A Blessed Birthday and Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend was a busy one! It started off with my birthday on Good Friday, was filled with our favorite Easter traditions, and ended with a beautiful Easter Sunday. I know I'm in the minority, but Easter is one of my favorite holidays!

We packed a LOT into 3 days! I had a mini birthday celebration, we dyed Easter Eggs, we had two backyard egg hunts, we had a mini Saturday evening Easter dinner with two friends, and we celebrated Easter with my parents and my sister's family. Other than not being able to go to church in person, the weekend was perfect!

I planned on posting the day after Easter, but apparently when I turned another year older, my body decided to break! I pulled a muscle in my lower back for the first time ever, and I literally could not move without feeling excruciating pain for two days, and I ended up in bed for hours. Thankfully, it went away quickly, and to celebrate, I got my first vaccine, and felt yucky for about 24 hours. But, hey, let's get back to my birthday and Easter!

Celebrating Another Year Around the Sun

It was another pandemic birthday for me, but it was a good day! I woke up to breakfast made by Lexie: a perfect cup of hot tea and delicious gourmet french toast. Grant and the kids gave me my big gift right away - a new laptop, which should make writing much easier! One of my best friends was at our house, and gave me the gift he thoughtfully picked out. He was definitely listening months ago when I mentioned needing a bigger purse!

We had a quiet morning/afternoon at home, then Grant logged off work, and we headed out to Olive Garden for an early dinner. It was Good Friday, so we knew it would be packed no matter what time we went, but I am so thankful for their new wait in the car until your table is ready system! The wait wasn't too long, and since we opted for soup, salad, and breadsticks, we got our food quickly!

I arrived home to a sweet gift from my other best friends, then the kids were super excited to give me the presents they chose for me, and finish the celebration with cake. We ended up having a movie night after cake. It was a great birthday with some of my favorite people!

Our Favorite Easter Traditions

For some reason, we always save our Easter traditions for the day before Easter. I think it just gives us an extra day to celebrate! We usually have a bigger Easter dinner with our friends that evening, as well, but due to the current state of things, we're still keeping our crowd small.

That Saturday, our close friends came over with their 2 kids. We put in a small ham, and got some sides ready to cook, then headed outside for a little egg hunt. When we came back in, it was time to eat. We enjoyed a pre-Easter dinner together, then the kids all sat down to dye Easter Eggs. Except for Dylan...his girlfriend was over, and he was just too cool for this tradition!

It was a nice evening with our friends, but I'm definitely looking forward to our regular Easter Eve dinner party next year! Still, we headed to bed feeling very grateful, and looking forward to the following day!

A Blessed Easter Sunday

Our Easter Sunday looked a bit different again this year. It was another year of not going to Easter service, but we're not quite ready to venture out into enclosed spaces with crowds yet. Easter service is my favorite, but we enjoyed a quiet morning at home this year.

The kids found their baskets and dug into their Easter goodies, we read The Easter Story, and we enjoyed a beautiful morning together...just the 7 of us! Later that afternoon, we headed to my sister's house for dinner with her family and my parents. Again, a much smaller crowd, but it was a nice Easter dinner with some of my family members.

After dinner, the little kids had another Easter Egg Hunt. They were so excited to spend some time with their cousins, who just moved up here from Florida this past year! Half of the adults had to work the following day, so it ended up being an early night. We returned home, and just enjoyed the rest of the day together. It was different than usual, but such a beautiful Easter Sunday!

That brings us somewhat up to date! I still have so much to catch up on, and so many posts to finish, but this is a start. I didn't want to dive back in until I shared us first! I hope you all are well!