Happy Easter!

Well - what a wonderful weekend! Mimi and Gena came on Good Friday and we did the Stations of the Cross. You always know in the back of your head that Jesus died for us but Easter always brings it to the forefront of my mind. It makes my heart hurt to think of what He did for us all so long ago. After 40 days in the desert, with no food or water, while being tempted by the devil Jesus had to basically carry a tree up a mountain to be nailed to it and left to die. But He has RISEN!

Madelyn picked her own outfit for the stations. I think she did great!

I got to spend time with my sweet girlfriends on Friday night. They all tease me about my no meat Fridays in Lent! We had fun but missed sweet Susan.

Sofia (correct spelling) started feeling ill on Friday so she spent most of the day in bed. Poor thing. She was better by Saturday for our big party!

On Saturday, all of Tommy's relatives (Oley side) came together for Easter and for his twin cousins, Joe and John. Joe just got back from Iraq and will heading back in October. It was amazing listening to his stories and it's very touching what he and many others do for us every day. His twin brother, John, will be heading to Iraq in April (I believe). It was nice, very nice, having all of the family together. Some I had never met and some I met so very briefly at our wedding almost 6 years ago. It was an amazing day and I miss all of their smiling faces already!

One of Tommy's cousins, Theresa, gave us this beautiful "Heart of Jesus" painting. She also brought Madelyn some nail polish (she has three boys!). Maddie could not have been more excited. She enlisted the help of Aunt Lorraine to give her a manicure and then showed everyone her newly painted fingers . . .

Some candid and not so candid shots from the day . . .

Aunt Dot's boys with Tommy . . .

(l-r: Frank, Bob, Tom, Joe, John)

Jeannette and HopeSaying prayers before dinner . . .

(Madelyn changed halfway through the day, of course . . .)

Family photos were taken . . .The big group shot . . .

There are actually quite a few people missing from the above shot!

The kids all played so well together. Here are some of the boys playing basketball inside - they played baseball outside! Sports fanatics . . .

Madelyn and her second cousin, Janna . . .
The Oley girls . . .

Even Brock was exhausted by the end of the day . . .

We had a full house with people and dogs!
EASTER MORNING

Sunday morning we hunted for Easter eggs and found baskets of goodies! The Easter bunny brought special baskets for hunting for the eggs . . .Madelyn was thrilled to see that the clever Easter bunny knew how much she loved Princesses and hid Princess eggs . . .

She was even more thrilled to find that Hippity Hoppity brought her the Barbie Mariposa Movie . . .

Another basket . . .Wow - maybe the Easter bunny went overboard . . .
After the Easter morning excitement, we headed off to 11:00 mass at our new church. We were running a little late (as usual) and sat in the Parish Hall - opened for overflow. The picture below taken right before we left sort of sums up our day:
The kids were exhausted from Saturday's festivities and it showed! As I was heading up to receive communion on this Holiest of days, Madelyn stopped in the middle of the aisle and had a meltdown. We gathered everything up and left. With kids, you always have to be prepared to just leave whatever you're doing. I know God understands . . . :)