Oh right, Easter… Almost forgot about that. Easter started at 6am, the standard start time to any day. We tried to get up before the boys, but Nicholas seems to hear our alarm. We got up, I headed for the shower, and Katie went to get Nicky. They hung out in our bedroom while got ready for the day, then the three of us went downstairs.

The eggs were all hidden, filled with goodies (jelly beans, mints, gummy bears, stickers, and probably some rusty nails thrown in just to keep them on their toes), and ready to go. Nicholas initially stayed in the kitchen, helping Mommy make breakfast. He’s very helpful like that. He finally noticed the easter baskets on the table just a few moments before Dexter woke up. He claimed them both.

The baskets didn’t have too much in them – some crayons and coloring books, some suckers with fans that lit up, some Play-Doh, the easter eggs from Sweden (each with a match box car inside), and two shirts sents from #1 Au Pair Laura (she also sent the chocolate wombat and wallaby, which we dutifully displayed next to the baskets, and then took for our own once the boys weren’t looking).

Just at about the time Dex came downstairs the great easter egg hunt began. By now these boys are old pros at easter egg hunts. Nichols stalked each and every last egg. Dexter had his matchbox car in one hand, and his new fan in the other, and was pretty well content. Oh well. He’s not greedy.

About halfway through Helen made an appearance, and started cheating by pointing toward the eggs. A few minutes later Petra emerged, and finally Malin came down (whose picture I am not posting because I respect her dignity, and she was not quite at her best that early in the morning).

Before long it was time to pack the boys up and get them ready for church. Helen and Petra were shortly on their way to the airport. The boys were sending Helen back home with a nasty cold, which was nice of them because that way we couldn’t tell if she was crying or not. By taking the boys to church with us we spared ourselves the necessity of inspecting their bags for stowaways. Maybe their visit has given Petra the extra incentive needed to really master English in her last year of school, to come be the boys’ Au Pair once Malin grows tired of us. It was a great visit, and we loved meeting them, and look forward to seeing Helen again in July, and Petra at Christmas time.

We went to church where we met up with Carter and Marilyn. We sat in the back, and the boys listened with rapt attention to the organ music. Once that was done, their attention wandered, and we were reminded why taking the boys places can be so bloody difficult. They squirmed, yammered, wiggled, tried to escape, and we barely survived with our lives. On Easter Sunday Katie’s church does the “Tomb Crawl”, where the children are invited up to the front of the church, and they crawl through a paper mache tunnel, and at the end are lifted high up into the air. The boys went last. Nicholas went through in good form, and while very dubious, allowed himself to be lifted skyward briefly. Dexter thought we were playing hide and seek, and was having way too much fun to ruin it by actually going through the tunnel.

After we got back to our pews we packed the boys off to the playroom to let them burn off some energy. Katie left the three of us together to play, which went well except for when Nicholas tried to take my legos away and I had to push him over, and then Dexter attacked from the other side and I ended up duct-taped and locked in a closet.

Another child came to play for a bit – Gabby I think her name was. Dexter tried to woo her, but she wasn’t all that responsive. Maybe church isn’t the best place to pick up girls?

After a while, Katie came to collect us, and Uncle Ryan, temporarily relieved of his bell-choir duties, came to say hello. Then we all ran upstairs for another easter egg hunt. Once again, Nicholas was on a MISSION! Fortunately there were two rooms for the little ones to explore, and this made it easier as we split up, and Dexter was able to grab a few at his own pace.

After we were done we headed back to the van. Nicholas was walking with Katie across the street, holding her hand like a very good little boy, when the strap on his bag of eggs broke and they all spilled out onto the road. He just looked devastated, and started wailing. Fortunately another person was just arriving at church, and we were able to recover all of the eggs and restore them to Nicholas quickly enough to alleviate the worst of his fears.

The boys were pretty well exhausted by the time we got home, and passed out in short order. Once they woke up we gave them a quick snack, and then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa French’s house for a fantastic dinner. The boys thoroughly explored the home, turning the television on several times, playing with the remotes, the micro wave, the dishwasher, the dog food, several drawers, and of course, the dog.

At this point Katie and I were pretty much ready for some Xanax, so we went home. The rest of the evening passed quietly and uneventfully. After dropping her mother and sister off at the airport, Malin spent the day with her friend Angelica, and didn’t come home until late.

Since then we’ve had almost daily egg hunts. Nicholas yells with such pride each time he spots an egg. Perhaps he’ll be a paleontologist when he grows older. Or maybe just a dairy farmer.

Happy Easter!