Easter Weekend

On Friday I ran into a friend at Henry's Marketplace. She asked if we had family coming to town or if we were getting together with friends of if it was just going to be Jon & I for Easter. It was then that it hit me that this Easter weekend kind of sucked.

We've been spoiled the past couple of years to have family around for their spring break. We've looked forward to the Ward's Easter Breakfast & Primary Egg Hunt and neither of those was happening this year. I was also REALLY discouraged and overwhelmed because Jon was taking a red eye flight on Easter Sunday for business meetings in New Jersey. I was pretty overloaded on his last trip and wasn't exactly looking forward to being on my own again for our Spring Break.

But the show must go on, so Friday I pulled out the die tablets and vinegar. I boiled about 18 eggs, cracked nearly 6, then let the kids dip & color. You can see that Jessica is all about the pink & purple. She stole a couple extra eggs, so most of our eggs ended up pink. I bought a specialty box that came with little sponges & GOLD. After the eggs were colored & dried, you touched them up with some gold sparkles. Jessica made splotchy gold patches on the eggs, but Jacob stuck with the crafty project until his eggs shimmered.










On Saturday Jon recruited the kids to help de-rock our second garden plot. We have lots of sunny space in our side yard that never gets used. So we thought we'd add another garden (don't be too impressed - our other little garden is used mostly for tomatoes). We forget that the soil here is 80% rock & 20% dirt. The kids were excavating rocks all morning. This garden gets to host more tomato plants (I think we want to can some homemade tomato sauce for our pizza nights), yellow squash, & zucchini. The big hole is for a citrus tree - I think we'll choose orange. And next week Jon will dig out another strip of grass for a couple rows of green beans.

Sunday was the third time I made it to 9 a.m. Sacrament Meeting. I spent extra time on Jessica's curls & had the boys wear their spring ties. We were able to get a quick snap in front of our blossoming tree. The winds were gusting like crazy. James couldn't keep his tie down. I look like I'm posing in front of a wind machine. I hope to get a nicer picture of Jessica in her beautiful dress with matching pink purse. Really - it's all about the pink with her.

About 9:30 a.m. Jayson was ready for me to take him to the Mother's Lounge. I went toward the back of the chapel to stand up with him because I wanted to hear the Primary Children sing. This was Jessica's first primary performance. All the girls filed up to the left side of the stand. The boys made their way to the right - except Jessica. She followed her brothers and then stepped up on the stool. She stood up nice and tall in a sea of handsome boys. She never looked prettier to me. Heavenly Father sent her to a family where she would always be surrounded by boys. I don't know how I'll feel about that when she is a teenager.

I listened to Sara's talk from the mothers lounge. She had some great stories to share, but the last one was TOO short. Jayson had just spit up all over my skirt and there was no way I had time to change his diaper. I swiftly walked back to the chapel, handed Jayson to Jon, then went up to sing with the Ward Choir. It was nice to be part of the music. I enjoy the friends that come to choir practice. After our two songs, I reclaimed baby and returned to Mother's Lounge for Feeding Part 2 & a diaper change. Go Mom!!!



The kids were kind of ticked that we postponed our family egg hunt (in retrospect - why didn't I do that on Saturday????) until after church. When the kids came home they were excited to find their baskets and feast on chocolate bunnies. Of course Jessica is just a blur of enthusiasm, but I wanted to include the photo because her headband and curls are still so cute.



I did prepare an orange glazed ham, yummy potatoes, & sweet peas & carrots with an apricot dressing. I did NOT take a picture of it. While it tasted good, it wasn't culinary art.