Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays! Even though we have the same traditions and do the same thing every year, I just love everything about it. I was really looking forward to it this year, but nothing seems to go exactly as planned these days!
Over the past two weeks, my family has been sick. 5 out of 6 of us came down with a strain of the flu, and it took us down one after the other. Just as one person improved, somebody else got sick. Lily was the only one who escaped it! It was a ROUGH two weeks.
Dylan, Liam and I bounced back quickly. Dylan and Liam had a fever, chills and body aches for 48 hours, then they were fine. I only had it for 24 hours, then it turned into a cold. Grant, however, has been sick for 2 weeks, and Lexie ended up getting it most recently, and was sick with a really high fever from Tuesday until Saturday.
Everyone who was still sick was definitely improving, but Grant and Lexie were still very congested and had a lingering cough that just wouldn't quit. On the evening before Easter, we realized that we would have to change our plans for the following day, and miss the Easter service at church for the first time ever.
To say it was a letdown is an understatement. It just didn't feel like Easter Sunday! But these bumps in the road happen, and it's up to us to adapt. So we focused on the positive. No, we didn't make it to church and we had to cancel most of our plans. But the six of us got to celebrate Easter together, and that's all that really matters!
Although our Easter didn't go exactly as planned, it was still full of special moments that I will always want to remember!
We followed our usual tradition of dyeing Easter Eggs on the evening before Easter. Dylan, Lexie, Lily, and even Liam participated.
Liam TRIED this year. He quickly got the hang of shaking the eggs in the bag, but soon realized that tossing the bag across the room was just as much fun. He ended up with a half dozen of dyed,
cracked eggs!
As usual, my girls were the most creative and put the most effort into it!
Four dozen eggs later, they were done!
After the kids were in bed, it was time to prepare for Easter morning! I assembled the baskets and hid them, then stuffed all of our plastic eggs for our Egg Hunt.
I fell into bed, completely exhausted, and before I knew it, Lily was in our room asking if they could wake up and search for their baskets!
Easter Sunday started perfectly! I opened my eyes to a bright, warm beautiful Spring Day, and everyone was in a happy mood. Instead of rushing into everything like we typically do, we had the chance to tackle Easter morning calmly for the first time ever.
Our four kids ran off in search of their baskets, then went examined each item thoroughly. We weren't rushing out the door for church this year, so we even let the kids enjoy a breakfast of Easter candy!
The Easter Sunday service at church is my favorite service of the year, so I was really bummed that we were missing it. As I cooked Easter brunch, a warm breeze blew into the kitchen from the open window, and I could hear the church bells in the distance, signaling the end of the service.
I could hear all four of my kids laughing in the next room, and it hit me then that in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter that we were missing church. We were still celebrating Easter, and we were celebrating together!
That evening, we went to my parent's house for Easter dinner. My mom had been sick, too, and they didn't mind one bit that we were joining them, germs and all!
After we ate a delicious Easter dinner together, Grant and I set up for our annual Egg Hunt in my parent's yard. We no longer attend public egg hunts because they are too quick and cutthroat, and instead, we do it on our own. The kids love it so much more, and they actually look forward to it!
Liam still wasn't interested in participating. Running around the yard and playing was more appealing! There
just might have been an egg incident, too. Somebody might have hidden an egg in the dryer vent only to have a gust of wind blow it completely into the dryer! Oops...luckily I took off the dryer hose, tilted the dryer and rescued the egg!
Dylan, Lexie, Lily and Liam worked together to find every single egg, then had even more fun emptying each egg!
After the egg hunt, they all posed willingly (almost) for a quick Easter Sunday photo session!
We had dessert with my parents, then enjoyed the last gorgeous hour of daylight together on their deck. We may not have been able to spend Easter with most of our family like we typically do, but we sure felt blessed to be able to spend it with my parents! It was a perfect evening!
We reluctantly said our goodbyes, then headed home. Grant and I decided that we had to add some more religion to our day, so we all changed into our pajamas and curled up on the couch to watch The Ten Commandments. Lily and Liam quickly fell asleep, but Dylan and Lexie impressed us. Lexie fell asleep JUST before the end, and Dylan made it the entire way through! It was a great end to our Easter Sunday!
Although our Easter didn't go exactly as planned, we made the most of it, and enjoyed celebrating the holiday together. I will definitely hold many of these memories dear for years to come!
What was your favorite Easter moment?
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