Easter Afternoon

Oh boy.  I know it's awful to go this slow this week.  But pockets of time, little pockets, are how I work best..  This is the last, promise!



We spent the afternoon at my brother's house.



She did an amazing job decorating. This was the children's table. (yes, those are little bunny poppers)





The dining room was beautiful.



My silly niece and nephew. Time for the cousin egg hunt!



The sun came out and the it was Easter beautiful!





The cousins relaxed and played all afternoon.





Anna had a homework assignment to interview someone.





I love us.



And Abigail could pretty much be found taking care of Kye.







The day went by too quickly. I was wishing we had the week following Easter as our Spring Break but now that it's already Thursday we still have an April week coming up to look forward to. Good bye Easter 2016... memories to hold dear.

Easter Morning

Our church is an extension of family. And there really is no other way to describe it ... we feel at home at church.  Love pours from those doors.  And we know how blessed we are to have found it.  So spending holidays at church are so meaningful for us.

It was a chilly morning with grey skies... but the weather promised sunshine and a bit warmer temps in the afternoon.  Still we wore spring clothes.

Anna wore a mint dress with cream lace overlay and a linen jacket from April Cornell.



I love her eyes.





Abigail worn a vintage (looking) dress that was "so her". Delicate and soft. I just loved it!



Her coat was Anna's at the age of 6. A beautiful Italian wool coat that I had cleaned. It looked darling on her.



I added a crinoline underneath so that it would hold up the dress and coat instead of laying flat against her.



With one a minute or two to spare I took a few quick family photos just to 'mark' the day.



Oh, and Anna's shoes were little wedge heals with raffia.  (lands end)



I love the bright grosgrain ribbon on Anna's dress.  It was just the pop of color our family photos needed.





Tulle crinoline and satins ties on her shoes is happiness on Easter for me.





I hear that red hair changes as children grow. Oh please, I love her locks and am hoping they stay. Someday she'll walk through these doors as a bride. I tell that to my girls all the time.



Abigail went each Saturday morning in Lent to rehearse for the children's choir. She was beaming that morning knowing that she would be singing on the alter.



Father Sid. He is one very special priest. He never misses stopping in on the Family Rosary Group after Mass each week.







Sometimes I feel funny taking out my camera during the Homily. (I know they look somber... but I really just snapped at the wrong time... it was delightful, funny, sweet, and wooooonderful) Father Tom sits on the floor and the children sit on the alter steps.



Once we got home the girls changed back into their Easter nightgowns and grabbed their empty baskets for a hunt.



They found some little gifts the bunny must have picked up at Bath and Body Works. These girls are growing up.









Hair flying, laughing, fun, second part to our morning.









And then they opened up a kit the bunny had left them. They made these adorable terrarium necklaces.



I love the little deer inside.



We had a very light lunch and they were off to my brother and sister in laws house for Easter dinner.

7 am

I'm writing this on Monday morning.  Very early.  It is still a bit dark outside, although some light is beginning to come in.  I hear rain on the skylights above the family room and I before I walked down to the playroom to type so that I don't forget my feelings I pause at the doorway to the family room.  I smile seeing that the girls 'put back' their baskets so that they look the way the bunny left them.  All pretty again.  And I smile at the foil from little chocolate eggs on the floor in front of Anna's basket.  The opened up plastic eggs on the coffee table remind me of the little egg hunt in our house.  And the 'make your own Terrarium' necklaces they started after we got home from Mass are mostly done but little pieces of clay and dirt and moss are on the wood floor.

And to me it looks perfect.  Just as it should the morning after Easter.  All of the bunnies still up and garlands hanging.  It was a good, good, Easter.

There was a time (and maybe still a little still) that I wished I could go back.  To babies, to diapers, to cheerios in my purse to keep a little happy at church.  But this Easter I loved who they were,  the stage they are in now.

There are still challenges in this stage.  Some the same, some different.  ) But there is such joy in eight and twelve too.  Their eyes light up for different reasons now and they are still just as wonderful.

I caught Abigail with a pile of toddler books on her cousins bed, reading one after another to her three year old cousin.  Eyes sparkling.

Anna lovingly helping Abigail with a craft.  Checking in on her.  Being so sweet about not eating chocolate in front of her.  Distracting her from the 'treats' of the holiday that were all around her.  She just does it by instinct.  Eyes sparkling.

'Just Stay Little' will always be my hearts motto.  But enjoy them now, that's pretty good too.

On to Easter morning.



































































The best part of Easter was right after all of this.  Off to Mass