Raise your joys and triumphs high...

Alleluiah!

Sing, ye heavens and earth reply,
Alleluiah!
-Charles Wesley, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today"

In the spirit of Dr. C's Easter Sunday sermon, here are my lessons learned from Easter 2010:

Dying Easter eggs should always be done AFTER you get portraits done. Little fingers can't stay out of the cups of food coloring. It's like some kind of magnetic thing.

Shaving cream + toothpaste can remove food coloring from skin. Well, most of it anyway. Who knew?

Google does, in fact, know everything. I typed in "remove fo..." and it filled in "ood coloring from skin." Are there cameras in my house?!

When your kid comes in to wake you up on Easter morning then leaves your room, you probably shouldn't just go back to sleep. He's raiding the candy stash. There was certainly no magical "Let's see what the Easter bunny left!" moment. The contents of the basket were already strewn across the living room by the time we rolled out of bed. So much for the adorable, carefully arranged basket (Jay was at least kind enough to raid only his basket, leaving Luke's as he liked the idea of sleeping in too).

My littlest eater can put an entire Cadbury creme egg in his mouth. Foil and all. Try that in your grownup mouth - those things are huge!

Pompom bunny tails on little boys' Easter outfits don't last long. Luke managed to make it to church with them still attached. But I don't think they lasted through Sunday School. (Vote - should I sew them back? It's not like he's going to wear the outfit again.)

My hubby makes the best deviled eggs. Especially when he's using my Appie's recipe. He's a good man because he makes it with relish, even though he claims relish is not officially in the real recipe for deviled eggs. I did let him sprinkle the paprika on top, though. Blending family traditions is good.

FBC Raleigh has some of the most amazing musicians around. The voices, the organ - beautiful, powerful stuff.

Kid explanations of what happened on Easter ("Jesus' friends thought he had died, but he wasn't dead!!") are as simple - and as complicated - as we really need.

My kids are adorable, even with that slightly purplish-blue around their fingertips--don't worry other heart mommas - that's just the Easter egg dye.


Happy Easter, y'all!