Our Easter festivities started on Thursday when we went to grandma and grandpa's house to color Easter eggs. Grandma had bought a special glitter decorating kit and Jilly had a great time shaking the glitter onto the eggs:
On Friday night, we headed over to my Dad's house to visit with him and his wife, Jodi. It had been far too long since we had seen them. A death in the family had kept them from feeling up to company for a while as they mourned the loss of Jodi's dog Piko whom she had had for 12 years and raised from a puppy. Piko was her one and only until my dad came around and even then you had to wonder who was really the 'top dog'.
On Saturday, the church we have been attending held an Easter Egg Hunt and Charlie's Safari. A local kid-focused restaurant here in town. The place was packed. When we got there, they were setting up inside for the second wave of patrons so there was no one in the building and the line outside wrapped around the side of the building and was probably 150 kids deep. They began passing out tickets to the people in line and eventually ended up having to turn people away because they just did not have enough room or time for everyone to be able to come in. Jillan had a wonderful time, climbing in the tube tower, sliding on the inflatables, seeing Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny and getting her face painted. I can't even begin to tell you how much candy she came home with that day from all of the eggs that she found. Needless to say, most all of it went to work with me that week so that it wasn't sitting around our house. Lord knows none of us needed it. :-)
You can see that even Daddy had a good time at the Easter Egg Hunt.
After the Easter egg hunt and a nap, we headed over to grandma and grandpa's house for a delicious Turkey dinner (thanks to Chef Kenton), more Easter egg hunting and Jilly's first Easter basket of the year. Unfortunately, Jilly moved to fast for me to get any very good pictures of this hunt.
Sunday, we had made arrangements to go to church with my aunt and uncle in Auburn, about 45 minutes north of our home. Jillian had been complaining the day before of her ears hurting so we had bought some ear drops and had been trying to keep her pain levels and the fever she had developed over night down with some Tylenol. Any wise parents, would have canceled our Sunday plans and allowed her to stay home and rest but both of us were eager to see my extended family and attend their church with them so we pushed ahead. Bad idea!!! No sooner did we turn into the parking lot, did Jilly lose her breakfast smoothie all over herself. Eeeek! Thank goodness she wasn't wearing a fancy Easter dress and we had a decent looking change of clothes in the car. Not that it mattered, once she got cleaned up and changed, she was wrapped in blanket and held in one of our arms on our lap, sleeping through the ENTIRE Easter service. I was amazed! And selfishly, being as I do not have a cuddling child, I savored these sickly moments with her still on my lap. Please, don't hate me for this confession.
After church, we returned to my aunt and uncle's house for a delicious lunch of Tomato Ravioli soup, homemade bread, jicama and grapes. Funny, the spell checker doesn't recognize jicama. Of course, I don't know that my husband did either, but I digress. :-) Nearly as soon as we arrived, Jillian asked to watch a movie and given her condition, I didn't argue. She chose Tarzan and sat quietly mesmerized on the bed upstairs while we adults ate and chatted downstairs and within an hour, she was out cold! Our poor baby girl slept for nearly 3 hours straight.
When she finally woke up, we tried to get her to open her three remaining Easter baskets (one from her Grandma in Oregon, one from her Papa & Jodi and one from us). She wasn't too into it and we probably should have pushed it but it was Easter and time was running out. She muddled her way through the baskets and we made our way home. Finally, half way home, she was starting to get back to her old self and the next day, she had a great time playing with Daddy and some of her new Easter gifts.
