Easter at home

 What a strange Easter this year.  We have gone to Jan and Julie's for almost 20 years.  WE used to go to church with them, then go over to their house to hunt for eggs and then eat dinner.  It is one of our few traditions.  It just does not feel like Easter when we are not doing that.
We have also gone to Arline's for many years (at least 10) to dye eggs and fill up Easter baskets. 
The Easter Bunny (aka Arline) brought us some Easter goodies

Chocolate goodies for the kids and toilet paper for us-we are NOT sharing!!!!!

She even dyed some eggs for us.....

Easter Sunday 2019

It was a perfect Easter Sunday day this year. The weather was really fantastic.  While Maggie was with Jan and Julie, Ben and I went for a quick walk around Forest Park.  He drove my car for the first time, I think he was pretty impressed!!!! 
We walked around Grand Basin and I took this photo of the Art Museum, it always looks lovely up on the hill

Grand Basin

The dogwoods have been fantastic this year

Ben and I went over to Jan and Julie's for lunch.  They had some friends from church, so it was a nice gathering.  Perfect day to sit out and enjoy the sun!!

Dyeing Easter Eggs

No Ben this year!!!!  We could not make all of our schedules align so we had to dye eggs without him this year.  Took us a bit longer and was much quieter!!!!!

Arline got new kits that can make a marble effect on the eggs, I gave it the seal of approval!!!!!

These are our eggs

Arline's eggs

Not a bad result for 2019

Easter weekend and Ben's 16th birthday

Once again, Ben's birthday fell on Easter weekend. Sam and I had the day off on Friday-it's the only day of the year that we are off and the kids are at school!!!!  I knew we were going to be busy, so I ran around and tried to get some of the usual weekend stuff done on Friday.
We went to see Sweeny Todd at Stray Dog Theater on Friday night.  They did a great job

We went to Arline's to dye eggs on Saturday afternoon.  Sam thinks this could be our last year as Ben will lose interest, but I'm not sure that is ever going to happen!!!!

We went to Jan and Julie's on Sunday for lunch.  Julie made hamburgers, it was a nice change from our usual ham.  Luckily, we had beautiful weather

Ben's birthday was on Monday.  He had quite a day since he had a presentation and a test at school and then an interview for an internship after school.  We went to Schlafly brewery for dinner with the Js and Arline.  It's been a long time since we've been there and they have cut the menu down considerably and now it's pretty much bar food.  That was a shame as they used to have some great food there and used a lot of local growers/farmers

They still had the sticky toffee pudding though and they brought Ben a huge slab of it for his birthday.  Luckily, there were 7 spoons!!!!

Happy Birthday Ben

Easter 2015

 Maggie and I went to church with Jan and Julie and did the balloon release.  It was a beautiful morning, sunny and warm.  I gave in and let Maggie wear shorts to church rather than forcing her into a dress.  She was much happier and at least the church is very informal.  It still goes against my first instincts!!!

 I almost forgot to take a picture of the balloons

 Cute picture of Maggie, she looks so happy-must be the thought of donuts!!!

 We did away with the egg hunt and the Easter Bunny.  Jan and Julie did a hunt for Ben and Maggie

 They had to find clues around the garden

 They each got a book with a voucher for a trip.  Ben got a haunted house tour, dinner and a scary movie sleepover with Jan and Julie.  Maggie got a day fishing in Forest Park, dinner at the Boathouse and a backyard campout

I made a key lime pie for dessert.  I had a couple in Florida and they didn't taste of limes at all.  I was determined I was going to do better.  This one was delicious.  I said we need to retire to Florida and open a pie shop, not sure we could make it pay after how much it cost to make this!!!!

 Obviously the whole day wore Caroline out!!!

Easter 2014

Even though Ben is now a teenager, Ben still has as much enthusiasm about Easter as he has always had. Arline had mentioned that she thought she would go ahead and do the Easter baskets because she thought the kids just did it to help her out rather than enjoying it.  My immediate response was "What?  Ben loves doing all that kind of stuff" and of course he does and loved doing it on Saturday.  We dyed 42 eggs!!!!  We left a bunch with Arline and brought 2 dozen home.  They came out really well this year.  We added extra vinegar to some bowls so that the colour was more vibrant and we left some in for quite a while to make them darker (like the red ones).  As the kids get older, they are getting much faster, we were done in just over an hour this year!!!!

The Easter bunny did not put any eggs in our yard this year, but she did leave the kids a few sitting on the kitchen counter.  They were quite happy with them......

As we were walking out the door to go to church, I said, you both look lovely and you know what that means.  Ben groaned and said, pictures!!!!!  Maggie wore her Easter dress from last year and I bought her some new shoes.  She looked great, but she did take shorts and a shirt to get changed into once she got to Jan and Julie's

Of course, you can't ever miss an opportunity to do a few handstand push ups, no matter what you are wearing......

It was an absolutely beautiful day to go outside after church and let the balloons go.  I took this great photo of Ben and Maggie with their godparents

The balloons made it up into the air without getting caught in the trees this year!!!!

We stayed behind after the church service so that Jan and Julie could put out eggs in their garden.  The church always has donuts after the service and the kids love to get one

It was the perfect afternoon to lounge around in the garden after lunch.  Took a couple of pictures of the kids on the hammock.  About an hour after I took the pictures, the hammock fell apart, I guess it had been out in the heat and sun for too many Summers.  It doesn't help that Maggie launched herself onto it when Julie was sitting on it!!!!!

We played two games of croquet, Bruce (Caroline's friend) won both of them despite insisting that he's never played before!!!!

Arline looking regal

Me looking scary!!!!

Dyeing Easter eggs

We always go to Arline's to dye eggs before Easter. Arline always lets the kids put her Easter baskets together, they love it!!!

Maggie looks so industrious dyeing her eggs.  This year, we did some glitter eggs!!!!

The finished product

Easter Sunday

We cleaned up well for church on Sunday morning!!! Ben even said "Mum, I can't believe you got us dressed up without any fuss"  I took Maggie to the resale shop to see if I could find her something to wear.  I found this great dress and cardigan for her-the cardigan even had the original tag in it!!!  Of course, Mum had to take a bunch of photos before we left for church!!

Jan and Julie's church has a new minister, she is really good with the kids.  Maggie goes to church with Jan and Julie quite often, so she knows the routine.  This is the first time she has been willing to go down and sit with the other kids

I took this picture when we went outside to let the balloons go.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, perfect to be outside

Jan and Julie got the hammock out and the kids argued all day about who was going to lie in it (of course!!)

Greta managed to get her first sun burn of the season!!!

The kids did the usual egg hunt in the back yard