Easter

Easter weekend started for us on Friday. Brad had the day off. (He works longer days during the week so that he can take every other Friday off.) I made a deal with him. I would clean the house completely and he would keep the kids out of my hair. (He ended up doing some vacuuming and he "helped" the kids pick up the playroom, so I think I got the better end of the deal.)

Ahhhh, a completely clean house. I don't think that's happened yet in the four months we've been here. I mean, we've had pretend clean (the quick pick up and wipe down or the bathrooms are clean but I didn't get around to dusting kind of clean), but really clean? I hate doing it, but I love it when it's done.

I can't believe I'm publishing that last paragraph. Please tell me I'm not alone.

Saturday afternoon I started cooking. In addition to Easter fare, I made Ice Cream Delight to take on Monday to celebrate Brad's birthday at small group and a lasagna. (Brad's birthday fell on Easter this year.)

Then, I decorated these with some help from my friend Amy who stopped by.

I baked them in a cake pan that I think my mother-in-law gave me one year. They were fun, but I think I'll go back to cookies next year. These were too much, and (sorry, Amy) I ended up throwing them away today because I didn't need them sitting around. No one really ate them. They were just decoration. Fun, though. :)

We enjoyed a great Easter Sunday service. (I'm still thinking about the sermon and looking forward to the series that will be coming from it.)

When we came home, I tried to take the twins' picture, which you saw in my post yesterday. Hoping to stop the fussing, we gave them their Easter baskets.

It worked for a few minutes.

We bought those baskets this year when we realized they had way too much stuff for the other ones. I'm thinking I'll paint them or sew liners next year.

While I worked on lunch, Brad helped the kids change their clothes and then we opened the goody bag from Aunt Brittany. The electric toothbrushes are a big hit!

Then Daddy took them outside to play "Easter egg hunt" and got some great action shots.

He's a tiger!

We had friends from Brad's work over for lunch. Here are their wives, Selenia and Amy.

We had a super yummy lunch. Here's the menu:

Ham

Devilled Eggs

Salad

Quiche

Scalloped Potatoes

Corn Casserole

Resurrection Rolls

Lemon-Raspberry Mousse

Walnut Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream

Easter Cakes and Marzipan Candies

After a run in the backyard to burn off the sugar energy, we put two exhausted kids down for a nap, and the adults settled in living room to chat.

It was a lovely resurrection day!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15