12 March - the Cerner Easter Egg Hunt
GR's company held a company wide Egg Hunt for kids of most ages. They had ~200 people attend and for a company of 5-6,000 employees, many of whom don't live in the KC area, that wasn't a bad turn out. They had crafts for the kids to do... decorate a white gift bag, plant flower seeds in a Styrofoam cup (that they also got to decorate), and make a flower using coffee maker liners and diluted die with eyedroppers. They also had a few games and snacks for the kids to pick up and eat.
Like most Easter Egg hunts you wonder who the hunt is for, the parents or the kids. Diane when with GR because I had a quilting class to teach, and she said some of the parents were appalling. Sam bent down to get an egg that was in front of him, and Mother snatched it up first and put it in her sons basket... 12 month olds walking past with 2 dozen eggs in their baskets... I don't think so.
But I was reassured that although there are days when I wonder why my children need a mother - they know everything already - my children have learned a few things from their parents ... be patient, your turn will come, wait in line politely, don't take things from others, say please and thank you.
19 March - Ellisville Easter Egg Hunt
I took the kids to visit my parents for spring break and Daddy asked me if I was interested in taking the kids to the "Ellisville Easter Egg Hunt." Although my parents moved to Ellisville a little too late for me to participate in this annual event, my siblings participated on a fairly regular bases, and my brothers even managed to find the "golden" egg and win a prize.
We took Rebecca in 2003, when Easter was later in the year and the weather was perfect. By the time the hunt started, kids were 3 and 4 deep, shoulder to shoulder around the perimeter of a section of land smaller than 1/2 a soccer field... with eggs 12/1 sq. ft. When the horn went off, all the eggs were totally consumed by parents and children (ages 1-3) with in 30 seconds, 60 at the very most.
This year was quite different. At the warmest it was 40 degrees, very little sunshine and there was a good breeze. Kids were literally wearing their winter coats, and parents were huddled with crying toddlers trying to keep hands and faces warm. What did this mean for us... 1/3 the kids we had back in 2003... my children actually had a fighting chance to get a couple of eggs in their baskets. Mom and Dad took Emily and Rebecca, and I took Sam.
Sam did remarkably well. Collecting 6-8 eggs all by himself. And never once did he get malled by anyone around him. Rebecca and Emily on the other hand were with the older kids 4-6 year olds, who are much more experienced with this type of activity. I believe Rebecca collected a few eggs, but Emily froze when the sirian went off. Then my father jumped into action.
See my father is fully aware of the phenomenon of young children freezing at just the moment when they need to take action, and right when they finally come to, it's too late. All the eggs are gone, and you, the parent/grandparent, are left with one extremely heart broken child with no eggs in her basket. So with this understanding, Daddy filled at least 18 eggs at home with what ever candy mom had on hand (marshmellows, Jolly Ranchers and Christmas M&M) and then hid them in his coat pockets.
The idea being that the adult is able to slip an egg or two on the ground by their feet, and then say to the child (in our case Rebecca and Emily), "Oh Emily, look!" pointing to the ground. They squeal with delight and pick up the egg, walk a little further and do it again. Now you must be prepared for other children to partake of the goodness. Daddy had a couple little kids snatch up eggs from under his legs, but that was fine - heck he filled 18!
As soon as the hunt was over and all the eggs had found an Easter Basket, Rebecca declared that she had no interest in opening her eggs in the middle of the park, that she'd rather go straight to the car instead. It turely was a cold, cold day for an Easter Egg hunt!
26 March - Family Easter Egg Hunt
Diane suggested we do an Easter Egg Hunt this year -- we'd done it two years ago and the kids had such a good time - and the parents LOVED it!
In an effort to keep things simple and share the work load, this year we decided to make it a pot luck lunch and Easter Egg hunt. Diane made mac-n-cheese and had hotdogs and apple sauce ready, and everyone else brought some excellent side dishes. We were out of town the week before, and Diane has bee battling a horrific cold for weeks, so I'm hoping this took a lot of the stress and pressure off of her. We also asked each family to bring a dozen filled eggs to add to our egg supply.
We had 13 or so kids and at least as many adults, if not more.. and althought the weather was 40 and damp, the kids had a great time searching the walnut grove and cedar trees for all the eggs. Each kid went home with a basket full of a dozen or more eggs. And the older kids did a great job of making sure the younger ones found as many eggs as they did. What a difference from the competitive, parent driven hunts the kids had been too earlier in the month!
Diane had a really cute craft for the kids to do when they first came in to the house (we ate lunch first and then went on the hunts to parents wouldn't have to be as concerned about the amount of candy their kids ate). She found bunny ears online and printed them onto white cardstock and then made headbands to staple the ears too. The kids colored in the ears, and decorated the bands. They had a lot of fun making and wearing the hats! Rebecca and Emily each made a hat, and then Emily made a hat for Sam!
