Easter

We were all pretty worn out from Easter activities so this is the first chance I have had to come in and talk about it.

I have always loved Easter. I have vivid memories of dying and hunting eggs and receiving a special dress each year. Apart from the religious aspect of the holiday, I always felt it was one of the more special events of the year. Most of those memories include my Grandmother and New Mexico and I found myself looking back at family photos of us preparing for Easter and celebrating and a rush of wonderful memories flood my mind. I want Jilly to have that same feeling and memories as she grows older.
We did not get the chance to hunt or color eggs last year so we made up for it this year - threefold. It was almost overdone, but JillyBean had such a fabulous time that it was worth all of the jellybean- and chocolate egg-induced sugar highs she experienced the past two weeks.

Our first hunt took place two weeks ago with our fabulous MOPS group. I think that Jilly had more fun gathering eggs than she did trick-or-treating.
We hosted an egg hunt at our place for our mom's group. A dozen two- and three-year-olds came to our place and we scattered eggs throughout the courtyard behind our house and the kids went crazy. It was so much fun watching them charge out to pick up eggs to place in their baskets. Afterward they munched on cupcakes and fruit and played together. It was a great spring gathering.
The Easter Bunny brought Jilly a basket filled with gear to explore the great outdoors. She received a butterfly net, a bug house, flashlight, binoculars and magnifying glass - all from a super cute line called Sunny Patch, a division of Melissa and Doug. She also received some toy snakes because, for some reason, she's obsessed with the creatures.
She also got some more lip gloss and a color book of her beloved Wonder Pets. The candy was kept to a minimum - just a chocolate bunny - since she had plenty by this point.

This year's Easter dress was a custom frock that had her monogram embroidered on it. It was a sweet little pink and green apron dress that looked so dainty on her, in spite of her newly skinned knees and elbow. I had wanted to experiment with sponge curlers (another childhood Easter memory), but I never bought them. Still, I thought that she looked adorable.
We spent the afternoon at our good friends' house where we enjoyed a lovely after church brunch and, yet, another egg hunt. The kids had a blast. You would have thought they would have been done with hunting eggs, but I am pretty sure that we could do it again and they would be just as excited.
This was the best Easter that we have had since Jilly has been with us. Well, that's not exactly true. The BEST Easter was three years ago when she was born. She is the best gift the Easter Bunny has ever brought me and I doubt that gift will ever be trumped.

Real Life or The Legend of Ricky Bobby?

Breakfast conversations are usually pretty interesting around this house. This morning was no exception.

Me: Jilly, do you remember what we celebrate at Christmas?
Jilly: Baby Jesus' birthday.
Me: Exactly. Do you know what we celebrate at Easter?
Jilly: Nope.
Me: Well, Easter is a time for us to remember that when Jesus grew up and was big like daddy, he made a promise and he kept that promise.
Jilly: Oh. Well, Jesus lives in my heart.
Me: I know and that's very special, isn't it?
Jilly: Yes. But it's not big Jesus. Baby Jesus lives in my heart.
Me: Really? Well, that's fine. I'm sure that Jesus doesn't mind that he gets to stay little in your heart.
Jilly: Yes. He will grow up when I grow up. I like baby Jesus best right now.

Her desire to keep Jesus a baby reminds me of the scene from The Legend of Ricky Bobby where the fictional race car driver explains that he prefers to pray to the Christmas Jesus.

I have wondered for a while how to teach the Easter story to Jilly. The birth of a baby is an easy one, but I'm not certain that an almost three-year-old can understand death and resurrection. That is why I am focusing on the promise of new life that Christ gave us. Jilly's favorite book right now is Horton Hatches an Egg and Horton's mantra, "I meant what I said and said what I meant; an Elephant is faithful 100 percent," is one way to teach the message that God is always faithful as well.