Easter Weekend

Ever and I read a story in the Friend that included a recipe for Easter rolls. You make the dough, then dip a marshmallow in butter and cinnamon and sugar and put it in the center of each roll. You then dip the top of the rolls in butter and cinnamon and sugar. The marshmallow represents Jesus's body in the tomb. When you bake the rolls, the marshmallows disappear. The rolls can be made on Good Friday, frozen until Saturday night, and baked on Easter Sunday morning, so it's pretty perfect. Ever, of course, wanted to make the rolls, and I agreed. We invited Ella Rondo to come over to play and make them with us Friday morning.

I was hoping to get them made while the littles took their morning nap. After a while, I started hearing Wren and knew she was awake, but I really wanted to finish the rolls (to the rising point) before I got her up. I was concerned about her taking off her clothes and diaper in her crib, as she's done I think twice before, but I forged ahead with the rolls. Ella finished her half and wanted to go out to play, so I told Ever I'd finish hers. They went outside, and I couldn't keep my fears about Wrenzy at bay any longer. I left the not-quite-finished rolls and went upstairs.

Sure enough, Wrenzy had taken off her clothes and diaper and pooped in her crib in two places. I'm going to go ahead and post pictures of  excrement here.

The damage was extensive. There were bits throughout, and it was smeared on the side of the crib in a couple of places. This was the worst of the crib-smearing:

I yelled at Wren, "No! No, Wren! You do not take your diaper off in your crib! No!" I carried her downstairs to the bath. (As I write this, I wonder why I did not put her in the upstairs bath. Habit, I guess, since I've been bathing them only downstairs for a long time.) It was a mess. I cleaned her up, with intermissions to clean the bathtub as necessary, knowing I'd come back and bathe her again to ensure she was clean. After the preliminary bath, I left her in the tub forever and ever. Tyna was crying, but she had to wait. I picked up the dung piles in the crib with the diaper, stripped Wren's bed, and tried to clean the crib. Ever and Ella had fun trying to sneak up on me and then laughing and asking each other if I'd seen them. It was pretty annoying to me, given my rage and what I was dealing with, but I was glad they were having fun and staying out of the way. Finally I fetched Tyna. Her diaper had soaked through. I changed her and took her clothes out to the laundry area. As I was on my way to the bathtub to get back to Wren, I smelled a pooper on Tyna. I changed her again and then finished up with Wren. She was pretty cold by the time I got her out, but I have to say - she was pretty amazing about staying in the bath for so long. 

I finished up the rolls, covered the pans with plastic wrap, and took this picture so I'd have a non-grotesque photo by which to remember the day:

Eventually I got out to the garage to deal with the bedding, etc. I threw away the new pillows Nanny had bought to go in the pillowcase she made, as at least one was definitely soiled. I rinsed the new pillowcase and quilt from Nanny and started laundry. Needless to say, that was not how I wanted to spend hours on Friday. Oh, also in the middle of all that, I was trying to frost the carrot cake cupcakes I'd made the night before for the Rondos' annual Easter party/flashlight Easter egg hunt Friday night.

The Rondos' party is significantly more convenient now that they live just up the street from us. Wren and Ever wore the bunny ears they'd made at the Y on Thursday, although Ever ditched hers somewhere along. The biggers got plenty of candy-filled eggs, in which Tyna was highly interested:

We left Wren alone for a while, and she consumed almost all of her candy:

It's a little sad that she's now familiar with treats because she's started asking for them all the time. Now I have two sugar-obsessed girls with whom to contend.

Saturday morning Jim and Ever went to building cleanup. Jim goes early (7:00 A.M., when it starts at 8:00) and spends about three hours there every Saturday during our month. Hardly anyone shows up, so he does most of it himself. It's crazy, but he doesn't seem to mind too much. We managed to squeeze in a good five-mile run before a baptism at 2:00 P.M. Then we ran an errand and got the girls to bed. 

Inspired by Ella, Ever had gotten really, really excited about the Easter Bunny and all the things she hoped he would leave her - particularly an Easter dress. I'm pretty sure the Easter Bunny had to do some late-night Target shopping to make dreams come true. He may have picked up groceries for the next day's dinner, too.

Ever was very happy Sunday morning. She went through her whole basket before I got up and then helped Wrenzy go through hers:

They each got a few good chocolate candies, a little bubble maker, an Easter dress (Ever got two because the Easter Bunny couldn't decide), and a bird that mimics you. Ever also got some size 4 undies because the Easter Bunny was hoping to trick her into wearing undies that fit. (She tried to convince me that the ones she had were too small and that she needed size 6. The size 6 ones sag and fall down and are completely indecent. She's constantly pulling them up but has refused to go back to wearing her old size 4 undies.) 

The Easter rolls worked out great. I had saved the leftover cream cheese frosting I made for the cupcakes, and that was key for Jim and me. With the frosting, the rolls were basically cinnamon rolls. Ever asked that we make them every Easter, and I think that sounds nice.

Like a good mom, I took a picture of the girls in their new dresses after church:

Jim gets Sunset magazine and recently saw a recipe for a "spring gallette." He decided we should have it for Easter dinner. He spearheaded the operation, and I was sous-chef. You saute a thyme/vegetable (leeks, asparagus) concoction and then bake it, with goat cheese, in a pie crust. I documented the final steps of the proceedings but did not get a picture of the (lovely) final product. 

Ever wondering what it was:

It was quite delightful. The girls, of course, weren't into it, but they did eat enough to earn dessert. 

That night Ever and I prayed together while Jim put Wrenzy down. She expressed gratitude for such a nice Easter and the bird she loves so much, or something like that, and afterward she told me she was sad to go back to school the next day because "today was so good." I think Easter was a success.