Easter Sunday!!!

Easter Sunday, dawned bright and early for us all/  We were all bone-tired, after an event-filled Saturday Easter Truth hunt at the church and a 10 mile walk at the track, but it was worth it to get up extra early on Sunday to attend the sunrise service.  That was followed by a breakfast that had us all stuffed to the gills!!  Then it was back home to get on our Sunday clothes and arrive back at church for the 10:30AM morning worship service.  Here are all the boys in their black suits and Callie in her very first 'momma-made' pink Sunday suit!!! :) 

Seth

 Simon

 Poor Samuel....he still looks half asleep.  We were getting tickled for during the service his head kept bobbing back and forth.  He was fighting sleep so bad!!!

 Yep, Callie is wide awake!!!

 After church, we headed to my parents home for Easter dinner.  The kids received baskets full of candy from Grandpa and Grandma.

 Yes, I'm one of those adults that LOVE getting an Easter basket filled to the brim with candy!!!!

 My momma being silly posing with the basket she gave Duane and I.

 Went in to get a picture of Duane with the Easter basket of goodies for us and he was asleep. :)

 Callie's basket is almost out of candy already!!! 

After dinner, I talked my brother into taking a walk with me.  Was a fun and FAST 3.5 mile walk around the neighborhood.  He's trying to talk me into training for some races now!!!  We'll see about that!!!

Sunrise & Services, Family & Food, Egg Hunt, Candy & Cows

~It's Easter 2010~

Easter Sunday started out with a beautiful sunrise and

a service at our church.  I missed them all.  Was still sleeping! :)  Duane was there and took the pictures.

a breakfast for the sunrise service attenders! :)

The crowd at church that morning!

Pastor gave away a Bible and a meal out with he and his wife to the person that brought the most visitors to church.  Someone brought over 30 people!!!!!!

After church, we drove 2 hours to have Easter dinner with relatives.  Our 3 boys had spent the weekend at their grandparents and were already there.  We ate and then the kids had an egg hunt.

Ready.....

...get set.....

and they're off!!!!

I love this shot of Callie in motion....

                                 
                                      

Daddy helps sort the candy and the eggs.

Poor Samuel....he didn't get very many eggs 'cause he wanted money eggs soooo bad.  He would find an egg and open it before going on to the next one.  At one point, he picked up an egg, shook it, didn't hear anything inside, so he through it down.  Seth came along, picked it up, and it had $1 inside!!!!

All our kids on Easter Sunday.  The only one in Easter finery....Callie!!! 

All my parents grandkids in front of my Aunt & Uncle's home.

The clean-up crew--my Aunt, Mom & Grandma.

Peeking around the corner at mommy!

Going down the slide in the backyard.  My Aunt & Uncle literally have a playground in their backyard.  It's awesome!!!

They also have cows and daddy had to take Samuel & Callie to see them.

The cows seem to say....'what are YOU looking at!?"

Love this picture!

When we got back to my parents house, my mom had baked me an early b-day cake and gave me a bag full of gifts and a beautiful flower!

She even lit candles for me to blow out!!! 

And that was our Easter.....

The End.

Video Clips from Easter Cantata 2009

~Easter Sunday & More~

Grandpa Thomas and the kids.

Mommy and the kids. Don't we look like we need the FREE community dinner! :)
Me and my hubby at church. Definitely going to wear a black shirt with this skirt next time! Way too much pink for this girl!!!!

Trying to take a picture of Simon in the backseat of the car. This was on the way to Daniel & Tina's house for Easter dinner. Callie and Samuel were both laying on Simon's lap and he wanted me to get a picture of them. I couldn't exactly get the angle quite right. I was holding food in my lap, trying to twist around and take a picture at the same time. Didn't exactly work out!! :)

Callie & I blow out the candles on my ooey-gooey-yummy birthday cake made by Tina! "Thanks for the wonderful B-Day Cake, Tina" What an interesting name you gave it! :->

