Easter Sunday - 2009

(see post below this for some Easter thoughts)

Good Evening! Truly, this was one of the best days of 2009. Perfect weather, RELAXED visit with family (sometimes a rarity with all family members), a wonderful Mass at church, a good meal, a family egg hunt, a morning egg basket hunt, and prayer! It was a perfect celebration. It hasn't been this good in a while for me. Not sure if it is because this was a really "felt" Lent for us, or our new focus for 2009 carrying on, or just being more in tune with the Spirit and all the activities we did with little "Lovely" and the baby, but it was a rich day.

Last night, before we went to bed, we read the Easter story from her children's bible so she'd understand today, and we left our carrots for the Easter Bunny to find overnight. We started off the morning with waking up at 7:30am (to be honest, this was a little late for me and wasn't "MY" plan, lol, so it was hard in the rush to get ready - since Hubby had to be there early at 8am - not to get into any fights over feeling rushed and behind. I never got a shower, just threw my hair back lol. Then he had to leave, and I had to take a second car with the girls. So I confess, there was a nice spat this morning - it was hard to bring the focus back on what today was about, but once we got to church we were ok!!! Nice how that works, huh? hehe. I'm sorry babe!). Before all that drama though, Lovely discovered the carrots we left out for our bunny friend were eaten, and a little egg and note were left on the plate. It said after Mass she could follow the clues around the house hidden in eggs to her and her baby sister's baskets. We then got dressed and headed to Mass at 9am. It was an awesome Mass! Talk about bringing back the focus and washing away my stress. Hubby played the penny whistle and flute with the choir like every Sunday (but it seemed so Spirit filled today), and they lead us in singing some of the best music (mixture of contemporary and traditional) that helped us focus on the great Hope today - He is Risen! Alleluia (we haven't been able to say that in 40 days)! Lovely got to go to Children's Liturgy too, and really loved it. After Mass we visited some, then headed home to prep for our family coming over to share our Easter meal.

We took some pictures outside before heading inside to change, go on the scavenger hunt for the baskets, (baskets were found on the patio!) and get cooking and baking! In the days before, we managed to enjoy baking pretzel's and talking about their Lenten meaning, and both the day before, and on Easter, made Resurrection Rolls to go with our meal. Everyone in the family (my parents came, along with my sister and her family, to our home) contributed a part of the meal. We ate glazed ham, steamed fresh green beans, a pineapple slaw, mashed potatoes, french bread, and the Resurrection Rolls. For dessert, we had another family tradition - the Bunny Cake, made by the youngest grandchildren that are able to help bake. So, we made that at our house too! After we ate, we hung out in the gorgeous weather outside - had a family egg hunt, and just enjoyed being together. See pictures below. I have the hardest time picking out just a couple (pics include baking from the last couple of days)!!

**P.S. I think the Bunny Cake and I will go this week to wax our eyebrows together....LOL!!!!**
** Also, Baby "Valiant's" checkered Easter dress and shoes? They were my Easter dress and shoes so long ago. Lovely wore them too as a baby :) **


















































































It was truly an incredible day. The sun is setting now, and the kids are in bed, but I'm still grinning, and feel this renewed sense of happiness, hope, and excitement. I know I will help try to keep this, and foster this feeling the next 50 days and beyond!!!

Wherever this post finds you, I hope it is somewhere safe and hopeful. You are loved!

I hope my next post contains more of our Spring Break pictures too.

Happy Easter!! Much love from our family!