Easter

I seriously adore Easter. More than any day of the year, it signals hope and second chances and fresh starts to me. We even turn off the lights on Friday at 3, not to be restored until Easter morning (it helps that daylight savings has been moved back).

This year, we draped our mantel with a black sheet and I covered a hula hoop in brown fabric to represent the stone in front of Jesus' tomb. We hid the Easter baskets in there as well as some strips of linen and some gifts for each child, each representing a new start or a second chance.

I would have loved every moment of this except... well, here, see for yourself:
Can you guess? That's right. I had the flu. Freezing cold, can't get warm, achy, nauseated, roiling tummy, headache, cough, sore throat, scared-to-eat flu. Recovery eluded me for TEN days. In our married life, I cannot remember being this sick ever (except for the end of JackJack's pregnancy, but that is a different kind of story.)

Big E. babied me for two days, but then business truly demanded his attention... the kids have never watched so much TV in their lives. But I survived, they survived and while we are all a little worse for wear, soon this will be distant memory.

I was desperate to avoid having to get an IV for dehydration and so pulled out a trick my first pediatrician taught me - when a kid gets dehydrated during a flu, give them an eye dropper full of Pedialyte every ten minutes. As the hours ticked by without me keeping anything down, I had visions of arriving at the hospital for an IV with 3 kids in tow, and so I self-applied. Kids were baffled ("Why are you taking so much medicine, Mom?"), but it worked.

Phew! I'm all better, kids are great, Big E is thriving (despite the all-nighter he's looking at tonight), I'm caught back up, and looking ahead. Below are some additional Easter photos. Check in tomorrow for a look at Mermaid Princess' first literary effort!