Easter

Easter this year seemed like it came up really fast.  I felt like I wasn't really ready for it.  I was on vacation a week before, had to do a lot of inventory at Grammie and Grandpa's house that took up a lot of time and going to the Friend's Experience the day before made for a definite time crunch.  Luckily, I was able to gather some Easter stuff for baskets and assemble them before vacation started along with filling some of the eggs with chocolate candy.  This is where I thank past Val for getting stuff done.  I wasn't able to get the grass cut, and the spring flowers planted because the weather has been too rainy and cold. 

I sent out an email to everyone on the Wednesday before to let them know the who, what, when, where, why and how.  I am not sure if it is helpful or not.  I guess if they forgot or needed to know something, they could refer back to it if needed. 

Sadly, this was my first Easter without Grammie and Grandpa in my life. It's been really surreal without them at family functions but mostly in everyday life.  I miss them so much and wished they were here with us experiencing milestones and memorable moments.  There are many days I wish I could go back in time and relive those moments that we shared with them.

Due to being so busy during the Easter holiday, I decided to make it easy on myself and make spaghetti, garlic break and salad for Easter dinner.  I knew a full meal would have made me all stressed out and worried about getting it done on time.  I asked everyone if they were okay with it, and no one seemed to care all that much...as long as they all got fed.  I also wanted clean-up to be fairly easy as well.  

While we were at Bonney Lake the previous day, Trish offered to donate some change to go into the plastic Easter eggs.  I told her she didn't have to but insisted.  Dad came over in the morning while we were cleaning to bring more change for Easter eggs.  We spent some time sorting out all the nickels, dimes and quarters and counting Easter eggs.  We made sure there were an equal amount in each of the eggs, closed them up and stuck them into a plastic bag to keep them separate from the candy filled eggs.  I thanked Dad for coming over to help and he went home until it was time to come back for food.

Meanwhile, I finished cleaning up the house, put stuff away, got everything organized, I was glad I got all the food purchased the other day, Doug and Ben brought in tables and chairs, we got the tables decorated and the plates, napkins and silverware out on the tables and all I had left to do was to make the food.  I had to call Erika to have her bring a last-minute salad because I thought I had enough lettuce, but I didn't.  I thanked her when she brought it through the door when she and Zac arrived.

I started the spaghetti just after one.  Mom, Dad and Grandma came a bit early as did Trish, Amy and Ed.  Erika and Zach came shortly after.  I and Trish make a trifold like angel food cake with whipped cream and a custard mixed together with some cut up strawberries for dessert.  Once the spaghetti and bread were done, I left it on the table and people dished up and took their food back to the table.  I wished I had a better set up for when people came over, but it did for now.  We ate and talked about random things.  It felt way different than past Easters and it made me sad.

After food and clearing up some of the plates and silverware, I had Ben and Trish help me hide the Easter eggs and the baskets.  It was raining a little bit, so I had everyone bring a rain jacket and some umbrellas.  I only had two to use.  Because it was raining, I had everyone's Easter basket goodies put into Ziplock bags to keep the contents dry.  It has been quite a few years since it rained on Easter Sunday.

We went back in and told everyone the boundaries.  We had a hard time hiding the baskets because we didn't want them to get soaked.  We released everyone and told them how many eggs they could find.  They had a great time finding them, don't let them lie to you.  Once all the eggs and baskets were found, we went inside, went through the stuff, traded some items, we counted the empty eggs and took the stuff out of the baskets.  I made sure all the eggs and the baskets were put away in their plastic bags.

I got everyone corralled up for a family picture, got a few okay ones and everyone gathered their stuff and headed home since it was a work night and just about everyone had some stuff to do before starting their work week.  

I put the house back together and vacuumed while Ben took care of the dishes.  Trish let us know when they got home and for the rest of the night we watched some TV, did a couple loads of laundry and relaxed a bit before the weekend ended.

Happy Easter!

Next Adventure:  Celebration of Life:  Remembering Joe Molenda