My Life in the Burbs: 2015 Easter Weekend

Big sister K didn’t have school on Good Friday and being that it was a quiet day at work, I brought her into the office with me. She's usually pretty well-behaved, but no kid is perfect, so she had her fair share of mischief. I had to go on a conference call that morning, so I was using my headset to listen (when I’m using the headset, the phone receiver has to be off the hook). In the middle of my call, big sister K came over to the phone, looked at it inquisitively, then before I could stop her, she decided to hang up the receiver. I had to dial back in, but it was a good thing I wasn’t talking mid-sentence! Then later on that day, I had to use the bathroom. Rather than dragging her with me, I figured she would be old/mature enough to stay by herself without getting into any trouble, so I told her where I was going and that I would be right back. When I returned, my cube was empty and big sister K was nowhere to be seen. For a split second, panic ensued and I started backing away to look for her when I heard giggling. Big sister K had hid underneath the table and used the chair to block my view so I couldn’t see her. I didn’t know whether to hug her or strangle her. Sigh… these kids are chipping away years of my life. That was enough excitement to last me through the rest of the day.

Saturday morning, we went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop where they made a chalkboard planter stand. It is very rare that we get to take advantage of this since big sister K usually has Chinese school. The few times I’ve brought baby M by himself, big sister K got upset because she missed out on the fun… to which I responded: you get to go to Chinese school, play tennis, go to ballet, and Girl Scouts, and baby M doesn’t get to do any of that stuff. Wait until baby M gets old enough to start his own extracurricular activities… then we’ll really have a battle in our hands!

After Home Depot, we went to an Easter egg hunt in our town. It took only about 10 seconds before all the eggs were snatched up, but the kids enjoyed it. They also took a picture with the Easter bunny, went inside a fire truck, and explored the driver seat of a police car. To my surprise, baby M even asked the fireman a few questions, like where the ladder was, where the hose was, what all those buttons and gadgets were for on the side of the fire truck. He’s been on countless fire trucks before, and this was the first time he was willing to ask questions. Looks like my little boy is coming out of his shell.

After the Easter egg hunt in town, we went home for lunch, then baby M took his nap. When he woke up, the kids went on their second egg hunt of the day in our backyard. We had a bunch of eggs that were too small to fit anything substantial, so I ended up putting little notes in there instead. When big sister K read me the note, I would give the kids the item that was written on it. This way, I was also able to give them something more meaningful than just loads of candy. The kids had a great time running around looking for all the eggs. I guess the egg hunt in our backyard has become somewhat of a tradition. I just have to do a better job preparing them in advance next year (I have good intentions of starting early, but it never works out that way and for the past few years, I’ve wait until the last minute, then scramble in trying to find things to put in them). The kids were so busy playing with their newfound treasures that we didn’t even get a chance to dye Easter eggs.

Sunday was church in Chinatown, followed by family time at mother-in-law’s and then at my parent’s. We went out to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that night (along with my brother’s family) to celebrate my dad’s birthday. By the time we got back to my parent’s place, it was already past the kids’ bedtime. The weekends simply go by too quickly.

Kids with the Easter Bunny: