Eas-terrific!

We had a lovely Palm and Easter Sunday.  Holy Week was a special time for me at our church last year, and I missed being a part of the festivities and celebrations there.  But we enjoyed getting to know our new church’s traditions, which included a child’s parade of palms on Palm Sunday.  Afterwards, Jack solemnly informed us that he was scared because he wanted me to go with him up the aisle, but he sucked his thumb so he wouldn’t be afraid.

The intervening week was unremarkable, until Thursday evening when a car full of family pulled up to our door.  The Professor’s sister, her husband, and their two girls drove down from South Carolina to spend Easter with us.  They actually beat me home – I ran to the grocery after work and got home at 8:15 pm or so, and they were already inside with The Professor.  We let the kids run wild for a few minutes, gave the family a tour, pulled out the trundle from under Liam’s bed, and put the three preschoolers down to sleep in the same room.  There was then much pouring of wine and snuggling of the new baby niece, and we went to bed far later than was good for us.

On Friday we all went to work as usual, and I met the family for lunch at a local oyster house.  That evening we decided to stay in, and I made a delicious green pepper and sausage pasta bake, bread, and asparagus.  Then, on Saturday morning, after a quick trip to urgent care (my sister in law was feeling somewhat poorly), our men took the kids to the playground and the SIL and I got pedicures and brought lunch home.  Saturday after naps, we took the family down to the beach.  It’s hard to convince people of the fabulosity of Alabama Gulf beaches, so we thought it bet to prove it to them in person.

We had a really good seafood meal in a restaurant overlooking a dock full of jaunty yachts and sailboats.  The boys behaved, the baby never cried, and my brother in law got all the seafood his little heart desired.  It was great.

That night, the Easter bunny visited.

After the kids tore into their baskets and hunted for plastic eggs around the house, we all got dressed and headed for church.

Then we came home and had pork roast with apples, glazed whole carrots, twice baked potatoes, and chile cheese grits, plus wine, rolls, and apple cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

After dinner, my in laws took the children to our front porch and got some lovely pictures of the children.

After their paparazzi moment, we decided to dye the 18 eggs I had boiled days before.  We never got to it ahead of time, but I’m glad we ended up doing it because the boys talked about that activity the most.

The kids went to bed clutching the stuffed bunnies their grandmother had sent them, and the four adults set to work on laundry.  Ahhhh, what fun!  Getting all of that beach sand out of their clothes and out of my washer took some doing.

So that was our Easter, in pictures.  I hope yours was as lovely!