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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Merry Christmas!

That's how exhausted I am.

Imagine leaving the Easter Vigil Mass, where scripture was read, hymns were sung, and 14 people came into the Catholic Church through baptism.  Your pastor comes to you with open arms, to give you a hug and wish you a happy Easter.  And in your exhausted state, you wish him a very Merry Christmas.

Oh, yes I did.

And I have wished at least 4 other people a Merry Christmas since then. 

It's been a head-spinning weekend to say the least.

First and foremost, all of the Holy Week traditions had me crying at every turn.

Good Friday always means the living stations of the cross put on by the eighth graders at my children's school.  Even though I only made it through 7 of the 14 stations this year (as I had my two little ones and my niece and nephew who came for a long weekend visit), it was a vivid reminder of what Jesus actually did for us.

Saturday means the Easter Vigil.  I help Hubby get the little kids in bed then head to church on my own.  It is my time to pray, reflect, celebrate, and cry without the distraction of little hands tugging at my necklace, lifting up my skirt, and stepping on my open-toed shoes.

And Sunday, I attend Mass with my family. To share the celebration of Jesus' rising with my children, niece and nephew.  I am thrilled to say that we made it to church at 8:40 with eight children dressed and happy, and we made it through the entire service without a single incident involving cries, falls, loud noises, or walks of shame out the door.  Woo-hoo!

And in between the rituals, we had a crazy fun time enjoying the company of the cousins.

Cuckoo wasn't about to let Niece steal all of Buttercup's attention.  If Niece got hair bows, he was going to get them, too.
A rite of passage at the farm.  In order to be a big kid, you must be able to climb onto and jump off of the barn.
Is there anything funnier that a balloon under the shirt.  Or in Giant's case, the shirt and the shorts.
Oh the potty training.  He came running saying he needed to pee outside.  Too bad he had already gone in his pants.
Using up those eggs!
Traditional Easter morning photo on the steps.  Happy to have two extra faces in the crowd!
Turken found all of his eggs right quick.
There were lots of tattoos in the Easter baskets.  Cuckoo used them all.
Niece was quite tattoo-happy, too.
All of the big kids got mini kites in their baskets. 
Our second annual Peep roast.  Nothing like a good carmelized Peep.
And when we weren't at church or having crazy fun, we worked our tails off.

We planted 2 apple trees, ten asparagus plants, 25 strawberry plants, and garlic, lettuce, and spinachseeds.  The little ones were digging through the compost dirt, finding lots of wiggly worms to play with.

We also fixed the pig barn, preparing for their delivery later this week.  I basically had Hubby's life in my hands as I clung to the ridiculously high ladder he was using to brace himself on the roof as he installed new metal.  Happy to say, we avoided serious injury.  Unhappy to say, I was holding the ladder and couldn't get a picture of it.

Phoenix and Star painted themselves the white barn almost completely on their own.  (I took pictures, but apparently I have hit my photo per post limit.)  I guess there are bonuses to having children grow up!

The kids are all in bed.  Most are sleeping.  For the first time in three days, I've had more than five minutes to sit down in almost silence.  (Hubby is singing a little ditty on the couch next to me.) 

I can digest all that has happened in the last three days.

I can stop my head from spinning and appreciate all that has been given to my family and me.  To say thank you to a God who has taken very good care of us. 

And to wish all that are reading this blog (a surprising 30 or so people I think)

a very Merry Christmas.

Have a lovely day!

2 comments:

  1. Easter season always makes me cry too, I realize what a sacrifice Jesus made for me and it makes me so thankful I think I cried through most of the songs in church during the good Friday service and Sundays service. As for Merry Christmas, funny! now that school is in session you can get some rest HA, or maybe routine again! Oh we LOVE fresh asparagus when I was little we lived in Clorado and we would pick wild asparagus from the creek and it was so good! thankfully my kids love it too.

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