Spring is in the air.....

and Easter is right around the corner! How did that happen? Weren't we just trying to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas? Weren't we just figuring out our routine for getting everyone to school now that we have 2 different schools to drive to? Where did it go?

I was emailing with some friends and we were talking about Easter. Some of them were talking about dying eggs and getting baskets together. My kids are too big for Easter eggs and baskets anymore. Even my Sassy girl who is 11 would rather have a new bathing suit and some clothes over an Easter basket full of candy.

Heck, we still have Halloween candy in the cabinet.

And while I was sitting at work tonight, letting my mind drift as it does when I sit here alone during these crazy hours I work, I floated back to a time when Easter was full of eggs & baskets.

I remember the Easter when Jerry's friend Jason brought in a big black trash bag full of balloon bunnies. Every kid in the class got a balloon bunny. Jerry named his bunny, Ben. Well a few days after we brought this bunny home, he started losing his shape. It wasn't looking good. And neither was Jerry. I remember running to Walmart and finding just the right size blue stuffed bunny to replace the shrinking balloon bunny. I remember hiding the balloon bunny under the kitchen sink, way in the back, and in Jerry's Easter basket was the new stuffed bunny with a note from the Easter bunny. The note told of the magic that the Easter bunny had performed because he knew just how much Jerry loved that bunny and the Easter bunny wanted Jerry to take of his new bunny that would never lose it's shape.

Pretty creative huh? My husband thought I was nuts.

We still have Ben somewhere in the house. I'm pretty sure he's on a shelf in a bedroom of a certain little boy who's not so little anymore.

I remember the year that the Rescue Heroes were big! Oh boy, did my Gregory love those action figures! The Easter Bunny brought him the fireman for Easter that year. I can still see his face when he yelled out, "Nook Mom, it's Billy Blazes!" I'll tell ya, that Easter bunny was something else because Mommy & Greg had been looking for Billy Blazes for weeks and couldn't find him anywhere.

The look on the face was worth all that searching and believe me, there was a lot of searching.

Victoria's basket was always the easiest! Shopping for little girls is so much fun and so much easier! Jump ropes and chalk, lip gloss and nail polish, hair clips and sunglasses were always so easy to impress her with.

I miss those days in some ways.

Sure it's easier now that we don't have to fill all those plastic eggs and find some great hiding spots. I don't have to run around from store to store finding that perfect little have to have gift for their baskets.

I enjoy the simplicity of our Easter now. I enjoy that it's a day we spend together, just the 5 of us, with no interruptions and no friends coming over, no driving this one here and dropping of this one there. no computers, no texting, no phone ringing. I enjoy that we spend the time talking to each other, laughing together and sharing our memories of Ben & the Rescue Heroes.

I just enjoy every minute that I get to spend with my beautiful family while they are young enough to still want to spend it with me!

I hope you all have a Happy & Blessed Easter!