Easter Eggs

Yesterday I took the kids for storytime at the library, and since it included an egg hunt, the place was packed. They held the hunt inside, and it was the first time Ian collected a lot of eggs and put them in his basket. The plastic eggs were empty, but at the end the kids dumped the eggs in a bin and received a bag containing stickers and some white cheddar puffs. This morning all five of us went to another egg hunt very close to our house. This one was held outside, but because the weather was gorgeous, far more people were there compared to last year. Nadia and Ian were in the area for ages 1-4. Ian picked up only one egg. The swarm of humanity didn't intimidate Nadua so she still collected several eggs. All the plastic eggs contained candy (mostly Tootsie rolls), and Nadia picked up two prize eggs. One was for a Tweety bird stuffed animal, and the other was for a large Dora book. Ian claimed Tweety. Nadia and Daddy each had a (free) hotdog before we left. This was the first time ever that Daddy attended an Easter egg with any of our kids.

Last night we dyed eight eggs. We made enough dye to do many more, but we had already been eating a lot of egg salad lately so we just did eight. I've never bought the kids any candy for Easter or any sort of Easter basket, but I think I will starting next year. Last year they got so much stuff between the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey and the prizes Nadia won at the same place we were today. I feel torn in light of wanting to focus on the true meaning of Easter, but I have fond memories of eating a chocolate bunny once a year when I was a child, so I think I'll start that tradition for them as well. I know they love chocolate! I did buy them a treat today. I hadn't bought any ice cream in almost a year, and the last time I bought some I got plain vanilla (because of the need to avoid chocolate while pregnant). I hadn't had any ice cream in six weeks, and I ghouth Ian might enjoy having his first ever taste of ice cream. Unfortunately he didn't get any today because he took forever to eat his dinner, but Nadia and I really enjoyed having some ice cream for dessert!

The weather was simply delightful today. It got up to 59 degrees! WOOHOO! Sadly, it's not supposed to be that warm again for more than a week. I took Nadia and Ian to the park while Oliver napped at home. That meant Nadia could ride in the stroller whereas lately she has been walking beside me as her brothers are in the stroller. I also took Nadia to Walmart to buy her a pair of cleats and a soccer ball. Nadia was really upset that she had to give up her "quiet time" for our trip to the store; so we listened to the "Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" in the van instead. The smallest cleats they had were size 12. She has been wearing size 10 shoes. I was considering getting size 10.5 or 11 because she's been wearing size 10 for awhile so I'm sure she'll be moving up in the near future, but size 12 seems like too big of a jump. If they prove to be too big, I'll hold on to them for the future and get her a smaller pair for this season at another store. After dinner tonight Paul took Nadia and Ian out to practice dribbling the soccer ball in the back yard.

The other highlight of the day was that Paul received a call inviting him to participate in another phone interview (it will be his 6th). Over the next 9 days he's scheduled to have three phone interviews - two schools in NY and one in NC.