Easter! Hallelujah!

Did you have a nice Easter?  Ours was pretty much perfect.  It was a gorgeous day which always seems to appropriate for Easter, even though it doesn't always happen.  We went to Easter vigil Mass as always but this time we got to see my brother-in-law join the church!  It was very exciting and especially touching to see the whole family come together for it (minus the "big" grandkids, including Luke).  My Grandpa even came over from Ohio!  It was really nice.

All the adults, plus 2 new babies, Grandpa, and my aunt Mary (who is always at church)

Despite not getting home until almost 1 (yay 3 hour mass!) we had time to do an "egg hunt" with Luke before brunch at my parents (I think we're to that lovely adult stage where we wake up early no matter what).  

Luke's egg "hunt"

He figured out pretty quick that there were treats (whales and cheerios) inside and would hand them to us to open.  By the end of the day he could open them himself.  Smart kid. =)

We also got him some sand toys for the lake this summer and a stuffed dinosaur.  Which, I know, kids don't need stuffed animals BUT he smiled at it when I showed him it at the store.  And he's been pointing at it for the last week that I've had the baskets sitting out.  He's suckering me into purchases and he wasn't even one at the time....

Anyways, we had brunch at my parents with the whole family, Grandpa included.  It was the first time all 7 grandkids were together.  Last Easter there were only 3 grandkids (although Luke was 2 days old, we didn't know about him and he was in the NICU so I doubt there was much of a celebration) and now 7!  4 kids is just over a year.  We always split into team to hid eggs, one in the front yard, one in the back with all spouses split.  The bigger kids were eager to help and equally eager to give away the hiding spots, or just find what they had hid.  It's always fun traipsing all over the yard together. 

recipe

We also celebrated my Dad's birthday which fell during Holy Week.  With everyone scattered and my Mom's RCIA commitments there wasn't much of a chance for a celebration earlier.  My Dad's favorite cake is German chocolate, and has been as long as I can remember so I made him one from scratch.  There are very few people I will spend 4 hours baking a cake for! (A few weeks ago it was the newest guy in my life, this week it was the first guy in my life.  Matt will obviously get a fancy cake too.) 

We then spent the afternoon at Matt's parents' house with the majority of his family.  It was a gorgeous day for being outside.  Really, perfect spring weather.  Luke seems to have forgotten he can crawl in the grass but he is getting better at rolling balls so that's something I guess.

We finally got our very tired little guy in bed for a late nap which gave me a chance for this:

Ahhhhhh...I missed you, Combos.  I thought I'd miss ice cream most but we still haven't had any since we've been finishing Easter treat leftovers!

We finished our Easter with a family bike ride.  Hard to stay inside when the weather was this perfect!  Luke is tolerating his helmet much better and is very interested in what is going on around him during our rides.

It was a beautiful weather day, celebrating a beautiful event, with our wonderful families.  Luke is getting so much more into these types of things (he didn't care about presents at Christmas but eggs of Cheerios are exciting now!) and so fun to watch him experience everything.  

Finally, I really liked this list: 50 Ways to Celebrate Easter  I think, once Luke is big enough, we'll make coloring eggs a post-Easter tradition and find other ways to carry on the season.  Such a beautiful time of year!