Easter Weekend

Saturday:

It was Zack's duty day so he rose in the morning and was out the door walking to work.  I enjoy our simpler life here.  Zack -walking to or from work...or the call for a pick up each evening is so nice!  I woke Abel from his nap and we headed down to the baseball fields for the annual base Easter egg hunt.  We've done it each year we've been here and the kid(s) always enjoy it.  We were able to nab parking fairly close to the field and we hustled over.  They separate it according to age 0-2, 3-4,5-6, etc.  I had Caraline do the hunt in Noah's age group just to make my life easier as they were on two different fields.  There were TONS of kids and even more eggs!  Each kid had a basket full!  Then we headed to the commissary for some supplies...home for lunch...and then back to the festivities again.  Twice a year (maybe more?)  the base holds a petting zoo.  This time it was mice, rabbits, goats, sheep, and super chill dogs.  Noah likes animals...as in I don't want to hold anything but I'll touch it and look!  Caraline LOVES animals.  She even petted some sea slugs the other day at the beach!  She moved around petting and talking to all of the animals.  It worked out for me that when it was time to go it was the end of the petting zoo and they forced everyone out....tantrum avoided.  Then we came home for nap/quiet time.  I've been meaning to take the kids to Sbarros for a special supper treat...so we did that too this evening.  Noah is at the point now that he can behave himself for the most part in a restaurant.  Caraline on the other hand...well...hmm...not so much!  She can't sit still...she has things she "needs" to check out...there are people to smile and wave at...!  But she did well tonight as there was tons of space for her to get down and walk around.  Then it was home for bedtime...ahh bedtime after a long day!

Sunday:

The kids woke up and found their baskets downstairs.  I should make a point here that both Noah and Caraline had seen the gifts/baskets for Caraline and Abel.  They were in the nursery room...I had meant to keep the door shut!  I wouldn't go as far to say that I'm terrible about these secret holiday traditions...but Zack might!  Seriously, I can't keep it together!  Noah had asked where his basket was (thankfully he didn't look in the closet!) and I quickly told him that the Easter Bunny wasn't done delivering yet.  And he bought it...yay!  Zack came home a few hours later and the eggs magically appeared in the yard.  Last year, Caraline would only pick up the pink or purple eggs.  This year she at least wanted to pick up all the eggs!  She would sit down her basket and then run around picking up one egg at a time and running back to her basket.  Noah on the other hand had it down...running around throwing them into his basket as fast as he could!  The kids played and in the afternoon we drove to one of the other housing areas, Ikego, for a magic show.  The show was on main base on Saturday but with Zack on duty we decided just to drive up to Ikego to see it.  Both kids were amazed!  Caraline was clapping and yelling, Yay!  Noah sat with his eyes wide open just soaking it in!  Then it was home for supper and bedtime.

Monday:

I woke up to learn that one of our family friends, Catherine Brown, had passed away Easter morning in the U.S.  She had been in the nursing home for almost exactly a year to which her health had continued to decline.  She will be missed but she was ready to go home...and passing away on the glorious day of Easter Sunday was fitting for, Nana.  Zack had today off, which was nice since he had duty on Saturday.  It was a rainy day.  Noah, Abel, and I always are "off " on rainy days.  Abel just wants to sleep off and on all day long...and I would like to!  Noah on the other hand usually runs a fever or is sick on rainy days.  And if he isn't sick then it was days like today where he was moody and just "off"!  He had been up for around two hours and had a handful of crying dramatic emotional outbursts.  I decided it would be a nice time to make some homemade Play-Doh.  So the kids ran and got their respective step stools to see into the mixer.  We tripled the recipe and it was just the right amount for the two of them.  And I decided to throw in some drops of essential oils to help calm the household down and hopefully help Noah get back on track.  And plus it made the house smell great.  I made it plain and then snuck into the laundry room to add a touch of tempera paint in a dug out hole of each of the eight balls.  Then I covered up the hole and the kids had to work each ball around in their hands to discover the color.  Worked great and did have a calming way on Noah.  The rest of the day was regular routine with errands, lunch, quiet time, school time, nap, supper, and bedtime...and a handful of more outbursts from Noah.  Hoping for sunshine tomorrow...sheesh!