An Easter Recap

I love Easter.

I love getting dressed up and decking my boys out in their adorable little suits.
I love the big family dinners.
I love the over-the-top church service at my church complete with choirs, special music, all the pageantry and extras that go into an EXTRAVAGANZA.
And let's be honest...I'm not opposed to the chocolate either.

But most of all... and by a BIG margin - I love celebrating the resurrection of my Savior, and I'm so very grateful for the ultimate sacrifice He made so I could have life, and that more abundantly!!  (John 10:10)

It's for these reasons, that I didn't mind the following rather insane schedule of my day:

5:30am - silently curse my alarm clock for waking me up and resentfully and resistantly get up, shower, and get myself ready. [YAWN]

6:30am - get the boys up, get them breakfast, get them dressed.  Take a moment to congratulate myself on making such adorable children!

Elijah - 11 months, Hayden - 3 years

8:00am - get to church with the whole family for my music practice as I'm leading worship and Dave is part of the team that morning too.


9:00am - pick up baby for family pictures only to have him throw up all down the front of me.   Thank you son.  And thank you baby wipes for saving the day, and my new dress!

9:15am - Succesfully take spit-up-free pictures.

10:00am - Church service starts.  And it's wonderful from beginning to end.  Have I mentioned how much I love my church?  TCC is the BEST!!

Worshiping with our awesome worship team

The kids choir - 1st grade thru 6th grade singing, "Children of God" by Third Day

Terry Lovenburg singing "He's Alive" by Don Francisco

The Iddy-Biddy Choir singing "Jesus was the little lamb"

 10:45am - watch Hayden's choir debut.

The GRANDmas performing "The Easter Song"

Pastor Garylee's Easter message

11:30am - Church service ends...pick up Elijah from nursery and send Hayden & EJ home with Dave to throw my green bean casserole in the oven while I stay to coordinate a wedding ceremony.  (Yep, that's right - there was a wedding at church on Easter.)  Fortunately it was simple, small and SHORT.


12:30pm - hurry home to change, finish my avocado corn salsa, grab my green bean casserole and 7-layer salad along with the rest of the family and head over to Tim & Cara's house for Easter dinner with 45 other wonderful people.  How do you seat 45 people for dinner?  Just like this!

8 tables, 46 chairs, four sets of china and a whole lotta silverware!

1:00pm - Breathe a huge sigh of relief upon arriving at Tim & Cara's house in ONE PIECE without forgetting anything and then almost die when I look at all the magnificent food prepared and realize how hungry I really am since I missed breakfast.

Hello Easter dinner... I think I love you!

1:30pm - be proud of myself for not overdoing it on portions with my Easter dinner and decide to treat myself to a little taste of dessert.

The dessert table, also known as the "death of me."

1:50pm - be ashamed of myself for completely losing control at the dessert table and eating myself into a food coma.  I blame Danielle Kendall!  Really? A white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, oreo cookies and cream pie, strawberry cheesecake AND key lime pie - seriously Danielle, what are you doing to me!!!!

2:30pm - ROLL MYSELF OUT THE DOOR to watch the kids do their Easter egg hunt.  Hayden & Blake were the smallest of the kids so they'd roped off a section just for them with a garden hose and they made out like bandits!  The older kids had a blast roaming around Tim & Cara's amazing property on the ultimate egg hunt.

Showing off their haul!

3:15pm - watch my baby boy (11 months old that day) FLIRT like crazy with a little girl close to his age.  Mentally note I'm gonna have to watch this one extra close!!

Elijah putting the moves on 9-month old Megan Kendall

3:30pm - watch with amazement as the heavens open and the rain starts POURING down.  Say a thank you prayer that it held out until AFTER the egg hunt.  

4:30pm - load up and head home.  Whine a little bit to the husband about being exhausted and am overcome with relief when he suggests you take a nap upon arriving home.

5:00pm - fall into bed and INSTANTLY PASS OUT!

6:15pm - wake up to the sound of the vacuum and walk out to find the world's BESTEST husband has cleaned the entire house as a surprise for me; including kitchen, kids room, living room AND even scrubbed the toilets.  I think I'll keep him!

The rest of the night was filled with family time, winding down and me constantly stopping to hug Dave and thank him again for being so wonderful, smiling over the events of the day and vowing to stay away from desserts for a very long time...

Well at least until the Butter Lover's Club on Tuesday!