The field behind our house . . .

is where the Easter bunny lives. We have seen him several times and he is huge! The first Easter we arrived in Germany Mark saw him. We ran to get the binocular's and were amazed to see him. He is a big brown rabbit and he was walking on his back feet, I bet he was as big as a mid sized dog. A couple of days after that, our German neighbor Freddie called to say that he saw the Easter bunny leaving things for the girls. Sure enough, there were Easter eggs in the nest in the garden. Everyday for a week the girls raced home from school to see if he left goodies. We think he was practicing his hiding skills, getting ready for the big day. He has gotten better, the past 2 years we have not been able to see him but he is still working hard.

Sunday morning the girls woke to find the front room with treat filled hidden eggs. It took awhile but they found them all and spent a few minutes opening the treasures and enjoying the candy booty. Then we got ready for church. Right before we were ready to leave our German neighbor Claudia called to say that while they were out enjoying the sunshine they noticed eggs hidden in the garden. She said the girls should come down because they were sure the eggs were for them. So unexpected excitement filled the air once more as the girls gathered their baskets and headed for another hunt.





The Easter bunny does things a little different here in Germany. There are no plastic eggs hidden. They are real colored hard boiled eggs that are hidden and the colors are brilliant and sharp. Here is a picture from last year, you can see the eggs in the corners. Funny thing, these colored Easter eggs and sold year round in Germany. I like this, instead of asking for candy everyday, the children ask for the brightly colored eggs for snacks.


And I have a recent McKennaism to share. You might remember a post from before Bree's visit where McKenna had a run in with Cruela DeVil during her late night slumber. I guess this story and experience has not been far from her mind. Her preschool class went to the library this week and were able to pick out a book to take home and "keep forever". Much to my surprise she picked "101 Dalmations". So last night this is the book we read before bed and I was a little worried about getting a good nights sleep. Toward the end of the story when the puppies finally free themselves and Cruela crashes her car with her two bad helpers, Cruela says to the men, "You idiots!" This is a bad word in our house. She was startled and looked up to see what I had to say. Of course I said that is a bad word and we don't call people that. McKenna reiterates, "Cruela is a bad bad person". But then, during McKenna's prayer the following plea was made:

"Heavenly Father please bless Cruela DeVil to change her mood. Help her to make better choices and not call people bad names"

Humm, maybe she is learning about forgiveness??? We still can't sing the song about Cruela DeVil, but of course Bailey thinks it is oh so funny to tease . . . Maybe this lesson of forgiveness will eventually carry over to sisters. We can only hope.