The Tragically Unexecuted, Perfectly Planned Easter Egg Hunt

 Ahh, the tradition of the Easter Egg Hunt at my sister's house. It has been the source of so much joy and consternation for my children. Teenagers have come to be expected to pick up stray eggs, while kids are frantically running around, eat their contents and then toss the empty container back to the ground to be excitedly picked up by an unsuspecting younger person. Dude, not the most observant person in the world, seems to generally come up lacking and sad. This year he and his sister created maps, plans, and hopefully alliances to better maximize their easter haul.

Actually, Luca created a map, and then Dude created his own. I just can't with this plan of attack.

But they didn't stop there. They also wrote letters to their potential alliance cousins.

They planned so faithfully, hoped so expectantly, and then the day before the hunt, my sister let us know that several members of their family had been throwing up that week. None of us wanted that fate so we opted to stay home. Such crying and lamentations. It honestly broke my heart. My parents were also nervous, mostly because they had plans for travelling the following week, so we had a much smaller easter egg hunt at their house. I'm pretty sure it was the only thing that saved their poor little hearts. 

Next year. . . .

New Quilt

 I decided I need a new quilt for my bed. I absolutely fell in love with this material and made my own pattern. So many half-square triangles.

This isn't even all of them, but look at them in their beautiful little stacks. They are so pretty. I ended up having so many left over that I got to make a fun border with them.

Needless to say that I love this quilt.

Early Easter Tea Party

 I love when the kids ask for something and I get to say "yes." This time they pulled me into my father's office in a very official manner to request permission to throw a fancy tea party. I of course, said "yes", and like the ingenious mother that I am suggested they hold it the following Friday when they were off school. They also had Thursday free allowing them time to prepare. The only setback for them was they were only allowed two guests each.

They made invitations, received RSVPs, created a detailed itinerary of events and lovingly prepared food. I left them mostly to their own devices while I sewed upstairs and enjoyed hearing their squeals of happy chaos.

A few weeks ago I took the kids to the zoo with my friend Emily and her son Eric. It was so fun but an expensive day. I am grateful for those sorts of adventures but I am equally grateful for adventure days at home for relatively little cost and just as much if not more joy.

Life Training

A few weeks ago while we were visiting Matthew's grandparents it struck me just how short of a time of my life I have my children at home with me. Only another few years until they are out in the world. A few days later we were talking with my nephew J who is a student at BYU. He notoriously doesn't attend all his lectures, deciding rather to attend the ones most worth his time. Dude and Luca were thoroughly scandalized - they wondered if they should alert his mother, or keep his little "secret". I assured them that his mother most certainly was aware of his propensity to skip lectures but that because he is an adult, living on his own, there wasn't much she could do about it. It turned into a good opportunity to talk about becoming responsible for your own choices and the consequences both good and bad that ensue.

When we got home from our epic spring break adventure, Matthew and I decided to be a bit more deliberate in these last few years we have with our children under our roof. My initial thought was to come up with a list of skills I thought they might need to be successful adults, but then the Spirit whispered that I should let them make the lists. So they did. And what they came up with was WAY better than the list I would have made. I really hope this new plan of parenting attack leads to some pretty great things. We are going to tackle one life skill at a time.

First up is "How to not get scammed." Let's do this.

Edit to add - 5/22/22 - So far we have done the scamming one (how to recognize and avoid them) and how to shop (how to know a good deal, a reputable store, how to return items). The kids decided they were ready for skill #3 - how to stop contentions (with yourself, with others, and between others).

We don't have anything formal set up, but we talk about the life skill from time to time when we remember. I am really loving it.