I never look forward to Monday mornings and going back to work. Tonight is the exception. Tonight my children are sky-high on sugar! They have consumed vast quantities of kiddie-crack a.k.a. chocolate eggs, chocolate chicks, chocolate basketballs, chocolate soccer balls, chocolate slabs. They have become addicts in a matter of 3 short days. I am ashamed to say that Micah has eaten more chocolate over this long weekend than in the entire rest of his short little life.

As I type this Jackson is running around in circles and Micah is doing some kind of bump and grind move that no 15 month old should have perfected! They only stop to start spinning around like dogs chasing their tails in manic circles alternating that behavior with resounding choruses of “We Like to Move It, Move It” ala Madagascar 2 while whacking poor Big Daddy over the head with their pirate swords.

Somebody save us from our offspring! Where’s a grandma when a girl needs one, eh? This is PRECISELY the time when one should be able to call up the in-laws and innocently suggest that the grandkids come over for some “quality” time with their favorite grandma and grandpa. But, alas, one set live a safe several states away and the other have opted for an ocean of protection from moments such as these!

Now, before you start to rebuke my mothering skills, let it be known that I DID provide REAL food today to try and counteract the sugar insanity that 4 separate Easter Egg hunts generated. I made the ham and mashed potatoes and green beans and salad – I totally Martha Stewarted it up today! And I carefully selected the number of eggs the boys would be allowed to open. But, to my great consternation, neither of my kids was interested in the bounty of healthy food options offered. More chocolate they demanded. More candy, they wanted. At which point Big Daddy and I were becoming more and more concerned, especially after we hid all the eggs and yet they kept getting discovered. We found kitchen chairs pushed up to countertops and little people climbing up stools to get their little fingers into places where they should not have been! They would emerge smeared with sweet sticky traces of Easter treasure troves rediscovered. They took the term “hunt” to a whole new level and may have set an international record today!

Frantic, we put them down for naps with milk to try and counteract the corn syrup only to awaken to our oldest scarfing down a – wait for it people – slab of chocolate that he had – Houdini like – located. And this wasn’t even Easter candy, it was just part of an old stash the rest of us had forgotten about. It got WAY out of control people! But I guess, a day that started like this, could only go into turbo-sugar-overdrive by bedtime:

Now there were some pretty sweet moments of the non-sugar variety that had me misting up before the insanity began later in the day (when I was misting up for altogether different reasons). They went a little something like this:

(Aren’t their Easter Baskets too adorable for words? Who says you can’t find a great basket the night before in the 33% off bin- THANK GOODNESS!)

Memories came roaring back of my childhood, dew-wet, early, dawn Easter egg hunts in South Africa. Oh the delicious delight of discovering a hoard of heavenly chocolate eggs! And this morning I was transported back to those moments and profoundly moved to be sharing them with my own kids. Amazing, this blessing of being parents. Of teaching our children the joy of the search. And signposting it back to that original Easter morning, when something much more valuable was being sought:

Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb… (Luke 24:1)

They were saying to one another, “who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. (Mark 16)

An angel of the Lord said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.”

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed… (from Matthew 28)

And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid, Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.” (from Matthew 28).

And you know what? I believe that they did! And you know what else? So do my boys. Because this weekend was a chocolate-coated lesson in the meanings I want my sons to be searching for; and the thrill of the hunt; and the joy of discovery. And the price we paid in candy comas that (may) have resulted ? Totally worth it!

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!