Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:6-7



Monday, April 13, 2009

A Joyful Easter Monday

The weekend was so packed full of glorious activities that we're looking forward to to a restful and joyous Easter Monday. I snapped a few pictures over the weekend, although not as many as I intended.


We finished our Station Grottoes on Holy Thursday and placed them in the front window.


We colored our eggs on Saturday. Unfortunately neither my children nor their mother are very patient and we ended up adding food color to a few egg dyes, and mixing up a few Kool-aid dyes to make up for the natural dyes that flopped. Back row, left to right: cherry Kool-aid, red beets juice, water from soaking black beans, blueberry pomegranate juice, purple Kool-aid (not a good color at all), orange Kool-aid; front row, left to right: green tea (which did nothing and so we added green food color, beet juice again, Barry's Gold Tea, spinach water which did nothing and so we added blue food color, yellow onion skins, celery seed water to which did nothing and so we added yellow food color.

Unlike some people who do this with excitement and artistic flair, my lack of patience and my children's desire to "get Easter egg colors" made this not such a great project for us. The children are just too stuck in their ways to want to do it any differently and I didn't listen. I guess it was more of a tradition for them than I realized. We modified, when some of the colors just weren't turning out at all, we added food color, or mixed up Kool-aid dyes, and they ended up o.k. with it. I would have been happy with a bowl full of Barry's Gold Tea eggs, beet juice eggs, and the black bean water eggs. They were very pretty. Maybe we each need to have our own dye session to be happy.


Saturday night after getting Easter baskets ready I had to laugh and take a picture. Yes, it is an abundance of candy. I told my husband, who really doesn't care what I do with the Easter baskets as long as he doesn't have to be involved, that I am living my childhood through my children. One year when I was about 12 years old, my best friend received the best Easter basket ever. Where the bunny gifted me with cream-filled and foil covered chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies, my best friend received Now 'n' Laters, Sweet tarts, Lick 'em Aid -- the junky sugary stuff that kids love. I coveted her Easter basket with every bite of good Russel Stover chocolate.

This year I ordered candy from Old Time Candy Co. and boy was it a blast from the past. my kids declared it the best Easter ever, so it must have been the right choice! I was impressed as I unpacked the candy and toys -- whoever packed it up at the company gave me four parachute men in four different colors, and four stretchy men in four different colors -- clearly an experienced mom!


Peach after Easter Mass in her new dress (it arrived on Friday!) next to Mother Mary. It was a little chilly but the sun was shining.


The egg hunt.


Even the big kids participated.


We had a beautiful Easter and hope you did too!



14 comments:

  1. You are way too kind! Seriously!!! My kids approach our natural dyes like a science experiment. We go to the grocery store, they pick out weird foods, we bring them home, chop them up and boil them. Then they try to guess what will happen and the next day, they compare results. Now this year, since I had some last minute Alleluia letters to decorate to replace the banner that we lost, Husband came home with a PAAS kit and kept the kids busy while I snuck off and painted. They enjoy both activities but on totally different levels.

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  2. I just couldn't get them in that "science experiment" state of mind. "But how are we going to get Robin's Egg blue?"

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  3. Those stations are awesome!!!

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  4. Those stations are great! Love all the Easter pictures, thanks so much for sharing!

    We just get the Paas, cheapest kind of egg coloring kit, the 99 cent one, I'll leave the experiments for a less busy time!!

    The eggs turned out beautiful though!

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  5. What a beautiful celebration Barbara! Happy Easter to you and your family!!!

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  6. Happy Easter, barb. Love the dress you got for Peach.

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  7. These are great Easter pics, Barbara! It looks like you all had a lovely day.

    And I have no patience with egg-dyeing either, so I give the kids their own eggs and keep a stash for myself :)

    Happy Easter!

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  8. How very funny--Peach is wearing the same Easter dress that I was waiting on for my three girls! (Ours arrived in the nick of time, too.)

    Happy Easter, dear friend.

    PS. Our eggs are boiled but still waiting to be dyed. You are clearly comparing yourself to the wrong people. ;)

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  9. Thanks, Anne. You're so sweet!


    Thanks, Jamie. Yes, I think we have to leave traditions alone and find other things with which to make science experiments. Either that or do both like Charlotte did (though I'm not sure if we can eat all that egg salad!).


    Thank you, Jessica!


    Thanks, Michelle -- she didn't get it dirty -- an Easter miracle!


    Thanks, Aimee. It was a nice day!


    Haha, Margaret. Great minds...I'll be looking for pictures!

    PS You're right -- I'll stand next to you next time!

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  10. you know i HAVE to say, your daughter looks great in her pretty dress. . . but your son's outfit is AWESOME
    r

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  11. Regina, It took me a minute to figure out what you were referring to -- haha! I must say he did not go to Mass that way!

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  12. Great photos of your Easter celebration! I like the old-fashioned candy assortment—blast from the past is right! Oh, and it's so typical—the girls want to stay in their fancy dresses all day long, and the boys can't wait to change into their jeans and T-shirts! =)

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  13. Thanks, Sarah. Yes, Peach stayed in her dress until one of her boy cousins came over and then she had to put jeans and tennies on to keep up!

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  14. I love all of it! And I love the name of your blog. I too have 4 kids age 2 to 11 and pray for more grace every day.

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I appreciate your comments -- sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself!