Easterrific

Once all of the gravel and mulch was begrudgingly dealt with, we were able to switch our focus to Easter and all of the accompanying festivities.  And what holiday would be complete without overindulgence, from start to finish?

The night before Easter we ransacked a few clothing stores in search of something cute for the boys to wear to church in the morning, because we seem to be obsessed with their cuteness but also seem to be incapable of accomplishing anything more than 20 minutes in advance.  So after breezing through Target, Kohls, and Target again, we headed home (a little too late) with a shirt for Joel, a skirt for me and and a full suit for Cael. 

A big personality requires big fashion.

At church we were a big hit.  Honestly, I'm not sure which was better received-- Graham's ear-to-ear smile, Cael's dapper attire, or the knock down, drag out meltdown that occurred in our pew.  While Joel was busy playing with the praise band, I was more than busy trying to occupy both boys with a tub of Cheerios and a coloring book.  It was going fairly well, too, until Cael decided to play dead, perhaps in an act of rebellion against the holiday itself.  Sprawled out across the pew and banging his feet against the backs of those in front of us, he eventually recruited Graham to join him in his shenanigans.  When I picked Graham up to separate the two of them, I accidentally knocked his head against the hard wood and he immediately began yowling.  Not so much from pain, but more because he knew it would embarrass the heck out of me.  And it did.  His cry was timed so strategically that the peak of his objection happened at a moment when the service was transitioning and no one had anything to do but watch as my own situation unraveled.

Isn't she the one with the blog?  About parenting her kids?  Oh yeah.  That's me.


I tried to make a quick escape, but Cael was still assuming the position and I couldn't squeeze by him to remove my screaming child from the sanctuary.  Finally, I had to put Graham back down on the pew which sent him into a new spiral of anger while I physically removed Cael, knocking his head against the pew as I had done with Graham.  By the time I actually managed to escape to the narthex, Graham had calmed himself down and Cael was left alone in the pew with all eyes on him.  And while he normally favors being the center of attention, this time was a bit more than he could take and he sprinted on out of there, thus ending our Easter service.

And it wasn't until I got home that I realized my shirt was oddly tucked into the back of my skirt and part of my underwear was showing.  Happy Easter.

After I'd adjusted so as not to flash my family that would be arriving for Easter lunch in a few hours, we headed outside to take some photos of the boys before changing clothes.  I would have loved to leave them in their dressy clothes to show off for family, but knowing my boys as I do, they likely would have tried to flush Graham's vest down the toilet and skewered Cael's tie with a makeshift harpoon.


So for the sake of clothing preservation (okay, and to remember the moment), we replicated last year's Easter photos, complete with scaling the large cedar tree in our front yard.  First Cael...


And then a somewhat reluctant Graham.


Kisses on the cheek for Daddy are just as special now as they were then...

And hugs for Mommy were still in full supply.


But as if the clothes and photos and snuggles weren't enough, the overindulgence of Easter wasn't quite complete...