Those Bowers Boys + Sadie: Crazy Egg Hunting Thursday

Thursday was one of those days when having more kids than parents posed a problem. (Had we thought this through?)

I had my day planned down to the minute. I'd drop SK off at her school, pick up last minute party supplies for L's class as well as an Easter bucket for SK, back to SK's school to be there for her hunt (but leave her there), head to hide eggs for L's hunt & help walk twenty-one Kindergartners to the hunt (Tradition for the boys' school is to hunt in yards in the neighborhood surrounding the school-So neat! But streets have to be crossed by hundreds of small children.), pick SK up, then finally rush back to L's class to set up for the party before the kids returned; SK in tow.

It would all work out just right; down to the minute. Except that I have three kids and one had inadvertently been left off my schedule.

Fortunately we are huge believers in the village method of child rearing and we have the most fantastic village so when it occurred to me I couldn't be in two places at once the night before, I placed an emergency call to Kaydie asking her to fill in for me (to which she happily obliged). Disaster averted!

SK at her hunt (with her super cute friend, Bradley)

So it appears that two is the turning point after which toddlers become interested in hunting eggs. SK was focused, but her less-than-two-year-old friends were on the playground so they left their Easter baskets/buckets in the dust in favor of playing as usual.

SK was all over it and it was tricky getting pics since she was moving so quickly.

"Cheese!"

I've mentioned previously about SK being "territorial," according to J. Well she's also possessive and was not happy about having to put her basket down before they headed inside (so the teachers could evenly distribute the goods).

But she got over it. :)

I hugged SK, then rushed over to L's yard to hide eggs and for some reason glanced in the mirror at my face to see my nostrils looking like a reptile starting to shed with no turning back and all I had was one tube of Chapstick which I hate to tell you I had to use on my nose. There was no other option and I'm sorry to those at SK's school who had to see it. (L had mentioned that morning, "Momma, your nose," (long pause), "looks wee-ud," which I immediately brushed off without looking into it.)

After all 252 eggs had been hidden we drove back to the school to walk the kids to the yard. Those little Kindergartners were so cute all lined up and ready to go! Ms. Perry started counting them off, giving a group of kids to each parent. My apprehension grew when I could see the inevitable...L was right in the middle of several boys.

Obviously I'm used to boys (& I LOVE them!), but mine are under my voice control-usually-and not knowing these guys + crossing a street with them made me a bit nervous since they were already bouncing off the walls with no candy in their systems.

I ended up with four boys and one girl. They were perfect! The little girl did hug me about 16 times and wanted to hold my hand, which was different from the wild boys who all ran wild-within the boundaries we'd set-hunting eggs at warp speed.

L's a poser! (Which is okay when describing a 6-year-old who is always ready for the next photo opp, right?)

At 5 till I panicked and ran to my car back at the school so I could pick SK up without a minute to spare (wheezing and sweating like I'd just sprinted for the first time in a year...appropriately so) and we headed back to L's after party where I followed through with my plan to sugar SK up in hopes that she'd last through the party/her usual nap time while maintaining a pleasant demeanor. (It worked.)