I’m sure I’ve said before that Maya’s favorite holiday is Easter. She started working on us to gather all the necessary supplies to dye eggs at least a full week before the holiday. That may not sound like much, but this is a monumental display of forethought for fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants Maya.

Working together … sort of.

Both Sean and I have been break-neck busy at work, so many of our things get done at the last possible minute. Ian made crayons and stuffed eggs for his class hunt the day before it occurred. Sean and the kids decorated eggs on Saturday, eggs he had purchased only that morning. The easter bunny bought his extra supplies on Saturday and he and his helper spent part of their Saturday night assembling baskets and stuffing eggs. This all happened really, really late too because Maya was so excited about hunting eggs the next day that she could not sleep. Even the leftover magic confetti from the night before her first day of kindergarten wasn’t helping.

Tradition with Dad

Sean and I made a plan that I would get up at 6 and sneak out to hide eggs. I hadn’t thought through the fact that I would be doing so in the dark. The eggs were hidden though, and I managed to not accidentally step on any of them. I crawled back under the covers at 6:11. At 6:15, I heard Maya spring out of bed, followed shortly by Ian. I guess I will need to get up earlier next year because wow, was that close!

Ian’s basket contained an incredibly soft stuffed bunny who he has dubbed “Easter Bun Bun,” to distinguish from the bunny Maya sewed for him whose name is just Bun Bun. Maya received a chicken puppet who I believe she named Beeyawk! after a line from a book she had recently fallen in love with called “A Hen for Izzy Pippik” by Aubrey Davis.

These two!

After a very hasty breakfast, we got the kids into their fancy duds, and they pelted out into the yard. The eggs were gathered in record time. Cascarones were cracked over heads. Photos were begrudgingly stood for.

Our friend Larry, of the Seattle Leone family, was in town for work, and we wound up spending most of the rest of our Sunday with him. Our kids love, love, LOVE grownups, so they were really excited to see him. Plus, he arrived bearing gifts of PEZ dispensers. At that point, Maya and Ian might have traded us in for him.

We had hot chicken at T-22 for lunch and took a hike up to an overlook for the Pennybacker bridge in the afternoon. Then the kids took him to their favorite restaurant, Freddy’s, for dinner, where both kids insisted on sitting with him.

Poor Larry – they would not leave him alone! 

Larry sports a shaved short hairdo, and Maya was completely obsessed with it.  We have had many, many conversations with our children about respecting personal space and keeping your hands to yourself, but you’d never have guessed it. She kept rubbing his head. We’d get her to stop, but as soon as we weren’t watching her, she was right back to it! Larry took it like a champ, but it was a little much.

At the end of the day, both kids were sad to find out that Larry would be sleeping at a hotel instead of at their house. I guess we’ll have to see if next year, Maya requests a visit from the easter Larry along with the easter bunny.