How time flies! It just doesn't seem like that long ago that I was bringing home a tiny little newborn for his first Easter. And now that little newborn is over 5 feet tall! Ugh! Maybe thinking about all that made me a little nostalgic. I was at the Children's Place a few weeks ago, and I saw those adorable sweater vests and dress, and I just had to have them! I know this is probably the last year I can do that without a major rebellion! It was pushing it this year - Levi took off his sweater in the car on the way home, but I did get my pictures, at least. But don't they look cute? When Levi was about 6 years old, he declared that he hated "the match," and I promised I wouldn't dress them just alike again. I convinced him that this wasn't matching, it was "coordinating" - a small but crucial difference!
We had an Easter egg hunt last week with our church, and last year I just let that suffice, and didn't do another one for our family. Maybe it's just me, but we always had big Easter egg hunts with our cousins, and it just seems anti-climactic do just do one with our family. And in Denver City, we had a fun little tradition of going out to the park with anyone in the church family who wasn't with their families. And so, it seems a little sad to have a hunt with just our kids. But this year, when I was telling Joey that it was Easter, and he asked if we would hunt eggs today, I was feeling that same nostalgia - that maybe we wouldn't have too many more years when they would even want to hunt eggs, and we should hunt eggs while the kids were little.
And so, I grabbed the candy from the Easter egg hunt last week, (I mean really, did we need any more candy? I think not.) and my mom & I skipped Sunday school and filled up eggs in the car. Now, when we were growing up, we always had change in the eggs, and one special egg would have a dollar in it. So, because my mom wanted to contribute, we went ahead and and put dollars in 4 eggs, and I could envision the disaster that would likely ensue. I could just see Joey finding all 4 eggs, and Levi would have a breakdown.
So, we had the hunt, and afterward they were going through their spoils, and it actually turned out pretty evenly. Levi found 2, and Lily-Grace didn't find any, but the other 2 each found one. And I was helping Lily-Grace count her money, and Sam came over and asked if Lily had found a dollar egg, and I was a little annoyed, because I thought he was coming over to gloat, so I said, "No, but she found lots of quarters!" And that seemed to satisfy her, and I figured we averted the tragedy. Then, Sam came over carrying his dollar and said, "You can have my dollar, Lily-Grace, I don't need it." And, Lord have mercy, I teared up right then, and thought, there is hope after all. This is my Easter miracle! Because, seriously, I thought I might have to kill that child during church when he was feeling it necessary to breathe like he was running a marathon and make moaning sounds whenever there was a particularly quiet moment.
And then Levi felt convicted because he was the one who had 2 dollars to begin with, and so he held out his dollar and said reluctantly, "Here. You can have my dollar if you need it." And I know he didn't want to do that, but that's okay. I'll take a moment of kindness however I can get it. Especially considering that less than an hour earlier he had been threatening to kill Sam. So, I realize in the grand scheme of things, that this is a tiny, minute, insignificant little thing, but I'd say something that gives us hope that maybe we're doing okay as parents after all, is a miracle I'll take any day of the week! I hope you had a great Easter too!
