Eastering

There was candy and JUICE on the table for breakfast and hanging hanky garlands~ it must be Easter!

Funny how quickly children come to the table when there is candy on it.  ;-)

It looks like Ineke and Moses are trying to decide what those rolls were supposed to be... no one realized they were supposed to be rabbits with candy cottontails until I told them.  

Ah well.  You win some, you lose some.

After a yummy breakfast and church, we made our way to John and Holly's house for an Easter gathering...

Along with an egg hunt for candy for Littles and an egg hunt for MONEY for Biggles, Aunt Holly had a special activity for the little girls involving a treasure map.

(Clearly Aunt Holly is THE BEST.)

I love this next series of photos because you can follow Ineke's disbelief of her good fortune.

 "Is this really happening?"

The cutest house basket purses ever!  And filled with candy, to boot.  

Before the party, I had hidden, down the road and in plain view, Easter bags for each child- will they find them?  

They will, indeed.

Don't get too close!  These lovely ladies have a fierce defender/protector waiting in the wings.

Our lovely hosts!

I am particularly proud of this year's Easter coordination because it all just hand me downs through the years that happened to work together the day before (or morning of) Easter... even Adele's and my exact same dresses came to us separately.  A bit of Jones, a bit of Owen, a bit of Reigle (with some rummage sale and shower curtain thrown in for good measure) represented here- hand me downs are the best.

Easterly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The day before Easter I had the realization that though the crocheted dresses for the girls were done, slips would be necessary for underneath.  I went to town, hunting through stores and stores only to find that the days of slip wearing girls have long since past and I never got the memo.  Everyone I asked raised eyebrows and wondered at the craziness of the curious lady wondering about a (what was it?) slip.  Some even laughed.  Out loud.  So that night I was forced to figure SOMETHING out which led to me converting a tanktop to Adele's slip and a slip of my own into one for Corynn while every now and again glancing up to watch Man of Steel into the wee small hours of the evening/morning.

Easter was a mad dash to get potatoes sliced for scalloping, egg yolks plucked for devilling, French bread rolled for baking, dust bunnies swept and furniture polished for being inviting, chairs brought in for sitting and plastic eggs scattered for finding.  We rushed out of church to get home before our guests arrived and to get the oven warmed up in time.  Though rushed on the outside, my insides were calm and peaceful.  The Lord reigns.  Oh death, where is thou sting?  He lives.

Needless to say, I got very few pictures of our Easter- only four...of my mom and my brother and my husband-love and the blueberry pie that wasn't quite sweet enough.  All other pictures were taken today by a very patient group of children who were told to put on their Easter things so I could take pictures.  "And for goodness' sake, don't act cold!" 

Even though, of course, it was cold.  Very cold, indeed.

This was the pattern I used for the dresses, though a word of warning- opt for a bigger size than you think you'll need and keep adding on rows at the bottom until you get to the length you prefer because the pattern (in my experience anyway) produced much more of a tunic than a dress and was certainly on the small size.  I worried that Adele's might not even fit her after it was done!)  The bow ties were easy peasy too...I didn't follow a pattern but here is quite a selection of patterns to choose from.

I am not sure what project to get started/finished next and will wait until inspiration strikes.  In the meantime, I am busy reading An Everlasting Meal: Coking with Economy and Grace.  Hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Peeking (P,H, F,R)

 

 

 

 

We very spontaneously had to replace our computer over the weekend.

Pro: I have a husband who knows how to do that sort of thing.
Con: I am a stuck in the internet dark ages and rely fully upon him to make everything run smoothly.

When the computers were finally switched over I thought "Good!  Now I can blog!" But then I realized that I could no longer get the pictures from my camera to the computer because something or other had to be installed/uploaded/downloaded/xboxed/ipaded or whatever it was that needed to be done.

(repeat pro and con sequence above)

All's well that ends well and our old computer was replaced before it died, so no pictures were taken to the grave with it.  I'm very thankful for that. (That would be HAPPY.)

I found myself peeking this past weekend- at the sound of a big sister reading exuberantly to her siblings... at the boy and his tractor making donuts on the snow... at the donuts, chocolate covered, on the counter... at the Waxflowers blushing on the counter...at the little girl reading comics while the big girl braids...at the teeny stitches on flour sacks that the Amish ladies down the road made and how they made shadow caverns among the cows...

I take the beauty of my life too lightly, most especially when the stresses and worry of everyday life pile up and weigh heavy.  When moments make you droop with weight like the snow covered pine boughs in late February, it does a heart good to peek. 

Somewhere a woman pines to be married and have babies but goes to bed alone every night, a couch stands empty where babies once were but are no more and a parent mourns their loss, a child lays in a hospital bed, fighting for their little life, bellies rumble with hunger that won't be appeased today-maybe even tomorrow or the next day, the quilt that warms a wall for decoration would serve better warming a soul in need.

When you stop thinking of your own worries and start thinking of others- that's when you realize how small, how light a load you carry.

***

I had to make a trip uptown this weekend to get a few plumbing supplies for Matt and while uptown, I went into Wegmans.  I was anxious, now that February is over, to go grocery shopping FOR REAL.  I piled the cart high with bananas, clementines, lettuce and FRESH VEGGIES and then called it quits. My heart just wasn't into anything else, I just wanted fresh fruit and veggies.  And lots of them. OH, and waxflowers.   Because they were so worth it!  (That would be the PRETTY.)  What a TREAT that first banana was!  How GOOD those clementines taste!  Oh my goodness.  Divine.

I promised the children that after the Nothing-But-Dairy challenge was over, we would celebrate by making donuts.  I've never made real donuts before (I did make baked donuts once), though I have wanted to try for some time.  By Sunday, though, I had the most excruciating headache.  Matt and I both.  We missed church and lazed under blankets watching Lawrence of Arabia or willing the pain to go away.  I got off the couch only to make some homemade chicken noodle soup (it's no fun making your own get-well soup, btw) and donuts.  I did forgo the yeast donuts, opting for a cake donut instead to get them done and over with.  And then, I never ate one.  But they did look pretty and impressive looking.  I did admire them before I plopped myself back on the couch to sulk.  Yeast donuts will have to happen sometime too, when I will actually enjoy the process (and the eating).

The other day I was thinking about Easter , specifically, about Easter clothes.  I never did get around to making anything special for the childrens' Easter outfits last year, which worked fine because they didn't really need them anyway.  Besides, they still fit into the clothes made  for them the year before.

 I got the crazy notion the other day (maybe in my headache fog?) that perhaps I would like to crochet the girls' matching skirts this year instead of sewing something.  Then, I hopped on Ravelry and found dress patterns instead.   Then, I laughed at myself. (That would be the FUNNY.)  Dork, says I.  How would I finish crocheting DRESSES before Easter?!?  Then, for giggles (and because I happened to already have two coordinating cones of cotton yarn) I started Adele's.  And then FINISHED Adele's dress in a couple of days! (For REAL.)  I couldn't believe it!  I might just be able to get them done in time for Easter after all! 

But until they are ACTUALLY done, I make no promises...to children OR blog.