Easter Fun

The weekend started early, with J's plant actually being shut down for Good Friday. What a delight! We started the morning with a cup of Starbucks courtesy of a gift card as we waited for a table at First Watch. Then, a great brunch (J had a superb waffle while I chose a breakfast burrito) followed by grocery shopping and a trip to Michael's to look at their spring flags. Then, we headed home to do some housecleaning before picking up the boys. When we did so, we discovered that Boot still has an enormous knot on his head from more than two weeks ago, thanks to his brilliant "fight club" idea. I swear if this child makes it to 30, it will only be because of hard work on the part of his guardian angel! Apparently, the other boy has a matching knot. That's some bonding activity! Once home, J made an andouille and Monterey Jack pizza for supper. Then, she and I colored eggs while the boys did their thing-Boot went to bed early while Pie entered his video game cave, not to emerge again until he was hungry for a brownie.

Saturday, J made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. We all spent some time doing our own thing-Boot and J were immersed in t.v., Pie in video games, me online and on the phone with my mama. Then, J and I hit the library and grocery before coming home to hang out. She found an Anne Geddes book for a dollar in the book nook, where discarded books are sold. She also picked up a Cleveland jigsaw puzzle and a mystery novel, while I found a Martha Beck book and a book on creating a women's spirituality circle and a couple other books. All that for $5! I love cheap indulgences. Even cooler was finding books I wanted on the free shelf. I've been curious about Jennifer Crusie romances because she worked at the same bookstore I did, just a year or two before I started there. However, I haven't been able to commit to buying one or even checking one out from the library because they're romances. Silly, I know. I also found Gustavo Gutierrez's classic volume on liberation theology on the free shelf! We spent the rest of the day just relaxing. J made a delicious chicken pot pie for dinner and we even had an extra to share with our neighbor. When I took it down to her, I invited her to Easter dinner but she was planning to cook a dinner herownself and hang out with her Vizslas. She was very surprised and pleased with both the pie and the invite, though.

Sunday morning, I got up and put together J's Easter basket and then put on my Easter bonnet and headed to the church brunch, leaving her to handle the other baskets and the cooking. After the brunch, I visited with one of the youth group members for awhile before the service started. It was nice to catch up with him. Senior year has left him with very little time to attend church, so it's been nice to see him there the past couple of worships. He sings beautifully and has helped to bulk up the choir. The service was a lovely cantata. It was so good to hear the music, see all the people dressed in their Easter best (especially the little girls in their pretty dresses), smell the hyacinths and lilies and reflect on God's nature as pure love and cause for hope. After church, we roused the boys and did Easter baskets. J found a bunch of fun little stuff for me (coloring books, crayons, colored pencils, a couple of rubber stamps, a Hello Kitty puppet, a Tinkerbell egg filled with stickers and candy butterflies, stuff like that). What fun! Then, we had our Easter dinner. J made a ham (which she found on sale for $7!), potatoes au gratin, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and rolls. She also went pie-mad, baking an apple pie Friday night and making a peanut butter pie in an Oreo crust and a lemon icebox pie Saturday. I'd been planning to do either cut-out cookies or a lamb cake, but that seemed thoroughly unnecessary! After eating, Boot retired to his room for a nap while I joined J and Boot in the living room where they were watching t.v. I spent the afternoon coloring in my new Disney Princesses book. Pie was kind enough to pull up a picture of Aurora online for me so that I could make sure I got the hair color right. LOL. Before we knew it, it was time to take the boys home. I drove there (and greatly enjoyed Boot's acting as a tour guide through current music for me-"Boot, who's singing?" probably came out of my mouth 15 times in the course of the trip) and J drove back. I spent the 2 hours back reading Jill Conner Browne's hilarious new Sweet Potato Queens book aloud to her. Then, we settled in for a dinner of crustless quiche (bacon & feta, from Trader Joe's-delicious!), bacon, English muffins (mine with lemon curd, hers with strawberry preserves) and oranges. Yum! We watched "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" before retiring for the night.