Aren’t they adorable?  I can only take credit for the two on the right.  My brother can claim the two on the left, and my mother gets all the credit for the clothing.  But together, they take a pretty sweet picture.

Note how Edie looks like she was adopted into this family, and Roarkie looks like he should be my nieces’ brother instead of Edie’s.  Everybody always asks me who he looks like, and in this picture its pretty obvious-his cousins.

So this past Sunday was Easter, and we celebrated in the same way that we do pretty much every year…with church and candy.  I have realized something this year though that makes me think our days of Santa Claus and the Easter bunny might be numbered and that’s that I don’t really know the story with the Easter bunny.  I mean with Santa, the story is pretty much written for you…North Pole, reindeer, the elves.  But the Easter bunny?  What the heck do I know about him?  Other than the fact that he comes at night to bring candy and little toys, I’m pretty much at a loss.  And this year for the first time, Edie was very inquisitive about him. 

“Mommy, where does the Easter bunny live?”  “Um…I think in a hole somewhere.”

“Mommy, how does the Easter bunny get into our house?”  {me shrugging my shoulders and making a “got me” face}  “I’m not sure, babe.”

“Mommy, can the Easter bunny fly?” {crickets chirping}

I mean, how do you answer those questions?  I feel like Santa was such a big hit at Christmas that parents decided to take it one step further and add on the Easter bunny.  I guess the logic there is, “Hey, Santa’s a lot of fun, how much more fun will it be to do it again in three or four months?”  But I really feel like the Easter bunny is going to kill the illusion for Edie sooner than the next door neighbor’s kid telling her the truth behind these folks.

And as much as I enjoy watching her wake up excited on those special  mornings, I can’t say that I will be too heartbroken over her discovering the truth.  I’m kind of on the fence about the whole Santa/Easter bunny thing anyway. 

But this year that silly little rabbit came and brought the kids all kinds of goodies.  Once the baskets were pretty much scoured through, we hosed ourselves off, put on some fancy threads, and headed on over to church where my parents joined us.  Then after that, my brother and his family met us for lunch at my parents’ house.  It was a nice day filled with reflection and family…what I think Easter should be.

I haven’t said too much about our Easter holiday this year.  Too be honest, it wasn’t our best.

Every Sunday the children join us in the worship service during the first half hour for singing and scripture, and then later are dismissed to children’s church.  Normally, Edie sits quietly and colors during “big church” and acts like an angel.  But on this particular Sunday, she knew it was a special day.  So to celebrate, she whined and wallowed all over us.  She was loud and disobedient, and when I told her to sit still or I was going to take her out of the service, she responded by screaming at the top of her lungs.  It was at this point I decided children’s church wasn’t coming fast enough, and I dismissed her myself.  What can I say?  Sometimes she acts like a three year old, and in return, I act like her mother, the enforcer of the law.

Things got better once we got over to my parents house for lunch.  My brother and his family were there as well.  It has become our Easter tradition to take pictures of all the grandchildren in their Easter get-ups.  This year I was really thankful for this tradition and these pictures because this is how I want to remember our Easter holiday 2009, and not manhandling Edie kicking and screaming as I removed her from the service…