This year we had the priviledge of spending Easter with the "The Little Mrs." Unfortunately Emma is moving in a few weeks to Australia so we are very sad that we will not be seeing her smiling face almost everyday. As a special treat for us, Emma spent the night with us Saturday so that she could experience the Easter Bunny with us and go to Easter Sunday Church.The night before Easter, Harrison, Emma and I sat and discussed the meaning of Easter, how Jesus died on the cross, and why he came back just for us. They both really enjoy talking about Jesus. Both were especially fond of the fact that the Easter Bunny decided to bring all little girls and boys a basket of goodies on Easter morning to remind them that Jesus loves them. After our chat, it was time to get the baskets ready.
Emma's basket was already packed for Australia, but she had an Easter bucket. Well, she saw Harrison's basket (mine from my "tween" years) and immediately wanted a bunny on her bucket. I pulled out my Easter storage bin and lucky for me, there was a bunny in there so I set it up in her bucket and put it next to Harrison's. I thought I had done a mighty good job of making them look similar.
Big mistake....no good! Emma decided she did not want a bucket and she wanted a same size basket. She was appauled at the fact I would even think a bucket was appropriate and asked me a hundred times to find her a basket as we ran around looking for one. We hunted through Nanni's house and the best we could find was an old Christmas basket that I made in college. We looked at it and figured that the Easter Bunny would definately recognize a basket from Jesus' birthday so we decided to use it.
After the baskets were ready, the happy couple took a bath and then got in their jammies. It was so much fun to have two kids and get them ready together. I love this picture!
We did have some emotions flare getting ready for bed, but once we talked about the situation they would be much better. After jammies were on, it was time to pick the bed. Turns out they both wanted the single so they hoped up in the bed together for story time. Harrison was delighted, but Emma was a little concerned about her boo boo on his leg and didn't want him too close. This turned into a bit of a problem when he wanted to kiss her and she refused. Harrison burst into tears immediately so Emma, after thinking about it, agreed to allow one kiss on the forehead. So cute!
Without going into too many details, the night was ROUGH for me! Emma is just like me when I was little and she really missed her mommy. She refused to go to sleep, would nod off, and then would wake up and ask for her mommy. I told her several times that we could pack her stuff and I would take her home but once she realized that she wouldn't be able to go to church she quickly changed her mind and decided to stay. I thought all was well until she woke up at 2 am crying for her mom. Harrison flew out of the room screaming at me to wake up and help Emma. Mike and I almost fell over each other flying upstairs. Emma was really upset, but when she realized the Easter Bunny may have come, she perked up a little bit.
So what did we do....we went to hunt the baskets at 2:15 am. They kids were thrilled, but Emma got weary again when it was time to go back to bed and we ended up calling her mom at 3 a.m. Opps :)
I was so proud of Emma for making it through the night, because I certainly never did at her age! My parents spent many nights coming to get me. When I got a little older and wiser I would just tell friends that my parents were really strict and would not let me spend the night with friends....oops, just a little lie. Since I know first hand how hard it is, I really wanted Emma to make it through the night because I thought it would help boost her confidence. She was so brave and she did it. The long night seemed to have little effect on her, but Harrison and I were the ones who had such a rough time. We definately aren't prone to staying awake all night!
The next morning was wonderful. We had a lovely breakfast in the morning and then got all dressed up in our Easter outfits for church. We were double lucky becuase Ava and her parents and brother decided to join us. The church service was just wonderful and the kids were so excited to see all of their friends and teachers. It was like they were famous little people! Thank goodness for lots of cars, toys and fruit snacks. Without them, we would not have made it. When the pastor called for childrens' church, Ava ran right up. Emma went up, but stood behind all the kids and Harrison made me come with him and refused to leave the front row. Thankfully some innocent man let me just about sit on his lap to squeeze in there with him.
After church, we went out back for a wonderful Easter egg hunt. Harrison ran towards a ton of eggs and froze when he saw an ant hill. Emma ran so fast that I lost her for a second. Pa and I were scanning the crowd and we found her racking up on the eggs. She had almost a full basket! Unfortunately one of Emma and Harrison's little friends from school didn't get a single egg becuase he was caught behind everyone at the door. Without being asked, Emma walked right up to him and said that he could have some of her eggs and she promptly started emptying her eggs into Clayton's basket. What a sweet gesture from a sweet girl!
I really missed my parents this Easter, but Emma and Harrison sure did a good job of distracting me and keeping me focused on the miracle of today!
