Easter 2009

We had a great Easter this year!

We made it through our first Easter where Ingrid understands what's really going on... Rowan, on the other hand, not so much...but he had fun, too! :)

Ingrid was very disappointed that she didn't get to meet the Easter Bunny. She's a bunny-lover! :) At preschool, they have a bunny that the kids get to take care of, and she's in love with this little guy. When we started talking about the Easter Bunny, she gave both Andrew and me the 3rd degree. She wanted to know what he looked like, when he came, how he got the candy, where he came from, and why she didn't get to see him. Shew! It took some creativity, but she was enjoying the stories.

Don't worry...she got just as grilled on the REAL meaning of Easter. She's actually pretty sound on that story. ;)

When the kids got up, we found the eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden and the kids proceeded to stuff their faces with candy (we have no chocolate in our house on account of Ingrid's personality change after eating it...in other words, she turns into her evil twin...). It was hilarious watching them eat piece after piece, looking at us suspiciously sideways, wondering when they were going to get into trouble from eating one more piece...and then another...and another... ;)

Finally, it was time to get ready for church, and I made them eat some real eggs (that Andrew made, wonderfully...since I was busy in the shower warming up to sing for church...) so they could at least partially metabolize all the sugar and avoid sugar shock in the middle of the church service...

I was invited to sing at St. Matthew's this year for our Easter service. I sang I Know My Redeemer Liveth from Handel's Messiah. It went pretty well, although the lilies made it difficult to sing with allergies despite Claritin, ibuprofen, and mucinex-D. :? It made me have to live what I preach to my students about singing with good technique and letting muscle memory take over... It's kind of nice to know I may know what I'm talking about... :)

Another side note: all throughout Lent, I did prayer stations to illustrate the lectionary readings and make the sermons more tangible. Despite the small size of our congregation (and the older average age...), everyone seemed to enjoy them. I came up with them each week and set them up for the congregation to take part in on their own accord. By Palm Sunday, our priest was in on it. For a climactic ending, on Palm Sunday, along with waving palms, when everyone came up for communion, we each got a nail and put it into a cross with holes in it, symbolizing our sins' part in Christ's death. Then, on Easter Sunday, the nails were replaced with beautiful daisies. (The backdrop of our Easter photo above.) Pretty cool.

After the service, they had a little egg hunt for the kids. Ingrid was definitely into it. ;) Here she is showing me her bag full...

She ended up giving some away to a couple of other boys. She was sweet. Rowan, on the other hand, just liked running around. :) He was just fine with Ingrid finding eggs and bringing them to him, and he would open them right away to see what was in them. :) He got the hang of that part...

Then, we went down for coffee time with homemade hot cross buns and fellowship and then some attempts at pictures by the lilies. We got one family shot and several of Rowan trying to get away and Ingrid making silly faces.

This is the best one we got:

When I said, "Say cheese!", I actually meant for them to say it to the camera! :) But kids will be kids... It's actually really cute, isn't it?

Here are pictures of each of them. Cute, huh?

After church, we headed back to Mom and Dad's where Aunt B and Isaac were waiting. Uncle B had to work, so he wasn't able to be there, but Bec and Isaac were able to stay. Then, the WHOLE family came over for dinner. It was fun with all the cousins there with the kids. We let them all gorge on candy and then run around and play all evening while I made cappuccinos for us adults. Fun! ;)

Here are cousins Joshua and Katie with Ingrid (the 3 musketeers...):

Here's Rowan and Isaac romping around on the loveseat:

We all tried to have a hand in making dinner. Melissa and her girls made lemon chiffon pies (YUM!) and hot cross buns, Anita made sweet potato/leek fritatta, Mom made the turkey, ham, potatoes, gravy, and dressing, and I made the kids cupcakes (from scratch, thank you!). Here they are decorated. I don't know if you can see what I was trying to do, but if you look closely (and use your imagination...), you can see the grass with easter eggs hidden in them and bunnies going down holes in the lawn (you can only see their white tails and orange feet...see them?).

I know...they're not professional, but we got a kick out of them. And I got pretty good reviews on how they tasted from the kids. ;) Fun.

The kids actually went to sleep last night, even with all the candy! Rowan woke up nasty, but he has been doing that lately... Today, we limited the candy, and we had a good day at the farm again! :)

Now, it's off to help clean up the place after a day of inside fun...

Happy Easter, everyone! Praise the Lord, Jesus is alive! :)