LOVE this picture

She was willing to make crazy faces for the camera though, so at least that was better than an angry pout.

I had a brie snack somewhere along the way.

Once the grandparents arrived we went on another short walk to give them time to hide the eggs and the baskets they brought for the girls.

 In my family the Easter bunny just places the baskets on the kitchen table for you to find when you wake up, but in Will's family the Easter bunny hides the baskets too (and usually in really jerky places).  I LOVE holiday traditions, and it's fun to compare different families' and to pick and choose which will become yours to continue for your kids.

One of the things I really like about The Farm is that there are A LOT of mature flowers up there so you can pick a bunch and the flowerbed still looks pretty.  I am STILL trying to establish some flowers at home so it's nice to be able to go on a walk and come back with a gorgeous bouquet!

More eggs and baskets were found.

 I had some veggies with 2 kinds of hummus plus some of the amazing 100% whole wheat bread my Father-in-Law is famous for (he grinds the grain fresh each time!).

After the second round of baskets and eggs my girls were ROLLING in food and toys (not much candy though, since my in-laws are very good about respecting how we feed the girls) so part of me wanted to just skip the piñata.  But damn it I went to Wal-Mart at 10:30PM the other night to get this thing because Emily had spotted it weeks ago and asked for one and Pump it Up won't let her have one for her birthday so I was going to use it, excessive or not.  I also kind of loved how random the idea of an Easter piñata is.  I guess the Easter bunny brings a piñata in our family now too.

Attack!

Bonk!

We let the girls thwack it for awhile, and of course they couldn't even dent it.  Then we let Daddy loose with the croquet mallet.

Here it comes....

Nope.

2nd time's a charm

 The girls were not at all interested in watching Daddy, so they were relaxing back in the shade when he cracked it.  We had to point out to them that there were now toys and (thanks to Daddy's lobbying) candy laying all over the ground.

Say WHAT?

Charlotte was like a seasoned pro, getting in there and scooping up goodies.

Emily was more interested in continuing to beat on the already-smashed piñata.

Poor guy's suffering isn't over yet

He kept seeming to fight back though, and she ended up on the ground as much as he did.

Pwned by a piñata

Revenge

Aunt Tina upcycled him into a hat until Emily tried to attack her too

 After that it was early dinner time!

My lamb with mint-pistachio filling, my parsley potatoes and my roasted asparagus, the in-laws' peas and brussels sprouts

And a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat

After that everyone was really flagging, so we packed up and headed home.

We have realized that the reason Charlotte doesn't nap in the car much anymore is because she's used to sleeping with a pacifier (we only let her have them in her bed these days) so we let her have one in the car today.

Conk

After seeing how well the pacifier worked for Charlotte, Emily asked for one too and I just happened to have an extra.  Apparently it worked.

When we got home I had a snack while I sat on the porch and waited for the still-napping girls to wake up and come out of the car.

Nonfat plain greek yogurt, juice-sweetened peach jelly, bananas and a generous dose of cinnamon to counteract all the ALLERGENS

 Then I fell asleep for a couple minutes in the guest bed while chillin' with Charlotte.  BOY was I tired after today!

I had had a large early dinner/lunch so I just had a bit more lamb for dinner.

I also tried the stevia and erythritol-sweetened chocolate bar my in-laws the Easter bunny brought Will and I.  It was really good!

AND I had a handful of the carob-covered raisins, grain-sweetened chocolate-covered raisins and chocolate-covered cacao nibs from the girls' eggs.  Yes I realize it is in somewhat poor taste to fill eggs supposedly left by a rabbit with something that looks so much like rabbit poop.  I'm ok with that.

Then, I'm sorry to say, I ate lots of stuff.  I walked by the table, saw the container of mini blueberry muffins I made a couple days ago and just snapped.  I guess I felt like I had been pretty virtuous even though I was at the farm (a place that just psychologically makes me want to eat because we always go there for eating-centered events) and it was a candy-laden holiday while everyone around me ate tons of tasty treats and I felt deprived.  I ate:

-3 mini blueberry muffins (guess I couldn't control myself around them after all)
-1 slice of my Father-in-Law's bread
-1 of my single serving goat cheeses
-a couple handfuls of whole wheat bunny crackers
-a Divine dark chocolate bunny from the girls' baskets (not a huge chocolate bunny...these things were 2-3 bites each)
-about 6 jellybeans

And I think that's it?  Ugh.  I've done well today though, so I'm going to forget it ever happened.  At least it happens less often now than it used to.  I used to graze like that practically ever night.

I think the girls had a pretty epic Easter.  I don't know if I can keep up this level of specialness, but it's only a few short years until Emily doesn't believe in the Easter bunny anymore, so I want to see that look of unrestrained wonder on her face as many times as I can before that happens!