Post Easter

I loved Easter. I loved celebrating the resurrection of Christ, the time spent with family, the surprise of Zaichik's face when he saw the Easter bunny had visited during the night, etc., I am also glad that the last major holiday for a while is over and it is now time to start enjoying some fantastic Spring weather.

Easter morning started early enough. The bunny came during the night dropping off some pretty cool, inexpensive presents (thank you dollar section at Target), so everyone was up at the crack of dawn. Even though I told Zaichik days leading and the night before the meaning of Easter and that the Easter bunny would be visiting, but Zaichik had forgotten until a sleepy Mommy and a wide awake toddler made their way down the stairs immediately finding his new loot. I wish for once Zaichik would sleep in on the weekends, but I know soon enough (maybe next year) he will remember and be so excited for Easter to arrive and I anticipate being woke up even earlier then this year. I guess I should count my blessings huh? After a quick search through the basket, hunting for Easter eggs in the house and finishing breakfast, we headed out the door to church.

The entire family (Nagypapa and Nagymama included) arrived together right as the first liturgy let out just in time for the church's Easter egg hunt. Zaichik did a great job finding a few eggs, but with the amount of blessings we have at church...they needed to have more eggs. Following the hunt and some extra sugar Zaichik didn't need, it was time to go into church. I don't know if it was the extra sugar, the excitement of the holiday or what but Zaichik did not want to sit still. Usually Zaichik is pretty good up until we get communion, but he had to be taken out for a period or two to settle down. After liturgy we headed to the hall to have the blessing of the Easter baskets (a basket complete with all of our Easter food). Zaichik was greeted like Norm from Cheers. You know, the place where everyone knows your name? EVERYONE knows Zaichik at church. I can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I guess having a Nagypapa who plays an important role in the church probably helps a little.

After church the family headed home. We dropped off Nagypapa and Nagymama at their home and proceeded back to ours so Zaichik could nap. Did he? No. Did his Mom? Yes and it was a darn good one too. After I gathered myself together we headed out once again to Nagypapa and Nagymama's house and there we were greeted by his Uncle, Aunt and cousin. Zaichik couldn't be more thrilled to see his cousin. He doesn't speak much and doesn't call many people by their name, but he sure knows his cousins. The boys played a bit and did pretty well for the day. It was nice seeing them so involved with each other as they are really starting to bond more then ever now that they are a bit older. Nagypapa and Nagymama also hosted a Easter egg hunt and the both boys did extremely well. The traditional Easter feast was good as usual and the night ended with Nagypapa reading (yet again) the story of Aladdin. Thankfully Nagypapa had mellowed out Zaichik so much that by the time we went home he collapsed in his crib and fell fast asleep.

Note: My son's nickname is Zaichik, which is a very endearing child's nickname in Russian, which means bunny. The more you know...ding ding ding DING