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.

The Month that Was: March

“It's sad if people think that's (homemaking) a dull existence, [but] you can't just buy an apartment and furnish it and walk away. It's the flowers you choose, the music you play, the smile you have waiting. I want it to be gay and cheerful, a haven in this troubled world. I don't want my husband and children to come home and find a rattled woman. Our era is already rattled enough, isn't it?”

~Audrey Hepburn

March could be summed up in a word:  sourdough.

Sourdough bread.  Sourdough Rolls.  Sourdough pizza, muffins, banana bread, cookies, pancakes and waffles.

The March goal of getting practiced up with sourdough was great on it's own.  But one should not try to make that a goal right alongside another goal of losing weight.  At least, not one in one's right mind.

Me, on St. Patricks Day, pretending I am the Homeschool Mama I was seventeen years ago.  I did things like this back then.  

How is this marvelous boy HALF her age and just as big?  

This photo is entitled "The Indoctrination of Brothers" and also "A Mother's Heart Goes Pitterpat"  (If she ignores the book, that is.)

The results of indoctrination

I don't remember what constituted that big frown but it must have been a bad day.  :-/  

Thank goodness that crocheting dishcloths counts as a craft project- I barely squeaked the craft goal through. 
I enjoyed this book very much- a selection of personal letters throughout the life of Flannery O Connor.  What a character she was!  I have not read any of her works so this is the first time I know the author more intimately than their works.  If you are a Flannery Fan, what would you suggest I read first?

I was lamenting to my Father-in-law how time is just passing so swiftly by- and how many years I have spent hoping that as I got older and my children got bigger, things would begin to slow down a bit.  He said that "No, they just get faster and faster."  

So now I know.  And that's DEPRESSING.

As time careens past me, particularly in these last few months, I feel an undercurrent that I know will completely shatter my own personal pangea.  My whole world is about the be blown to bits, I just feel it in my bones.  I can't shake it.  It keeps me up at night.  It distracts me during the day.  I want to cling to the goodness of now.  And then I feel pretty sure that God doesn't want me clinging.  That was never His way.  

 I am in a tug of war right now with God.  And like a gentle Father, He is holding onto the rope loosely, tenderly; making it appear to me like I have some semblance of control while simply protecting me from His own strength.  

And so I am trying not to cling.  I am trying to live in gratitude.  I am trying to make the best of things, to revel in the now.  I am trying to create a haven, trying to have a ready smile even when my whole being seems ready to burst.   I am trying not to be rattled.

And, on top of it all, I am trying not to eat ALL THE BREADS.