high school reunion updates and easter ideals

yes, as you can tell by story crawling, this photo was taken LAST easter (co-op preschool) and as you can tell by the fact that i haven't blogged in almost a month (i blogged every day in february if that makes it better), i have no updated easter crafty or cutesy photos to share...we've been sick and recovering from being out of town over 10 days (amazing how behind i can get on daily tasks being gone this long) and i've also done a lot working on the high school reunion committee...

please check out the website we created on my events and give me your feedback...especially if you attended your reunion...what info would you want on there? oh and of course i opted to update the BLOG on there...looking forward to sharing all my psycho-analysis and self-absorbed angles on my experience in high school, memories, researching kindergarten for sea now, my value, hopes, etc. for our family and somehow weaving classmates and comments and THEIR expectations in there somehow...advice on how to balance this and make it an interesting read are encouraged...but check it out here:

http://llaclass1990.myevent.com/

here is what i wrote in my first blog entry on the site:

" i have spent too long on this site and am now too tired to blog but just wanted to let you know that this used to say "cool peeps" and it is my goal to get several blog postings from various committee members but until then, i, denise, will be posting here often. i have my own personal blog "mommy's journey" about my life as a mommy and my journey finding myself...i majored in psychology and those who know me know i love to analyze and over-think and ramble and free associate often so look for lots of that...this may end up being too personal and dramatic for many readers but hopefully that will bring others back for more...hope to include my own high school memories and those classmates share with me...should be interesting if nothing else...my goal is to lure you in to this blog, this site and eventually to the reunion...i want to have as many people there as possible and will work hard to make it an inclusive event that meets the needs and desires of as many classmates as possible."

oh, so if you don't go to the website, we put a poll out for the class and the majority chose to have it at the beach...so we are having the event at the westin in south coast plaza about 15 minutes inland from newport beach (where we will have beach vespers friday night and most likely a picnic saturday morning)...check out the photos of the "lido room" and the adjoining "waterfall terrace" to get a feel for what the venue will be like:

http://www.westinsouthcoastplaza.com/

(click on "photos")

ok so on to the second half of this post..."easter ideals"...my parents never really "did" this holiday...maybe a "happy easter" and possibly a hallmark card or piece of candy but it wasn't important to them and they didn't get into it. possibly because i call both of my children "bunny" and because i always felt like i missed out on the fun of easter baskets and bunnies and eggs and candy, i have idealized this as a fun childhood holiday that i want to be memorable for my children...

a little more history on this holiday for me...i used to wait tables...for almost half of my life in fact (age 18 until giving birth to sea...16 years)...so i spent way too many easters serving grumpy families brunch while they tried to fulfill their own ideals amidst the chaos of this holiday in a restaurant...and swore i would never go to restaurants on this holiday when i was out of the business...yet somehow we have spent several easters with my in-laws and they like to go to marie calendars which has a pretty manageable easter brunch and i find myself looking forward to this (have i mentioned how food-oriented i am)...plus the joy of all the little cousins (manuel's sister michelle's daughters are 7 and 4.5) playing, searching for eggs, carrying around their baskets and eating too much candy together...so i was really sad we will miss out on that this year since we are sick...manuel's other sister, missy's new baby daughter meadow would have been there to join in (or at least watch) and story is old enough to really make himself part of the mix...(i'm temporarily distracted by story with his nose inches from a rolly polly bug saying "HI-ya")...

we have spent a couple of easters here in san diego...usually we are invited over to our friend lisa's mom's house right on ocean blvd in coronado and we enjoy yummy appetizers and wine and eventually sit down to a meal and then hunt for eggs...

then the third thing i will miss is the co-op preschool gang is getting together at one of the member's homes for a potluck brunch and egg hunt...

SO i have been idealizing this holiday and trying to figure out what we will do tomorrow...here is the plan:

sleep in as long as possible
wake up and have the children "find" the easter baskets the easter bunny left for them
make brunch together (probably pancakes with maple (not corn) syrup, fresh strawberries, powdered sugar, a fruit salad of sorts, some egg or omelette dish, roasted red potatoes, french press coffee with real cream and sugar, and a d'asti sweet sparkling wine)
color easter eggs
hide easter eggs
find easter eggs
(one more distraction...story is "drawing" squiggly lines coming up from a circle saying "HOT" like it is smoke...i remember sea going through this fascination with all things hot, particularly fire)
dress children in cute easter clothes and try to take way too many photos of them with said eggs, baskets, bunnies, candy...but instead chase them and tell them not to eat all the candy at once (manuel and i differ on this one...i would either have very little candy in there or only healthier versions without hydrogenated oils and food coloring...but he has fond memories of these things from his childhood and it does bring the children a lot of joy so i try not to be so rigid about these things on holidays)...

well i'm neglecting the moment of today and story keeps saying "mommy!" and trying to show me things...off to see if it is warm enough to go to the beach today (we went saturday and sunday of last weekend)...look forward to updating with photos tomorrow...and i plan to blog every 2 or 3 days for april...let's see how that goes...thanks for staying tune despite my long absence and i look forward to catching up with you!