Bowdenisms: Hoppy Easter

Yep. I gave in to the bunny pun. I'll try egg-stra hard to avoid any more lame Easter jokes... It's just cheep.

When we had Piper I knew holidays were going to change a bit. Having kids sort of forces you to make a big deal out of things...and holidays are a pretty much the biggest of "things" to make a deal out of. All of a sudden you find yourself sitting on an old man's lap, making heart shaped PB&J's and dressing in all green. And that's just the major events...now other days crop up that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. It's Groundhog Day, Pens Game Day, National Pancake Day! Each month her daycare sends home a newsletter full of info, and I kid you not there must be eight dress up days per month for various occasions. (my favorite is pajama day...Piper is ready for that theme pretty much everyday).

But the good news for me is...I love this stuff. You don't need to pressure me into celebrating a holiday, and having a baby has really just provided me an excuse to indulge all my themey, costumy, seasonal, whims. For what it's worth, I believe I come by it honestly. My mom is a elementary school teacher, so I was raised to appreciate a special event (and even more importantly: make all events into something special.)

So as Easter approaches, I'm getting pretty excited. Sure, I'm looking forward to sharing Christ with Piper, and teaching her the meaning of the holiday...but that won't really sink in for a while. For now- it's all about Easter bunnies, and Easter dresses (and maybe some egg salad for me!) First up this year, was Brunch with the Bunny! It's pretty much the Spring version of Breakfast with Santa, which is to say a fun (free!) morning organized through our office, with photo-ops, food, gifts, and activities. Um, yeah. We're in.

As a practice round to get her accustom to all things bunny, I made Piper try on some ears when we were at Old Navy the other day. She loved it! Until she didn't anymore.

By this Sunday though, she was ready to roll, but was unfortunately coming down with a bit of a cold. But she told me she still wanted to go (ha!) and she was a trooper- we ended up having a ball. She showed off her new dress and pretty smile to anyone who would look her way (which was most everyone- she's a charmer that one- and sat on the bunny's lap without making a peep (PEEP!). In fact, I couldn't get her to look at me for the photo because she was too busy flirting with everyone in line! But we were able to at least capture the bunny in all his glory:

Which is worse? His eyes? Or his mouth? His alien ears?

To be honest...I had an image in my head of what the bunny would look like, and he was just as creepy as I imagined. I don't say that in a bad way though...it's just part of the experience. Sitting on the lap of some volunteer stranger in a fifteen year old costume that spends 364 days a year shoved in a janitor's closet is a rite of passage for babies. Good enough for me, good enough for Piper.

Courtney and bunny. Spring, 1984.

But sketchy rodent suit aside, the day was a rousing success. We watched some balloon animal art (despite having never seen him on TV, Piper was pretty much enthralled with another girl's inflatable Elmo), ate some standard hotel buffet fare (french toast and donuts!) and then spent some time chatting with the other families (mostly oohing and ahhing over adorable kids. There was a little boy with a bunny on his PJ'd butt. If I ever said things like "adorbs!" now would be the time).

Pretty soon though, poor Piper started to look more and more like her big bunny friend, her red rimmed eyes evidence that she wasn't feeling too hot.