I may have told you this story before about Easter. I apologize if I have, raising boys has helped me to lose my mind. But its Easter so I want to share an Easter memory.

When I was young, I remember my dad hiding Easter eggs in the backyard, Easter lunch at my grandmothers and I even remember several Easters spent at the beach. Such sweet traditions and memories. I couldn’t wait to carry on those wonderful traditions with my own children and create new Easter traditions too.

One of my new traditions was annual Easter pictures. The ones taken with the mall Easter bunny weren’t working out. The kids were terrified and I looked like the worst mom of all time threatening them to sit on that bunny’s lap regardless if he smelled like booze (or was that me) or if he looked like he was a bunny from some Stephen King horror movie. The pictures never turned out well believe it or not.

So one year our local department store (who shall remain nameless in case of lawsuits) held a photo shoot for Easter with LIVE bunnies. I. Was. Ecstatic. So I got the kids all dressed up and promised them candy and no fake mall bunny if they would just smile.

We arrived at the department store where I realized I had to sign a waiver in case the bunnies bit my kids. No problem there. In fact I was expecting them to bite. Why would a bunny want to be near any toddlers for pictures? I’d bite the kids too.

So we got the kids on the little piece of shag carpet and posed them just right. In comes the bunnies and my kids were all smiles. This is it! I’m going to have the best Easter pictures ever! And then suddenly my youngest squeals and just as the photographer tells them to say cheese, he throws one of the bunnies across the studio! Yes the photographer caught it on film. Chaos ensued and I had to grab my kids while the bunny handler chased down the crying bunny (who suffered no injuries except maybe a small concussion).

The photographer was swearing and sweating and I thought for sure he was going to kill my kid. But we got another bunny and I explained to my toddler not to throw the bunny or he’d kill the Easter bunny and no more Easter baskets would ever go to little children again.

Both kids got the message loud and clear. They put in another bunny and we got a nice Easter picture. For some reason the photographer looked horrified when I asked if I could order the first picture of the bunny flying through the air. He refused so I settled with the more tame picture.

The next year they stopped doing pictures with live bunnies. Probably because of my kid. I hope you all had a terrific weekend and if you celebrate Easter I hope you enjoyed it.

Midlife Margaritas