Easter Long Weekend

Public Holidays don’t mean a whole lot in this house except my kids don’t have school or day care so if hubby is working, I just have a bonus day with them! (Hence why I didn’t choose Monday as a daycare day).

We were lucky this Easter that hubby only had to work Friday morning and Monday so I was excited that he would get to join in Easter celebrations with us.

Friday morning was a beautiful autumn morning for relaxing at home. Squirt and I started a jigsaw puzzle. It’s a 3D one that Santa brought him and the pictures move as you pick the pieces up. Makes things a little more challenging. I think it kept me more entertained than Squirt but it’s the thought that counts!

 

We tried to let hubby sleep when he got home as it was his fourth super early morning in a row and he hadn’t managed to get to bed as early as he would usually like the night before.

As most shift workers with children would know – the task of napping when there’s youngun’s in the house is near on impossible and that’s exactly what happened to poor hubby. Rudely awakened but noisy little ones before he was ready but he was a good sport about it and helped me get ready for dinner with friends.
We spent the afternoon laughing with old friends – and I mean, I laughed so hard I very nearly snorted drink out my nose!

The next morning we were up early (-ish) to head out to another friend’s house in the Perth hills. They have recently moved into a large property there and had invited a number of friends for an Easter egg hunt followed by breakfast.

 It had rained all night and continued the  next day, but that just added to the adventure. The kids had a ball hunting for eggs all over the place and going for rides on the back of the tractor. Our new little puppy had a wonderful time gallivanting through the mud and playing with our friend’s new puppy too! What a delight. Breakfast was amazing and we rolled ourselves back down the hill to home and the kids and puppy all fell asleep in the car, exhausted after an amazing morning.

The rest of the afternoon was spent snuggling on the couch and watching movies while the rain came down outside.

One thing I have discovered about having kids is it means having to negotiate your holiday traditions with your other half. The first Christmas with Squirt was a huge debate around whether Santa wrapped the presents or not and did he put them under the tree or in a stocking. This was only the beginning but we navigated our way through and came to agreements on most things. And in case you were wondering, our Santa wraps and uses a stocking.

This time is was who gives the kids which eggs. We had bought one nice one for each of them and a handful of smaller ones to hide around the house. Apparently we needed to have more of a discussion when they were purchasing eggs as I assumed Easter Bunny would be hiding all of them. Hubby wanted the credit for the big ones so planned to give them to the kids from us. After a very brief discussion, where is became clear hubby had no intentions of budging on his plans, I told him he could hide the eggs himself (ok, I hid 2) and headed off to bed.

Early (very early for our children who, thank goodness, are not early risers) hubby heard little voices and had to persuade them into our bed for extra snuggles and sleep until a more decent hour.

I have to admit I am not one of these super creative and fun mum’s who creates a whole scene around Easter and Christmas. I tried once and made little bunny footprints from a stencil and powder. Squirt (who I think was 3 at the time) took one look at them and said “look, powder” – and that was the end of my creative streak. I sometimes feel a little guilty when I see the effort that others put in, but also know that I need to do what works for us and our family and for me, that’s a lower key celebration.

The kids loved the hunt (even without the fancy baskets, powdered footprints and treasure maps) and settled in for a morning of egg eating. I couldn’t believe how little we managed to do. We are usually a very busy and active family (by choice) and we had done so much lounging around on the couch I was beginning to feel bored.

  
  
 When friends who were going camping suggested we join them for an afternoon drive and relax on the beach, we jumped at the chance. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay the night as hubby had to be back for work on Monday but it was still worth the day trip.The kids and dogs ran crazy on the secluded beach while the adults relaxed and fished and enjoyed the sunset.

  

Kids asleep in the car again on the way home, I think it was a successful Easter Sunday.

Come Monday, it turns out poor hubby wasn’t well enough to fly. As a pilot, even a small head cold can keep him off work. He risked it once a couple of years ago and ended up having 5 months off work due to complications from his ear infection. The upside is, he’s usually not so unwell that he becomes a third child, so I was a little excited to have an extra pair of hands all day while my gorgeous girlfriend helped me rearrange and reorganise my office space.

We would have loved to head away camping like everyone else on my Facebook feed but I am so grateful that we had so much time to spend with each other and with friends with a great balance of relaxation and activity.

I hope you and your families had a blessed Easter too. I’d love to hear about your traditions – maybe I can try up my game!