Easter Festivities

Given how much Gavin and Arwen thrive on a good playdate, I like to give them a chance to get together with friends on school holidays. With no school on Good Friday, there was no shortage of fun with friends. Between the church playgroup hosted by our friend Lauren, time at the park with friends, and the last installment of our gender discussion group, we got in lots of climbing, running, chasing, and chatting and even managed to get a bit sunburned.

As the years go by I find myself wanting more and more to commemorate Easter in a really meaningful way in our home. This year we continued with an Easter New Testament reading program we started last year, accompanied by pictures depicting the last several days of the Savior’s life, his burial, and resurrection. Coloring eggs and putting on a simple egg hunt in our yard are also parts of our annual tradition. Inspired by a friend’s blog, this year we decided to try our hand at making hollow chocolate eggs to add to our festivities. While a popular addition, these will take another year or two to perfect, as will the finger Jell-O eggs I attempted.

Easter was especially noteworthy this year, as it fell on the weekend of our church’s General Conference. We were impressed at how attentively Gavin and Arwen participated for much of the conference (four two-hour sessions spread across Saturday and Sunday, three of which we watched online at home). We continued a recent tradition of watching one of the Saturday sessions with Tricia and Brad and their family and enjoying a scrumptious spaghetti dinner together.

Between Sunday's conference sessions we joined Tricia and Brad's family and friends for a picnic remembering their daughter Katie. Between bites of sandwiches and anecdotes of flooded basements we looked at Katie’s scrapbooks and munched on M&Ms with her picture on them. It’s hard to believe two years have passed since their family's vigil at the Seattle Children’s Hospital during which Tricia and I went walking together for the first time.


In other news, tonight was the first practice for Gavin’s first baseball team. I was impressed to hear the coach advising the players to back up when he saw the power of Gavin’s swing, and calling attention to Gavin’s strong, straight throws to first base. As usual, Arwen had a great time mixing with the other little sisters on the playground. It should be a fun season!