Let's start with the day before Easter. What a crazy, busy day!!!! It was my birthday, so I decided I would take it easy. Ha! That doesn't happen for a mom of 4 kids on a Saturday. I got to sleep in until exactly 8:02 AM when my daughter climbed into bed, hands me the container of strawberries, and asks me for one. I guess that could have been worse. I could have been rudely awakened by the entire pound of strawberries rolling all over me and my bed. At least she didn't try to open them herself! :) Next, the phone rings. My dad calls to wish me a "Happy Birthday" and asks how it feels to be 21!!!!! Let's see, when I was 21 I was mother to 1 boy!!!! A lot has happened since then. Next, I was in the sewing mood. I decided to make my 2 nieces in town a purse for Easter. I got out the fabric and started cutting and sewing. At 10:45AM I was finished with 2 purses and due to have my kids at a church egg hunt. I was still in my pj's! My kids weren't too happy with their mommy, but I told them that it only takes mommy 5 minutes to get ready, so if they helped get the 2 youngest ones in the car, we would make it on time. I went to get ready and they got everyone buckled in the car. I hopped in the car, looked at all 4 of my kids and notice a couple did NOT have their coats on. It was COLD outside! We unlocked the door, grabbed the coats, and headed for the egg hunt. We made it on time!!!! The kids enjoyed their egg hunt. We got back home around 12:30 PM. Seth and Daddy were due back at church for a choir practice. I grabbed some bread, meat & cheese and hurriedly made some sandwiches. All 6 of us were fed and out the door less than 20 minutes later! 2 were headed to church for choir practice. 4 were headed to go buy mommy some hose. I was desperately in need of some hosiery for church. It's kinda hard to find clothes to match black and navy winter tights when it's spring!!! My sister-in-law told me that Cato's had some cute jean skirts in. I decided I would treat myself and go in the store and look around. Keep in mind I had 3 of the kids with me. I gave all 3 of them the lecture on how to act in the store. They all solemnly promised to stay right beside mommy and be good. Well, let's just say, my 8 year-old kept blowing up a yellow balloon and letting all the air out of it and my daughter kept running away from me, saying, "I don't want to hold your finger!" I told my son to stop doing that with the balloon and kept chasing my daughter down. The last straw was when my daughter ran away again, this time to admire herself in the ladies dressing room mirror. I quickly scooped her up determined to get out of the store as fast as I could. I looked over and found my son blowing up the balloon again! As I am hastening to the door as quickly as possible, a lady calls after me that my daughter has lost her pink shoe. There goes my fast exit. I retrieve the shoe and left without ever finding the cute jean skirts. That's exactly why I do NOT like shopping with children. My blood pressure rises along with my stress level and I am sure that I have a few more gray hairs on my head from the experience!!!! Well, it was on to Wal-mart with 3 very sad children. They were being punished. They didn't get to look at and buy the toys they wanted to that day. The rest of the afternoon passed by in a blur. That evening we went and saw the sand sculpture here in town with some friends. They offered to watch all 4 of our kids so that Duane & I could go out for my birthday! We took them up on the offer, and went off to enjoy our evening. We decided to try out a new restaurant in town, Vino's. Upon arriving at the restaurant we were told the wait was 5-10 minutes. That wasn't too bad, so we sat down to wait. Their was a poor woman staggering down the hall drunk, numerous people kept coming out of the kitchen to use the bathroom, including one woman that had her pants unzipped!!!! The more we saw of the place, the less impressed we were! Finally, we got up and left. We drove across town to Tony's and got a pizza and onion rings. We love pizza!!! In fact, I could eat it every day of the week! Later that night, I washed and curled Callie and I's hair. I figured I would save some time on Sunday morning. The next morning, our hair was still wet!!!! I had to take all the curlers out and dry and then re-curl our hair! In addition to that, I had to iron shirts for the boys, mix up, roll out, and bake some dinner rolls for Easter dinner. We left the house in an absolute disaster and headed for church! Easter dinner was a relaxing time at Daniel & Tina's house. We both forgot to take any pictures except for the one of me and my birthday cake. That afternoon, we flew back home, had a short nap, and had to pack the car for a trip to my parents house. I, along with the 4 kids, drove to Germantown after the Sunday night service. It was a loooooong, noisy drive. We listened to about 5 Adventures in Odyssey stories before arriving at around 10:00PM. A little after midnight, I collapsed onto the couch to sleep. A couple hours later, Callie & Samuel both came in and woke me up wanting to go to the bathroom. A couple of hours after that, my dad was getting ready for work and I woke up again. Not very much sleep for me that night!!!! That morning my sister-in-law, Sarah, picked me up and we went shopping and had lunch together. Those few kid-free hours managed to wipe away all the stress of the weekend. It was a much needed break!!!! A few hours later, it was on the road again. I left the 2 older boys with their grandparents for the week. The 2 younger ones went to sleep right away and I listened to Father Gilbert mysteries on cd while I drove home in the rain for 2 solid hours!!! I arrived at home, taught some lessons, unpacked & decided we would go out to Olive Gardens for supper. Duane & I along with Callie & Samuel ate until we were stuffed. The highlight of the evening was when Callie took a bite of the hot peppers they put in the salad!! The noises and faces she made attracted the looks and smiles of those around us. I didn't feel so bad about her carrying on when a little boy let out a belch that would rival a grown man's! I guess it was 'family night' at Olive Gardens! We went back home, I watched a movie on Netflix and then collapsed in bed and very tired but happy 31 year old woman!!!And that was my Easter/birthday weekend in a very large nutshell! How was your weekend?????

Easter Baskets from Grandma & Grandpa

Every year, Grandpa & Grandma McIntosh (my parents) send up baskets of candy for each of our kids and one bag of candy for Duane & I. We both dove into our candy right away, but our kids waited until Easter morning for their goodies!

"Thanks, Mom and Dad, for all the Easter goodies!"

Seth insisted on getting some clothes on BEFORE I snapped a picture of him and his basket. I feel terrible, but I the busyness of the Sunday morning rush, I neglected to take a picture of Simon and his basket. Oops! :) I don't think he minded too much, though.

Samuel all wrapped up in his blanket.

Callie was the first one up on Easter morning. She was very happy with her Dora Easter Basket. She did want to immediately take it all out of the basket and add it to her egg hunt candy!

~Pink, Black & White~

3 yards of pink, black & white fabric turned into.....

a dress for Callie and a skirt for me! I also decided to make purses for us both with the fabric scraps leftover. These wild outfits will be our Easter dresses this year! :) The guys are NOT going to be wearing pink!!!! They will be dressed in blue. ;)
Hope you all have a wonderful Easter!