Easter Week

April 12, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

This has really been a roller coaster of a week. I have loved it though. Monday was a busy day. B-man and I waited until the late morning and then we drove two hours to pick up a dishwasher that was listed on Craigslist. It was a bit of a risk since it was so far away, and the picture was not that great, but I had talked to the man several times and he seemed very nice and honest. There was rain all during the trip, but it wasn't enough to make it dangerous. We stopped for lunch and then were able to find the seller's house. He had given excellent directions that made it easy despite the small town that it was in. It was interesting to drive south into Maryland and see some new cities. After talking to the man I paid him for the dishwasher and then he and his wife loaded it into the back of my van. I felt so bad because he was 70 and his wife was near his age, but they wouldn't let me help load the dishwasher. What's worse, a pregnant woman loading it, or an elderly man and his wife? We then turned around and drove home again. Once home we had just enough time to get organized and eat some dinner. Then that night we had a friend who came over and installed the dishwasher for us. It was so nice of him to have sacrificed his evening to help us. I LOVE the new dishwasher. It is so fun to put in dirty dishes and have them come out clean. It's like a magic trick. I could not be happier to have it! I can't believe how much cleaner our dishes are because of it. It's embarrassing that we had our old one for so long...

Tuesday was our day to try and get things ready for M to come home. We did grocery shopping and tried to work on getting the house clean. Although honestly I was just exhausted. I didn't have much energy for heavy cleaning. One of my friends did surprise me by first dropping off flowers, and then later dinner! It was such a fun thing to do. I have really been taught by the people around me on how to serve others! Wednesday was more of the same. I did manage to get enough accomplished so that I felt like I could have M come home happily. We also spent some time outside and took advantage of the good weather. B-man really likes playing outside with the friends in the neighborhood right now. Eventually we made it to four o'clock and we were able to go pick up M. We were all so happy to see him. B-man immediately started asking for his prizes, and as soon as we were home he wanted to wrestle with M. It was so nice to have him home! What a relief! Poor B-man was all wound up and had such a hard time falling asleep. It has been so interesting to see his reactions to M leaving, being gone, and then coming home.

Thursday M was back at the normal routine. I think they should give him a day to be with his family and get back to the normal life. But they don't, so we just were happy that he came home at his normal time. B-man did think he was in Mexico all day...
Friday was our preparation day for my sister coming. We also enjoyed the warm weather and spent time outside. I was able to get most of the projects crossed off my list, but luckily I knew my sister wouldn't care about the ones that I didn't have time to finish. M got home, and then we ran two quick errands before going to the airport to pick up Miss E. The timing could not have been better. She got to the curb just as we pulled up. We are SO excited to have her here to visit. B-man has been her little shadow since she came. I'm sure that soon she will get tired of it... After picker her up we came home and had a little family party. We made pizza, and then went on a bike ride. B-man took a hard spill on his bike and was sad for a bit, but thanks to a helmet and band aids he was able to be happy. After a quick bath for B-man we then dyed eggs. I think dyeing eggs is a lot of fun! We had a great time and B-man thought the whole process was great. He even liked pouring out the cups of water into the sink.

Saturday morning we woke up and B-man hunted for the eggs that had been hidden. He seemed to like the "hunt" and only needed to play "hot and cold" on a few of the eggs. After finding the eggs we then had a fun breakfast of strawberry banana pancakes (B-man's choice). The weather was really rainy, so another egg hunt with friends was postponed from the morning to the afternoon. The rest of the morning was pretty slow. In the early afternoon we packed up a lunch and drove to see the Cherry blossoms in Chevy Chase, MD. My dad had grown up very close to a neighborhood that has beautiful cherry trees. We have never made it to the tidal basin, but we have made it to this neighborhood every year that we have been here. Our first year we hit it perfectly right during peak bloom, last year we were a little early, and this year we were hitting it right at the tail end. It was still beautiful though. M took us the scenic route so we had lots of chances to see the beautiful old neighborhoods and then got a great parking spot near the trees. It was raining lightly so we took umbrellas with us to help keep us dry. B-man used his umbrella for several other purposes, one was to block his face during all attempts at an organized picture, and the other was to try and knock of blossoms. We kept trying to tell him that other people wanted to see the blossoms. Despite the rain and cold weather we had a great time. The trees are amazing, and I always love doing something that my dad did growing up. I can't help but think of him while walking around the neighborhood. After getting our fill of blossoms we drove my sister past my dad's old house and then headed home. We had just enough time at home to get B-man some new pants (his got all wet and muddy while looking at blossoms) and then we headed off for an egg hunt organized by some friends. We were two minutes late and one of the last families to arrive. At first it looked like they had started with out us and I was horrified. Last year we were on time and NO ONE else showed up for at least fifteen minutes, so I was very shocked that they would have been ready to start so early. Luckily I was wrong and they were not hunting for eggs, it was just kids scoping out the area. Once the hunt actually started it was slightly hilarious. I have no idea what B-man was looking for in an egg because he would run past about ten, pick one up, then keep running past multiple eggs to pick up another. He could have had all of his eggs in about two minutes. Instead he was one of the last kids to get their limit. I think he mostly just liked running around. Occasionally he would pick up an egg and shake it. If he didn't hear a rattle he would just throw it down and look for another egg. We had to tell him that every egg had candy inside. B-man had a lot of fun hunting for eggs, and running around with the boys. There were a lot of boys in the group... We had a fun dinner and then everyone went to bed early. We were all really tired for some reason!

Today has been a wonderful Easter. Last night as I was going to bed I set up a time line of pictures of Christ starting with "The Last Supper" and ending with His resurrection. I had put a little treat at the bottom of each picture as motivation for him to stop. I then gave a brief synopsis of each picture. Easter is a much more complicated holiday than Christmas. It's a much harder concept for a small child to understand than Christmas. I probably should have started trying to teach it much sooner than I did. After our little lesson on Easter we then had waffles. We don't normally have two big breakfasts over the weekend, but usually M has Sunday meetings, so it seemed a little strange not to take advantage of having him home. Miss E joined us for waffles and Benjamin had a lot of fun showing her the pictures on the stairs. B-man then spent the morning following Miss E around and being her shadow. M worked on things for his calling and I worked on different cooking projects. Potato casserole for dinner and egg salad sandwiches for lunch. It was a fun and productive way to start off Easter. Church was wonderful. We had a combined lesson in Young Women's and the President taught about the symbols of Easter and then tied it into what our symbols should be and the Sacrament. It was a great lesson. After church we cooked the potatoes and then headed over to a friend's house for dinner in our ward. They had invited over several other families, including one that was brand new in the ward. It was great to get to know all the families a little better.

We hope that you all have had a wonderful Easter. Trying to teach B-man about Easter has been wonderful! It's so great to try and get to the simple things of the gospel, and to then try and teach them to a child. Even if B-man doesn't get it all it certainly helps me too. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and Resurrection. They bring hope into what can be a hopeless world.

Love,
R, M, and B-man