easter this year

Our Easter long weekend did in fact blaze with sun and warmth, perfect for what feels to me like the real beginning of spring. It was great to have Sam home for 4 days and he and the big boys spent a long time out in the backyard gardening and pruning and pulling. And even with their hats on Henry especially felt a little sick that night from that first bout of too much sun. With every holiday or celebration I still feel as though I'm leaving everything to the last minute and not doing all I had hoped ... and yet even so Easter this year turned out well and we enjoyed it very much. I had completely forgotten to include Henry and Walter's teachers when handing out Valentine treats this year - I felt so bad seeing their empty brown bags - so we got them some Easter chocolates last week instead. Of course we made sugar cookies and even brought a little box of wee bunnies for their Sunday School class. I had so much fun playing Easter Bunny again and putting together their buckets of goodies, actually using little Christmas gifts that were never fully unpacked in the move. They never realized they'd been given those gifts twice, ha! (Thank you again Auntie Margaret for the bugs!) And Henry and Walter pretend they are cats all the time and they get really into it so I found these sweet felt cat and mouse masks on Etsy for them - perfect! Everyone amazingly slept til 7:30am on Sunday, Walter awake first only to come running into our room 3 seconds later for us to come see the surprise. Their excitement always makes everything fun and worth the effort! We spent the morning with our new church family and then out for lunch with the Pastor and his kids ... Paul, who is Sam's age and so I hope they'll be friends or at least fishing buddies in the future. Easter egg hunting in the backyard that afternoon (so hot outside!) and then Monday up to Nana and Grandad's for a special supper together. The gloom has returned today but the tulips have just bloomed overnight in our yard. School resumes tomorrow but I'm always thankful for our routine ... and we actually have a few visitors this week to look forward to! A new month but the calendar is filling up with plans and places. So spring has begun ... and I think my hibernation is over ...