The Kassel Family Project Life 365

It was a very traditional Easter for us.  We went to Sunrise Service at Church (it was foggy this year!), had breakfast at Bob Evans, came home to see if the Easter Bunny visited us, relaxed, and had dinner with friends.  It was another great Easter!  This year the kids chose their own Easter clothes.  John opted for a pair of jeans, a green sweater, and a white t-shirt.  I would have preferred his dress clothes, but some battles are not worth fighting.  He still looked handsome!  Laura chose one of three dresses from Kathryn.  It was perfect for Easter and she looked so cute!

The Easter Bunny was good to the kids this year.  Jeremy assisted the Easter Bunny and I think he missed his calling in life!  The kids were very excited about their baskets and eggs.  Laura’s basket contained a lot of American Girl things, a stuffed Chick that she named “Chicklet,” and candy.

Laura was very excited to see the American Girl Sleepover Set that contained a real, doll-sized “Apples to Apples Junior” board game.

John’s basket had another Transformers Rescue Bot (Heatwave), a Lego Inspiration book, and his first set of Army Men.  Yes, John got candy too.  The Easter Bunny would NEVER forget the candy and “Pezzers!”

John’s favorite toy was Heatwave.  He couldn’t wait to “introduce” him to Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

That silly Easter Bunny hid eggs in some funny places like Andy’s slipper.  Good thing we saw it before he tried to put it on!

And Lauren looked like she laid an egg.

But what fun it was watching the kids open everything and discover the “money-s” and candy in the eggs.  After all the excitement, Andy and I relaxed for a while and the kids played with their new toys.  We spent the evening enjoying dinner and great conversation with the Lowerys and Jeremy.  It was a great Easter.  He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!

Nothing like waiting until the last minute, but we dyed Easter Eggs today.  This is a big deal in our house and the kids LOVE doing it.  Usually, I make the hard-boiled eggs, but John insisted on helping this year.  He was extremely careful putting the eggs into the pan.  On “Hard Boil Round One,” we used 13 eggs losing only one.  Don’t worry, Laura was happy to eat it.

While getting ready to dye Easter Eggs, Andy pointed out that I bought a package of dye that included twelve different colors.  Yes, twelve.  Maybe I need to read the packaging better next year?  So, “Hard Boil Round Two” commenced, resulting in a total of 23 eggs to dye.  I suppose that we could have just used six or so of the dye tablets, but what fun is that?  We did eventually whittle down to only one of the pink dyes and one of the orange dyes.  The final colors were just too similar.

The kids were very anxious to see all the finished colors.  I had to distract them by taking a few pictures because the “how much longer until the eggs are ready” question gets old after being asked ten times…

They did really enjoy helping though and they actually got to put the eggs in the dye this year.  Another first, another big deal!

Laura and John were very proud of the finished Easter Eggs with Laura declaring that the teal color was the best!  I am partial to the red, but I’m not as cute as she is.  Hence, you get a picture of Laura holding her favorite egg.

John asked several times if the Easter Bunny would remember that the dyed eggs were in the refrigerator.  We assured him that the Easter Bunny would remember and they would be hunting for those eggs on Easter morning!

We met some old friends for dinner at Shakespeare’s tonight.  Marshall and Deborah Swafford were Graduate Assistants at IML for me back in the day.  They came to Columbia for the night/day and we managed to meet for dinner after some wrangling.  It was really great to see them and meet their three great kids (one of which is a redhead too)!  We got to catch up and talk about life now.  They haven’t changed much, but it occurred to me how much your life changes in a relatively short time.  It was a fun, if too short evening, but we told them to plan to stay at our house next time!

Laura got creative with the sidewalk chalk and drew the solar system.  The sun even has solar flares.  She said that it was a “work in progress” and she eventually added Jupiter and Mars after I took the photo.  She was most proud of the rocket ship landing on the moon, solar flares coming out of the sun, and all the stars.  I wonder what she’ll draw next time…

A hazard of having kids and kids having friends is that they are powerful, little germ factories.  One of the many little germ factories shared.  I have a cold.  I feel almost like I am floating when I walk.  Ugh.  So much for getting back on my 10-Minute Trainer schedule.  Maybe tomorrow…

Dad and Marilyn have been here for the past two days.  The main reason was to watch the grandkids for two days while Laura was on Spring Break, but one of the other reasons was to bring me “the clock with the chimes.”  My Grandpa Otto made this clock and it was always the clock with the chimes for me.  When I would stay at my grandparent’s house when I was growing up, I would wake up each morning to the sound of the chimes.  I loved that sound.  Just loved it!  I could not wait to be woken up by the sound of the chimes.  As a little kid, the fact that Grandpa made the clock was beyond my comprehension.  I could have cared less.  What mattered was that the sound of the chimes meant I got to see my grandparents.  A few years ago, my Dad asked if there was anything in their house that I really wanted.  There was no hesitation.  My answer was the clock with the chimes.  The fact that Grandpa Otto made the clock holds a much more special meaning these days and, now, I have another small part of him and my Grandma Ruby in my house.  We will be placing the clock upstairs in our living room/dining room area.  Very soon, my family will be waking up to the sound of the chimes.  Despite his super rough exterior, I am sure that Grandpa Otto is looking down on our home and smiling because his great grandkids will be looking forward to the chimes every morning too.