Easter exhaustion

So here is what I've learned for sure after today...

make 3 signs next time.

Never just one.

Because just when you think you'll actually be able to get all of the kids in the shot as you're rushing out the door in the morning, and just as you scribble 29 weeks on that piece of paper...you ask the dreaded question "Who wants to hold the sign?"...and all hell breaks loose. 

And you start to lose kids. 

One by one.

Until you're down to just 2 kids.

And then finally just one. 

So 3 signs next time is key. 

Clearly. 

And as I walked up the stairs tonight with Sophia in my arms and Mya and Carter trailing behind me I heard this little voice behind me say "Poor mommy", and Terry and I laughed as we realized that even little 4yr old Carter had noticed that the weekend had finally worn his mom out. My slow movements climbing those stairs was enough to make this little boy notice.   

Because the weekend was great--it definitely was.

But it's finally worn this 7 month pregnant lady out...and my spot on the couch was calling me tonight after we put everyone to bed.

The weekend was packed--completely jammed full of Easter fun and Sophia's 2nd birthday all wrapped up into just a couple of days. And it started with Friday morning, when 24 neighbour kids and their parents showed up on our court to take part in a big Easter egg hunt that I decided to put together just weeks in advance.

So my living room floor looked like this about a week ago, late at night, as I sorted through and organized piles of treats for all of the kids--making sure that every child got the exact same amount in the end (because tears at an Easter egg hunt are just not allowed).

And if you build it--they really will come.

And they'll search all over our court and through everyone's yards for those precious treats that we hid early that morning...

checking their treasure hunt papers that I had made for each child--letting them know exactly what treats they needed to find and how many of each they were to search for.

So everyone's baskets were full in the end...

and everyone's bellies were full as we all piled food and treats onto the tables for everyone to share.



 

Then just as we cleaned up the last of the tables and put away the last of the juice boxes from the morning, we packed up the kids and headed to my parents house to celebrate our little Sophia's 2nd birthday that same afternoon, while throwing in our big family Easter dinner in there as well.

So at 10pm the night before, I finished making Sophia's birthday cake--four layers of melt-in-your- mouth deliciousness wrapped in chocolate...with a cute little bunny placed on top.

And the rest of the weekend? Well...these kids woke up this morning to our house full of Easter treats, ready to be found by little hands. 

 And then ready to be sorted, one by one, so that everyone of course was left with the same amount in the end. Because remember the rule...no tears after an Easter egg hunt.

So mom is tired, but happy.

Because it's all worth it in the end. Worth all of the planning, worth all of the work, worth all of the exhaustion, worth all of the too-much-candy-too-much-excitement meltdowns, because it's childhood memories in the making...and so it's worth every minute of it.

Happy Easter everyone!

Go take a rest now. You deserve it.

Erica xo