Things I Want to Remember About Easter 2011.

1. We had a wonderful morning during the vacation coloring Easter eggs, which is one of my mom's all time favorite activities of the year. Alec was remarkably compliant about the whole thing and the girls had a blast. We realized that we need to make more than 18 eggs now to personalize each egg with family members' names. We've had lots of new babies in the last few years.

2. We ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast. This is a lovely tradition that we have really embraced over the last few years: we have cinnamon rolls only on special occasions, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and maybe one other stray holiday thrown in there to mix it up. The kids love it, and now when I smell them cooking in the oven, I automatically feel a spike in my own sense of anticipation about the day.

3. The Easter baskets were a hit. Some faithful readers may remember that Michaela quite disgustedly announced last year that the Easter Bunny must have come to our house last on his route because he didn't bring very good candy, and the candy he brought she didn't even like. So you can imagine the pressure the Easter Bunny felt this year: he really wanted to redeem himself after last year's debacle. I tried helping him out by asking the girls a few times what kinds of candy they'd like in their basket, but Michaela began to look suspiciously at me and finally asked, "Are you asking because of the Easter Bunny, or do you put the baskets together?" And I replied that I was only trying to help.

4. The baskets were recognized. After all the hoopla died down about the Much Better Than Last Year's baskets, Michaela looked carefully at her basket and said, "Hmmm... this is the same basket I had last year." "How does the Easter Bunny get the baskets back?" asks Jenna. "Oh, it's Mommy Magic. Mommies take care of that," I answer. "But HOW?" asks Jenna. "We have a secret way of sending them back,"I breezily answer.

5. The Easter Bunny got dissed. I was leaving the house one day in mid April to go shopping. "Wait!" Michaela says. "I want you to look for the pillow pet things we saw at the store... find out what the name of it is and tell me so I can write it down for the Easter Bunny."

"That's not how it works," I tell her. "The Easter Bunny is not Santa."

"Well, the Easter Bunny sucks," I hear someone whom I gave birth to nine years ago say under her breath.

"MICHAELA!" I say. "That's not nice and not a good way to get a good basket on Easter."

"Sorry," she mumbles. She explains to me later that she really, really wanted the Alvin and the Chipmunks sqeaquel last year and did get it from the Easter Bunny, so surely she could ask for something and get it this year as well.

6. We had a small Easter egg hunt at our house in the morning. I have always said that Dan and I grew up in such similar households, our biggest cultural divide when we got married was that my family hid baskets and his family hid eggs on Easter morning. This year I finally was able to put a little egg hunt together, including an especially difficult to find Golden egg, which had a few bucks in it. The girls really loved it and it is a great addition to our Easter mornings. (I realized at the end of the day that Easter is so exhausting because it's like Christmas but all condensed into one day: presents, candy, fancy outfits, church, family and big dinner and cleanup all in a 12 hour time period. Whew.)

7. We listened to church hymns at home while we were going through our baskets, eating breakfast and getting ready. Hearing the Hallelujah Chorus and Jesus Christ is Risen Today brought tears to my eyes. To me, there is nothing like the sense of joy and triumph and gratitude on Easter morning. Nothing. Nothing even comes close.

8. Michaela attended Good Friday services with us for the first time. She was ready and eager to experience the tenebrae service our church has every Good Friday. I think she got quite a bit out of it, and I told her it will only heighten her sense of joy on Easter morning. "The Pastors looked so sad," she said. "I really thought they were going to cry." My mom has been babysitting our kids on that night for years, and it was really moving to introduce Michaela to the service and coach her through it. I also realized that if we wait until Alec is nine to bring him, we will have exactly one Good Friday service that we attend as a family of five, and then Michaela will be away at college. Hopefully she'll come home for Easter.

9. Easter at church was as beautiful as ever. Nothing like looking at that sunshine stream in on Easter morning.

10. Moms will use any means neccessary to keep 19 month olds entertained in church. And sometimes the only trick up her sleeve is a pair of fake 3D glasses that someone left behind in her purse.

11. I was thrilled with the outfits for Easter. The freakish looks I get in January when I start nosing around store clerks and asking when their Easter lines are coming out are all worth it when I feel like my kids look good. And coordinated. I had a moment of panic on Maundy Thursday, when I realized that M, J, A and D were all set outfit wise but C had nothing to wear. So I hustled out on Saturday afternoon and found a nice navy dress that meshed perfectly in the navy/ white/ gray theme. Crisis averted. The girls looked so sweet in their dresses and navy headbands, and Alec looked like a big boy in his shirt and vest. Thank you very much, Gymboree. You did great.

12. It's our 15th Easter together. We're a little older, and not quite as fresh looking as we were in 1996 (three kids in eight years will do that to ya), but just as happy.

13. Moms who blog sometimes have to put a gratuitous picture up of their third born child because it is adorable. And because they can. But seriously... look at that face.

14. Jenna was in charge of leading The Hot and Cold Game: Easter Basket Search and Rescue, and loved every minute of it. She had helped my mom hide the baskets at my parents' house the day before and giggled the entire time we looked for our baskets, screaming, HOT! SOOO HOT! BURNING, EVEN!! when we got close to our loot. We all laughed just watching her lead.

15. We had Easter dinner at our house. It was a lovely dinner, in our dining room (fancy!), with ham and mashed potatoes and peas and rolls and cucumber salad and asparagus. For dessert we had Carvel ice cream cake and brownies (because what is a party without brownies?) and sugar cookies that the kids got to decorate with vanilla frosting and Easter/Spring themed sprinkles. We even used the Good Lenox China (MORE fancy!). Holidays at the new house are still exciting, and I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a long, long time.

16. It was a beautiful, blessed Easter. Amen.