Sophie's First Easter

To me, the glories of warm weather, flowers, and new beginnings usually overshadow a candy-filled secular celebration of Easter. This year was no different. Since Sophie is still too young for egg-dyeing, candy, or hunting for her Easter basket (as I did every year growing up) there wasn't much to do to mark her first Easter as a special day. Still, we did have an Easter-themed playgroup last Wednesday and a fun-filled Easter weekend.

Our playgroup met at the apartment of a new friend, Mika, who has a daughter exactly one year older than Sophie and an older adopted son due to arrive from China later this year. She had her heart set on dyeing Easter eggs. The almost-twos were still a bit young for egg dyeing, so the adults dyed the eggs and then the kids put on Easter stickers after they dried. We all got a good laugh out of Mika's daughter Eloise's approach, which involved banging each egg on the table before or during the decorating. Sophie enjoyed holding her egg and examining it with fingers and mouth while Mommy tried to sneak a few stickers on. Mika had also thoughtfully prepared an "egg hunt" for the kids, using ping pong balls in lieu of plastic eggs. The little girls thought the bouncy out-of-control ping pong balls were hilarious and spent a lot of time hurling them around the room and laughing hysterically. Sophie was wide-eyed with amazement at all the hubbub. It was a really fun morning and was followed by a long, restful nap!

On the Saturday before Easter we were invited to dinner at an Italian restaurant to celebrate the wedding of our friends Leandra and Mario. I enjoyed the chance to dress Sophie up and to get dressed up myself - it's been a while!

All dressed up in our matching outfits.

The restaurant was an adorable, cozy little place, packed with the couple's Brazilian and Korean friends. Sophie was a bit overwhelmed with all the attention and noise and wanted me within arm's reach at all times. She did get a chance to crawl around a little and observe the antics of two little toddler boys who were having a grand old time egging each other on. We had a delicious mozzerella and tomato salad, followed by a plate of delicious pasta with cream sauce. Keegan enjoyed pork with veggies for the main course, and I had gnocchi. Leandra made an amazing strawberry cake for dessert. Sophie sampled a little of everything and was clearly quite pleased.

On Easter we got a chance to open a gift from Grandma in the morning.

My first Easter Peeps! Later stolen by Mommy.

In the afternoon the whole family went for a run with the help of our borrowed jogging stroller and then Keegan enjoyed a barbecue with some ABS friends and the Polish community while Sophie and I took a nap.

Ready to run!

Unfortunately, Keegan enjoyed a little too much vodka with the Poles and went to bed early, so Sophie and I had Easter dinner alone. To make things extra fun, I decided to let Sophie try spaghetti for the first time. Delicious and fun!

I hope all my readers had a wonderful Easter weekend, too!