Easter 2019

When clothing manufacturers design Easter dresses for little girls, they basically ignore the fact that it is usually well below 70 degrees, often raining, and typically windy on Easter in the PNW. Many a PNW girl has a parka over her adorable Easter dress and has blue toes sticking out of her Easter sandals. No, spaghetti strap dresses and barely-there sandals are not what our sweet (and usually a bit soggy) PNW kiddos require on Easter. Usually.

This year, Easter's weather was GORGEOUS and we didn't freeze. Why? We lucked out. Also, having Easter at the end of April didn't hurt. March Easters result in much more frostbitten egg hunters.

Our Easter fun started out at home the day before Easter when we finally found some spare time to dy our Easter eggs. This year's efforts were quite creative; Eric decided to use candle wax to control where the dye was allowed to touch the egg shell. Annika and I tried used rubber bands to create stripes on a couple of eggs. Conor played with creating multi-colored eggs, and even made an Irish flag egg. It always feels a bit sad to crack into the pretty creations, but the deviled eggs we enjoy on Easter eases the pain a bit.

Some of our eggs

Easter morning's festivities started with the kids digging into their Easter baskets and discovering what goodies the Easter bunny left for them. (Eric and I happily slurped our Easter coffee as the kids plotted out which candy would start their sugar highs.).

Loot!

After baskets, the kids and I got spiffed up (aka out of our PJs) and headed to 10:30 mass. We needed to be there a bit early because Annika was slated to be one of the altar servers. I took advantage of our early arrival and snapped a couple of quick pics of the kids in their Easter attire before mass, just in case rain came in any time soon. (The spirit of a true PNW person ... do it now, who knows how long the rain will cooperate with us!)

Quick pre-mass photo

Annika altar serving during mass
(I didn't get struck with lightning for taking a photo during mass, so I'm guessing God is OK with it)

We caught our collective breath at home for a few minutes after mass. That might be a bit of an over statement. We went home after mass, which started "Destroy the Pretty Eggs" phase of our day. Eric and I feverishly peeled the eggs, many of which resisted our efforts and didn't make it onto the plate of deviled eggs. I did get enough yolks to fill the egg whites that didn't look like they were doing golf ball impersonations with the number of divots (or "diggots" as Annika says) they wound up having. I beautifully piped the yolks into the whites, dusted them with paprika, carefully covered them loosely with foil, and proceeded ti flip the plate of eggs over onto the eggs as I loaded them into the car. Yup - I'm THAT impressive. Fortunately, the foil kept everything together .... just a bit more smooshed than I'd hoped for. Oh well...  they still tasted great!

Once the smooshed eggs and the rest of our meal contributions (hot crossed buns, bunny-shaped dinner rolls, and lemon bars) were loaded in the car, we headed across Lake Washington to celebrate Easter with some of our extended family. My brother (Troy) and sister-in-law (Staci) graciously hosted the family Easter dinner. Lucky for us, Mother Nature decided to be kind and gave us a day that made us want to be outside and enjoy the deck. Cousin Ian set up a little egg hunt for the kids (an Easter must at this point), which will be sorely missed once Ian spreads his wings and heads to college next year. (Unless he comes home for Easter, than all is saved!)

Easter egg hunters

Our little bunnies

We ate our fill (and then some), toasted the holiday and beautiful weather, and had fun catching up a bit. My sister (Suzanne), brother-in-law (Randy), niece (Anna), and nephew (Robert) were also on hand to celebrate Easter. (Once again, I cannot begin to express how much we love having Frisches living here in Western WA!!! Four out of six so far ... now we need to work on getting Abby and Emily up here!)

 

My loves

The kiddos and their mama

Troy, Randy, and Eric toasting the day

Anna and Robert's inventive method for cooling their beverages

We drove home in a food-induced daze and practically fell into bed upon walking through the door. Thanks to everyone who made the day fun and filling. Now. to clean up the Easter decor and put the baskets away until next year.