The post I should have written before I lapsed into a sugar coma

I would have completed this post sooner, thus rendering it much more timely, if it hadn't been for all the Easter candy I consumed that sent me straight into a downward spiral of laying on the couch reading a book and doing absolutely nothing for the better part of Sunday and Monday evening.

I totally blame the sugar.

We really had a fabulous Easter weekend. It got started on Good Friday, which I'm not theologically well-versed enough to know why it's called "good" since it was the day Jesus was crucified (although I'm sure a cursory Google search could help), but in my personal experience, Good Friday has always been exactly that.

And may I state for the record that I would gladly partake in a longer work day for the benefit of a 3-day weekend every week. GLADLY.

Cade had a friend from school over on Friday afternoon, which caused me a slight bit of trepidation because Jason was going to be away most of the day and an entire day spent as the sole caregiver for just my own 3 children is usually enough to drive me to drink. I thought that adding a 4th child just might be the push I needed to send me straight over the edge.

However, sometimes a padded cell and 3 squares a day sounds really appealing.



But you know what? It turned out to be really fun. Cade's friend couldn't have been more of a sweetheart! And at the last minute, just after J got home, we decided to take all 4 children to see "How to Train Your Dragon." I highly recommend this film, even if it might cause your little boys to obsess about all manner of dragons, dragon-hunting, and viking paraphernalia, courtesy of the themed merchandise conspicuously displayed at The-Store-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

What? Oh, is that just my kids?

Saturday morning I took Cade to a skating birthday party, where thankfully they had a contraption made of PVC pipe that was similar to a walker, but with wheels to help the novice skaters remain upright. Cade whizzed aroud the rink averaging about 2 1/2 minutes per lap. And no, the skating rink was not unusually large. Cade was sort of like an old man in a nursing home, only on wheels. I was proud of him for giving it a shot, though!

If I recall correctly, and chances are slim that I do, the rest of Saturday was a haze of household stuff and a bunch of nothing.

When we arrived at church Sunday morning, we saw that we had more congregants than a month of Sundays combined (counting the rare fifth Sunday).

That's when we realized that when we were asked previously if, as the pastor's family, we were cool with having an Easter egg hunt "for the kids," the phrase "for the kids" suddenly made a lot more sense. When we joined, I think our young family lowered the average age of our members to about 72, so I wasn't really sure to whom "kids" referred.

Since we had been running just a tad late on Sunday morning, I forgot the Easter eggs that I had prepared for the hunt, but I think the hunt was successful even wthout my measly dozen.

Yes, that scales reads, "3.0 lbs."

I'll let that sink in a moment.

To put it in perspective, the roast we ate for lunch on Easter Sunday (and had leftovers for another meal OR TWO) was 3 lbs.

3 POUNDS of sugar-coated sugar.

It was obscene.

After the church festivities, the boys were invited to play at a friend's house for the afternoon. I dropped the boys off at their house after lunch and tried not to squeal my tires speeding out of our friends' driveway, anticipating the blissful 4 hours ahead of me.

I had a laundry list of accomplishments to complete, which included a taking a nap, reading a book, and sorting the Easter candy, before the clock chimed 6 and I turned back into a pumpkin,
Sorting the candy was Priority Numero Uno because I didn't want any "help" from the boys.

I knew some of the candy was going to have to go straight into the "out box" so I began systematically sorting the loot.

I made 4 piles: good chocolate, non-chocolate, off-brand chocolate, and

my chocolate.

Regarding candy, I can pretty much take it or leave it. Unless it's a salty-sweet peanut butter flavored goodness enveloped in Reese's milk chocolate. Then no piece is beyond my pudgy grasp.
I ended up throwing out slightly over 1 lb of hard candies, off-brand chocolates, and a bunch of these.

Because, what are they anyway? Nastiness in a hard candy shell? Solid sugar blocks covered in dye? Gross.

The children also collected over $5 in change from their eggs, which made them a tidy little profit for using absolutely no skill whatsoever in spotting "hidden" eggs in the grass and tossing them into their respective baskets.

Once I finished sorting the candy, I realized I had let a precious 15 or so minutes get away from me, so I popped two Reese's peanut butter eggs and went into a sugar coma took a nap.

The rest of Sunday involved eating, enjoying friends, and reading a book. And a day just can't get much better than that.

Unless you add in another peanut butter egg or five.