Easter

"Spring is filled with so many gifts from God."

Last week was Spring Break and Easter. The week went by way too fast! At least we were blessed with beautiful weather. Our children enjoyed a few days of playing outdoors and I got to enjoy sitting outside with my friends too.
A week from today wasn't so fun. I woke up with a terrible migraine. I took some medicine, my sweet boys brought me some coffee, I handed my oldest son our baby, went to the bathroom and got "sick" several times, emailed my hubby, then laid down. All I remember was crying and praying that the pain would go away. I fell asleep. When I woke up I thought - Oh my gosh it must be about 10:00am! I looked at the clock, it was 3:30pm!! Ethan came upstairs to see how I was doing. What wonderful children I have. Wonderful family. Wonderful neighbors. The older children watched the younger ones. They said Daddy called every 2 hours to check up on them. Each of my neighbors called too - one even sent down her teenage daughter to help Brandon with taking care of Jacob and the younger ones.
Well, of course this migraine has sparked curiosity. I always get migraines when I'm pregnant. I took advantage of this on April 1st by posting as my status on Facebook -- Guess What? A few "fell for it" before one person figured out that it was an April Fools Joke. I believe I have a few friends who would like me to be the one to keep filling their "baby needs." A few also told me that I should be careful with what I joke about :o)I guess so. I'm still wondering if I should really go buy a test...
Thursday, we took all 7 children to the mall to see The Easter Bunny. Brandon was thrilled - Ha! He told me that every year I tell him just one more picture - then I have a baby and make him go be in just one more. He was a good sport. He complained about it all the way up to the bunny, but then held Sarah and had a wonderful smile on his face for the picture. He is so good to his mommy.
On Good Friday we had our Easter Egg Hunt in the cul-de-sac. What a beautiful day! We had a big turn out as usual. So much fun. We have all the children get together for a picture then let them loose. The eggs are gone within a few minutes. It's great seeing them all run around with big smiles. Then they all sit in little groups to open up their eggs, eat a few pieces, and trade others. After, a few of us families stayed outside to share breakfast. Everyone brought something and Tommy pulled out the grill. We had donuts, cinnamon rolls, egg casserole, french toast casserole, grilled potatoes and grilled veggies - lots of coffee, juice, and milk. Very yummy! (No meat - Friday and we have a couple of vegetarians.) That night we went to church to watch the youth group do the Shadows of the Stations of the Cross. Well done. The Stations are so powerful. I was proud to see our older children pay attention. (Ethan was in the balcony, in the choir.)
On Saturday we just hung out at home. Grandma Pat came over later in the afternoon and watched baby Jacob while Tom and I took our other 6 to the indoor swimming pool. We met our neighbor there with 3 of her children. I enjoyed watching them all play together. Our 3 older boys spent the entire time together. Sarah got daddy to take her into the kiddie pool. She went down the little slide for the first time and learned that it was a lot of fun. She and Leah and their friend Ellie had a great time. Rachel hung out with me in the warm pool and practiced her swimming. She left me for a little while to go down the big slide and to play with her sisters in the kiddie pool, but mostly we got to have a nice little time together.
Next morning was Easter. Our children got up and ran downstairs. I thought they would have gone right for their baskets, but when I went down to get some coffee, they were all sitting and waiting. Then they looked at all their candy and the Chipmunks 2nd movie that The Bunny brought. They watched the movie right away and then we got ready for mass. Ethan was in the choir so we had to be there 30 minutes early. That was a good thing. Our church was very crowded at this mass. And our family needs to get a long pew all to ourselves :o) Grandma Pat met us at church too. Our children looked very nice all dressed up. Jakey had on a sweet little baby blue vest with a white shirt and cream colored pants. I brought my camera so we could get some nice children-family pictures by the lillies on the altar. And it was again beautiful outside so we got some more pictures in our front yard of all of us.
Tommy got the grill out again. (Love the grill!) We had a very nice Easter dinner together. Everyone sat nicely - once we got settled at the table. We had on some nice Christian Music that my mother and father had sent to me. While I was feeding Jakey in his highchair, I noticed his first tooth had finally broken through. His bottom right. Yay Jakey! Then all of our children got up and started putting their fingers in his mouth to feel the tooth. He would bite down and they would scream and he would laugh. It was pretty cute.
When dinner was done and cleaned up, our children reminded us that we never did color our eggs. So we did. We got out the newspaper and everyone got to do a couple of eggs. That stuff really is messy. I bought a "glitter" kit and a "tie-dye" kit. I think I should just get plain color kits and stickers :o)
Yesterday, Monday, was back to school day. Only Leah was excited. She missed her teacher. Noah had spent the night coughing and getting "sick" from it, so I let him stay home and rest. Last night I went to Eucharistic Adoration at our church. Love that time I have with Jesus. (My son tells me I'm turning into Grandma :o) Maybe so.) I had a lot to think about and to pray about.
Today is Tuesday. I had our 3 older boys take showers this morning and I bathed our 3 girls. After I sent them off to school, I remembered that today was Picture Day for Leah. Ugh. I sent her with wet hair and a long sleeve t-shirt. Oh well. She had on black leggings with a black skirt that she insisted on wearing. I'm so glad she did. The skirt probably saved the outfit. And I'm glad I didn't do my usual braid or ponytail when her hair is wet. When she got home she showed me how she smiled. She told me that someone brushed her hair and that she stood with her arms crossed - that covered up the little stain on her white shirt :o) I'm sure her picture will look adorable. At least I didn't spend the morning stressing out about her hair and outfit. Brandon's kindergarten picture is still my favorite school picture. I forgot it was picture day and he had on a hooded sweatshirt. He looked so "natural" so "Brandon" in the picture. I loved it - still love it!