Easter 09

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! Ours was delightful! Before I share pictures, I am sad to say that I lost all the photos taken from Thursday through Sunday evening. I was heartbroken. Somehow they got deleted. Sweetheart worked all morning and was able to retrieve some, but not all, of the photos. Little Emerson in her Easter dress and her with her great grandfather....gone. My sister receiving her quilt....gone too. Still, there are some that were saved and for that I am thankful. Here are some of them.....On Good Friday, we went to The Journey Of The Cross at our church. It was very moving. We were taken through many stations that reflect on the journey our Lord took for us. This one asked us to reflect on a pair of sandals which were much the same as our Lord may have worn. We were to think about where those sandals had taken Him on those last days before the crucifixion. Where do we allow our own sandals to take us??This station reflected on the Last Supper. I love the faces of my children in this picture. That of honor and respect. They all took this very seriously.Here, the courtyard where Jesus was "tried" among the people who screamed out "crucify Him!"The Journey took us through many stations and most contained a notebook where we could write our thoughts and feelings to God. It was a wonderful experience.

The kids colored Easter eggs and were all ready for Easter Sunday.We went to church early on Sunday morning so the kids could take part in the Easter egg hunt at the church. Here is Pastor Paul directing the kids to where they would go depending on their age group. That is Emerson in the little white bonnet.My kids took off so fast I could not catch them....let me show you why.I have been hobbling around for days now on an injured foot. I was not too slow to catch up with TJ though!!He had his bucket filled to overflowing.Pastor Paul brought him a bag to empty his bucket into so he could fill it again...which he did!

Even Emerson got an egg!!Back inside, we got our seats and waited for the service to start. Doesn't Charlotte look so grown up? She has gotten SO tall lately.After church, we had 20+ people for dinner. It was delicious. My sister and her husband loaded the dishwasher and got it running and then Rachel took over and cleaned the entire mess herself. I can not tell you what a blessing that girl is to me. She vacuumed my whole house on Saturday and helped cook the meal on Sunday PLUS cleaned up!!! I mean washed, dried, put away all those pans and serving bowls!! She knew I was unable to stand for long. I could not be more blessed if she was my own blood.

I did give my sister her quilt. She was very happy with it.
I was glad to see her rub her hand over all the quilting. I could tell she was soaking it in. The quilting really popped after I washed it, like it always does.
If I could do one thing different, it would be the back. I love the back of a quilt....Winona knows what I mean. I will leave it at that for now and post next time on the back of this quilt. I have some things to say!
Have a blessed evening and thanks for sharing my Easter with me.

Holy Day Weekend

Saturday night, coloring eggs. Sunday morning, finding eggs..... Getting ready for a family dinner.... I had not used my china in years. Beloved family....

My parents. At dinner I noticed my Father's hands. They are so familiar to me, but I saw them for the first time today. I have his fingers. I never knew that, but they are identical to mine.

Sweetheart...I love that guy!! My TJ and me...

TJ is eating pie and loving the whipped cream!!! Charlotte, waiting for her pie...Zach after he had his pie.... AND after he lost a pie war with me!!! I have no idea what he is doing with the funnel. My cousin, Lanny (he likes to announce he is younger than me!) My friend Suzy-Q. We have been friends for 29 years. I fixed her up 2 years ago with my cousin and they have been together ever since. They have actually met at other functions, like my son's wedding but they do not remember meeting each other. Sue always spent Thanksgiving and Easter with us, but my cousin never did...until he started seeing Sue.I missed pics of Bud and Rachel and also Kyle. Kyle was downstairs with his buddy who also joined us for Easter dinner. I have no idea how I missed getting a picture of Bud and Rachel. Rachel made a wonderful Broccoli Casserole. There was also Ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, dinner rolls, spinach dip and hawaiian bread (the rabbit bread was a no-go), fruit salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, cottage cheese, a veggie tray (made by Sue) and also the pies my mom brought...coconut cream and chocolate cream.

After everyone left we collapsed. I cuddled with TJ and a book. (That diet starts back full force TOMORROW!!!!) The dishwasher is full and running, the china and crystal are all hand washed and air drying, along with the pots and pans. I will put it all away in the morning. This girl is wiped out!!!
I love the Easter holiday. Not just for what it represents to me (I say "TO ME" for those who feel it is a pagan holiday) which is the resurrection of my Lord, but because it was through the Holiday of Easter, that I accepted the gift this day represents. Easter, 1980, I found my Jesus. I pray you had a wonderful family-filled day too!

The Week, Wrapped Up

I have yet to wrap any gifts, but most of them are bought or made. Just a few more to get, but my kids are done and that is the important thing. I can share some of the things I got for them with you. We are doing the "family box" that Niki talked about. Sweet Hubby and I are very excited about this. I got lots of games, some books and a couple of movies to go in the box. Charlotte wants very little. She rarely has a list and this year she asked for snow pants and boots. Well what fun is that? She needs these anyway. We decided to get 1 big gift for each kid and then one smaller gift. That with the family box will be enough. Here is what I got Charlotte. Not exactly, but close. I bought her the My Generation version of the American Girl doll. The one I got her is identical to the one above. The MG version has the name "Gracie" which is Charlotte's favorite nickname. Since the cost was low, I also got her the horse, and a couple of outfits to go with her. At the price difference of $65, it is not a problem to actually play with her. Charlotte loves to "do hair" on her dolls and this one has very long hair and comes with lots of hair accessories.

