Eastertide

Easter has come! Lent is over! I love Easter, maybe as much as Christmas! I like the peaceful calm that leads up to it, the mournful, solace of lent, a far cry from the chaos of Christmas. I like the lack of obligations and gift-frenzy that Christmas brings. And I love that when Easter is over, there are flowers and birds chirping, and months of warmth to look forward to. Again, a better alternative in my book to the depressing low you get after New Years when all you have to look forward to are months of cold and lent. And most importantly, Christians all over can celebrate Christ conquering death with His boundless love!

We had a pretty relaxed Easter as we just overcame a cold the last week of lent. I also was goat-sitting my former-goats who now belong to my neighbor, and they got very sick during my watch on Good Friday. I was so worried about them, and felt horrible that they had ingested some poisonous plant when I was caring for them. Thankfully Sharon came home and nursed them back to health and they all seem to be fine now!

The Easter Bunny came bearing baskets of goodies for my littles. I made up this really elaborate story about how the Easter Bunny came to be, and his friendship with Jesus, and how all the animals and creatures of the forest get together and make gifts for children who are pure of heart and deliver them on Easter morning. The girls were certain that a bear would give a gift to Anastasia because she loves bears, and a deer would bring something for Isabel, who loves deer. Thankfully a last minute trip to cracker barrell and a little printing, and the girls indeed were gifted honey lollipops from a black bear and a package of candy coated sunflower seeds from the deer. Both with little foot prints and a note "with love, from bear/deer" on them. They were elated that their forest friends thought of them. :)

I never got pictures of all their Easter baskets, but they had art supplies and coloring books, sketch pads, a bit of candy, Annie's organic bunny grahams and fruit snacks, a game, and some calico critter babies. I try to avoid the candy, but Easter and chocolate bunnies seem unable to exist apart:

I also knit up these little chicks for the kiddos as well:

I used this pattern from Fuzzy Mitten and they knit up super-fast. And you could easily make little birdies from the pattern instead of chicks. I only wish I had opted for a fuzzier yarn. Otherwise they are perfect. :)

Above is a picture of our little moss garden we made on Good Friday, inspired by my friend Regina's post here. It is our little garden of Gestheme and while originally we just made a tomb of rocks, Anastasia added the cross made from the wood supposedly from the real garden of Gestheme. And it was perfect, beautiful, and connected the children to Christ's suffering.

We split up mass on Easter Sunday because Kieran really can't handle a normal mass, and a long mass would have been too much for him. It is nice to bring the children to church, but equally nice to leave them at home. We then went to my parents for an Easter ham and I made carrot cake and a very runny cherry pie for dessert. It was delicious! We had a nice little egg hunt for the girls where they ran around in their Easter dresses that I didn't make, looking for colorful eggs in my parents field. I did make Kieran's pants at least:

The girls' dresses from last year fit them fine this year so it seemed silly to stress over making or buying dresses this year. And I really wanted to make Easter bonnets, but alas, too many ideas for the too little time I have. Speaking of ideas I have soooo many new items to make for my shop! I am really, really excited! I just ordered quite a bit of fabric to FINALLY add some children's clothes. It might be a bit slow at first... but depending on how they do, I would like to do more in the future! And, I have a few new gnome sets coming too.

But now it is 1am and my kitchen smells like trash which means I need to go to bed now, and scrub under my sink for a good part of my day tomorrow. So my great plans will have to wait another day at least. I do hope you are all having a joyful Octave of Easter, spending it with those you love most and looking ahead to the promise of life everlasting. :)