Happy Easter! We are taking full advantage of the 50 days set aside in the Church calendar to enjoy Easter! I thought we’d share some of the highlights of our celebration. We started Easter morning with monkey bread. It looks pretty nice in the pictures, but was unfortunately not cooked all the way through. After serving the girls some of the first batch that was undercooked, they would not try the second batch that came out really nice! The first Easter craft was also a dud. The girls had made caterpillars out of egg cartons on Holy Saturday and Mama replaced them with paper butterflies Easter morning. They were actually quite disappointed to have “lost” the caterpillars and requested them back. Livy said they could not change into butterflies because they were not alive. The symbolism was completely lost on everyone! Maybe next year . . .

We made it to Mass early (which was good as it was a very full house, as is to be expected) and all of the girls had our hair done pretty and wore fancy dresses with matching shoes (even Mama (except for the matching shoes part), who usually runs out of time). Daddy really spoiled us in that department this year!

We walked excitedly back to the van while visions of Easter baskets danced in our heads.

The bunny did not disappoint and instead of Easter baskets this year, he filled a shopping cart with books, candy, plastic drinking cups with monkeys on them, washable dry erase markers, molding clay, an Easter craft, new princesses to complete our collection of the polly pocket sized ones, and a James Avery cross necklace for Molly (Livy got an identical one last year and Violet will next year – another tradition!) – oh, and even a dog toy for Red.

We enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard and dinner with cousins. We decided traditions are good for multiple reasons – the obvious ones about creating memories and bonding us together, and the fact that it makes planning for holidays so much easier! So dinner was a repeat of last year – roasted pork loin. This time JR roasted potatoes to go with it and finished it off with green beans and rolls. It was delicious! I think my favorite part of this tradition is that JR is the Easter chef (come to think of it, he was the chef for Christmas, too)!

Dessert came out really well, too – thanks to JR’s assistance with the boiled frosting (I had never made meringue before). It is Wilton’s “Fruitful Blessings” cake made with our new cross pan. Livy enjoyed placing the fruit on the cake and there were only a few stray blueberries. The cake paired equally as nice with white wine as with coffee – we tried it with both!

We couldn’t let the day end without a group photo of the girls and cousin Hannah. Isn’t she adorable? She fits right in!

Since the day itself, our celebrating has continued. We died our eggs the weekend after Easter and then hunted for those in the backyard. Made egg salad with them which nobody ate but Mama – Livy even went so far as to say “I don’t want your disgusting sandwich!” We had a little talk about being polite. We colored cross ornaments (the Easter craft from their Easter basket) and still have a carton of confetti eggs to use at a park in the coming days. I’d never seen these before coming to TX but we are hoping to have fun with them where they won’t make a mess in our house or fancy backyard! The girls & I have also been enjoying some after-season sales at Pier One (we picked up a pretty wreath for the door & a nest decoration for the coffee table), Hobby Lobby (got some Resurrection Eggs, and some Easter crafts for next year), and the grocery store (founds some Easter/Spring cookie cutters for a dollar). This year it didn’t seem like we had much decorating we could do for Easter, but next year we should be set thanks to our new stash and the tub in the attic!

Happy Easter!! May the Risen Lord bless you and fill you with His joy and His peace.