Zachary. My Zachary! He wants BIG. He only wants one thing, but it is expensive. We do not spend big on Christmas and I want my children to understand the true meaning, without them losing the magic of Christmas. Is it wrong for Christians to tell their kids there is a Santa Claus? I don't know, but my faith in God is not affected because I believed. Sue's daughter Rachel was explaining to her brother Lucas that Santa may not bring him everything on his list. Lucas looked at Rachel and said in horror, "Rachel! You are pretending not to believe in Santa!" Christmas....children....magic (not witchcraft)....Jesus....Savior....God....it all fits together. Back to my Zachary. He will make a great lawyer. After telling him that Santa probably does not give Nintendo DS's and that it would be a great birthday gift in July, he let it drop.....for about a minute! Then he came back to me and said, "you know mom, it IS Jesus's birthday and He would want me to have a Nintendo DS for His birthday present." Here is Zach's Christmas gift...a RED Nintendo DS, because I do think Jesus would want Zachary to have His Birthday gift.
TJ was easy....I thought...I wanted to get him this....
But I could not find them anywhere as they were out of stock. I ended up getting him this... And yes, I asked my son and daughter in law first, because they are NOT staying here! TJ loves to "drum".

Kyle had a list of DVD movies to add to his collection and I found all of them. So my kids are taken care of and I can relax. I really have not stressed too much as I know it takes all the joy out of the season. The one true gift is taken care of and THAT is to be the focus. So now wrapping is next on my list. Right now all of my kids gifts are at Rachel's house hid away from little eyes!

My tree is looking odd...the kids continue to move ornaments around leaving big gaps in the decor, but I am fine with it. It is their tree too and every so often I try to fill in a "hole" and just move on. The ornament which has a place of honor on our tree is never touched. The kids KNOW better.

It is difficult to see, but it says, "Our First Christmas Together 1979". Sweet Hubby bought it for me 29 years ago.

I have spent sometime this week working on my seasonal/quarterly homemaking list. I need to revamp my HMB to add a few jobs that have popped up along the way. It is always a process. I spent some time baking bread yesterday. I love my machine for the mixing kneading process, but I really like my loaf baked in a traditional loaf pan in the oven. SOMETHING went wrong with this one....
No, a little critter did not do this...I must have had an air bubble or something as it was entirely hollow...the loaf was tossed.

We got more snow last night. Carly does not mind...she loves snow.School at the table is GREAT....I get so much more done during the day and things are staying tidy where school supplies are concerned. Rachel will be here very soon to make purse's for Christmas gifts...we have 9 to do, though she chose to do a single fabric instead of 2 different ones. It will definitely make it go faster. There is a brand new blog out there that I hope you will visit. Her name is Sarah. She is a young woman just married a year. She is a quilter and a Christian who works as a veterinary assistant. Pop over and say hi! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

An Extra Hour In My Day

Charlotte and I wore our dresses to church this morning. Her face lit up when I was doing her hair and she looked at us in the mirror. Sunday was a good day here. The kids played outside with all the neighborhood kids. I think at one time there were 11 kids in our front yard, all piling the leaves from the now bare flaming tree, and then jumping in them. It looked like lots of fun. Only one little melt down requiring a time out for Zach, but otherwise, it was hours of fun!! I decided to re-organize my kitchen. I wanted to create a baking center, yet another thing I learned from Cheryl, and make things more efficient for my new goal of "frugality"...is that a word?? I wanted it efficient, organized and nice looking. I have a collection of old blue ball jars, so I ran downstairs and found them in the 4th box I looked in. That alone was a miracle!! They have been packed away for 7 years, since we moved to this house. I washed them all up, including their zinc/porcelain lids. All the jars are numbered on the bottom. I had 0-9 in 2 different sizes, but a couple of them did not survive the move :( Here is #9 all shiny clean.
I moved all our dishes to a smaller cupboard that was just housing odds and ends...you know if you have a space it will be filled!And then I created my baking center in the larger area next to the sink. The top shelf (not in the picture) is all our meds/vitamins and the first aid kit. The second shelf is all my baking ingredients....flour, sugar, salt, oil, baking soda, oatmeal, etc. I used my jar collection to store some of the ingredients. My OLD Tupperware canisters from the early 80's are still in excellent shape. Hmmmm, I wonder if it's because they were rarely used. The bottom shelf is measuring cups, measuring spoons, and mixing bowls.I wish I had Elizabeth's label maker!!! I will have to figure something out, or I will be throwing powdered milk in place of baking powder! I still have my frig and freezer to "tackle", but that will wait til tomorrow!

While searching for the jars, I found all my Thanksgiving decorations in the 3rd box! Better late than never. I spent Saturday evening cutting out 20 napkins (not enough fabric for 24) which will be just enough. I preferred to have extra. There will be 5 children under 4 here who will get bibs, so napkins won't be necessary for them. I did have enough fabric to cut some 3 1/2 inch square to match with a coordinating fabric for a matching table topper. The fabric says, "There is always something for which to be thankful". Did you all change your clocks back?? I am totally messed up. Is it 6 or 7 o'clock...oh it is only 5!! I guess we did get an extra hour in our day...what did you do with yours? I have time to make a quick dinner and head out to evening service, if I hurry!!