He is risen, but I am barely awake

4:35am. That's what time Robbie started asking, "Mom! Mom! Can we go find our Easter baskets?" (Note to my own mother: Stop laughing. I know what you are thinking about paybacks.)

Holy hoppin' rabbits, kid, go back to sleep! But no...every 15 (or 10 or 5) minutes, it was more of the same..."Mom! Can we go do Easter now?!"

I held them off until about 5:55am. Then by the time I went to the bathroom, had a good stretch, turned on the lights, it was about 6am, which sounds at least a little more sane.

Robbie was the first to find his basket, hidden behind the blanket chest in the family room. Charlie found his next on the bookshelves. Annie's was in the living room on top of the bookcase, behind the globes. Finally, I found ours next to the couch.

As usual, E.B. did not disappoint. There were mini cans of soda and packs of sugar-free bubble gum, Reese's peanut butter eggs and marshmallow Peeps.

There was an iguana puzzle for Robbie, though it was the small chocolate bunny that got his attention. See the evidence on his face?

Charlie got a Vortex something or other football "autographed" by Peyton Manning. I didn't have the heart to tell him the signature was mass-produced:

Probably the best surprise was that the Easter Bunny found Annie's Nintendo DS that has been missing since November! (Thanks Aunt Betsy for the help!)

Oh, and the Twilight SweetTarts were a hit as well.

In the midst of all the fun, Charlie, who is proving to be a sensitive kid, said something akin to "Daddy is missing out." I haven't said it here before, but Mike is not living at home right now. So I suggested we give him a call. It was about 6:19am.

He was sleepy, but glad to share in the Easter festivities by phone anyway. He'll be here later this afternoon and we'll all go to the 6pm Mass together.

After we hung up with Mike, I put a kibbosh on the candy eating and put all the baskets on the fireplace, declaring it the "no eating zone."

I know, who am I kidding? The only way to keep them from devouring the candy is to lock it away. But I think I am subscribing to the "eat it all and get it over with" theory.

The breakfast menu was cinnamon rolls, hard boiled eggs and smoked sausages. Now we're vegging out and watching Nim's Island. Love that movie!

Looks like it's going to be a pretty day. Hope it is where you are. Of course, regardless of the weather, Easter Sunday is a glorious day, indeed!

Honestly, Officer, it was just a little mix-up...

Mike called me this morning from his parents house around 8:30am -- which is 7:30am in Southern Indiana. I was a little surprised to hear from him so early, but even more surprised when he said, "You're gonna want to blog about this!"

Apparently Charlie woke Mike up early this morning and said, "Dad, I want to get my Nintendo DS." He had left it in the car when they arrived at my in-laws last night.

"I'll get it in a minute," Mike told Charlie as he rolled over to go back to sleep.

A little while later, Charlie woke him again. "Dad, I want to get my Nintendo DS but the door is locked."

Realizing that Charlie had already been outside and didn't know to turn off the security system before he opened the back door, Mike quickly got up. Heading downstairs in his boxers and t-shirt, he saw the back door standing open and heard the soft "beep-beep-beep" of the alarm system, indicating that the silent alarm had been triggered.

Mike walked to the back door and reached for the knob of the storm door just as a police officer was reaching for the knob on the other side of the storm door. The officer moved back quickly and put his hand near his holster.

"Sorry, Officer, there's been a mix-up," Mike tried to explain. He informed the officer whose house it was and that he was visiting from out of town.

"My son wanted to get his video game from the car and opened the door without turning off the alarm."

The officer seemed unconvinced.

"I can get my driver's license," Mike offered.

"Yeah, you're want to get something," the officer answered, though upon hearing the story, I wondered if the officer was referring to Mike's driver's license or his pants.

"The security company has already called a neighbor to come over, too," the officer informed Mike.

The neighbor turned out to be Buck, Mike's 89-year-old grandmother who said, "Well, now I know that you made it to town!"

A few minutes later, the officer was on his way to a real emergency, Charlie was breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't arrested, the rest of the house was awake and hungry from all the excitement, and I had a topic for today's blog entry.