Easter recap & prayer buddy reveal

Prayer Buddy Reveal for those who don't want to read the very bloggy recap:

I had the honor of praying for Perfect Power in Weakness, and was prayed for by Gina at Jeremiah 29:11. Thank you, Gina, for your prayers!

Whew, what a Triduum. It seems as if I blinked and it was over!

A quick recap:

We had planned to go to Maundy Thursday services, but then Elanor threw up at school and had to come home. I was panicking, envisioning a bout of the flu over Easter weekend, but I think it was an emotional upset more than a physical problem (she had a sub at school that day and the change in routine really upset her). She was fine by Thursday evening but we opted to stay home, just in case.

I took Friday off of work, as I don't like working on Good Friday unless it's unavoidable. (Last year I didn't work on Good Friday, but only because I was newly pregnant with Gabe and ended up spending the entire day alternatively throwing up and wishing for drugs, which I eventually got, thus narrowly avoiding a trip to the ER. Good times.) Collin had the day off as well, but our daycare was still open so we dropped the older 3 off in the morning as usual.

Gabe had his 4-month check-up on Friday morning, so Collin and I took him to that. Little peanut is 13lbs 9oz (15th percentile for weight). He's grown 2.5 inches since his last check-up - can't remember what percentile, but like all my kids he's long and skinny. He amazed his pediatrician by constantly trying to roll off the exam table.

We had planned to go to pray at Planned Parenthood with Bishop Olmsted at 11am, but Gabe's appointment ended up running long so we didn't have time. :( Instead, we stopped by my eye doctor and got my glasses fixed (Violet got her hands on them and bent them badly a week or two ago, but the optometrist was able to repair them - yay for being able to see at night - and didn't even charge me!).

We made it over to Our Lady of Lourdes in Sun City West for Stations of the Cross at noon.

We went to a Vietnamese place for our one meal of the day, and I had vegetarian fried rice - delicious. When we were done eating we headed over to our new bank to set up our new checking account (we're switching over from Chase for a variety of reasons) and then went to Prince of Peace in Sun City West for their solemn 3pm Good Friday service. (Oddly, our home church didn't have a 3pm service, only a 6:30pm one, and we wanted to go to a service with only Gabe in tow and not the other 3).

After the service we stopped over at Collin's grandparents' place to pick up the turkey they'd bought for Easter dinner, and made it back to our place in time to pick up the kids. I made them supper and they were put to bed early so that Collin and I could watch "The Passion of the Christ," a Good Friday tradition for us.

Easter Saturday was busy getting things ready for the following day. Collin went out to a shooting range with his dad and brother in the morning while I took the kids out grocery shopping (and we had our housecleaner come over to get everything cleaned up!). We had planned to attend the Easter Vigil that evening, but my MIL came down with a migraine so we decided to go the next morning instead. I worked on various projects for Easter Sunday and Collin rode herd over the kids. We watched The Bells of St. Mary's and Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert.

We had planned to go to the 7am Easter service, but my alarm didn't go off. (?!) Of course, that was the one night this week when Gabriel decided to sleep in and not to wake up at 5am to eat. We woke up at 6am and tried to get ready fast, but we didn't get to church until 7:15am. Instead of being horribly late we decided to hit the 9am service instead. So, we grabbed breakfast, ran home to put the turkey on the George Foreman grill (yes, really) and headed back to church. Despite getting there early, it was still jam-packed and standing room only (which is why I generally prefer the Vigil, but MIL really wanted to come to church with us). I was able to get a seat since I was holding Gabriel, but everyone else had to stand. :( Still, it was a lovely service.

We went back home and the mad preparations for Easter dinner got underway. We pulled it off and feasted merrily. The kids had an Easter egg hunt after dinner, and we spent the day eating and visiting. I got no pictures of the kids (I left that to my FIL, who got a ton) but here are some highlights I captured:

I made an Easter wreath for the front door (thank you, Pinterest).

 

I also borrowed a fancy Bundt mold from my neighbor and made Rainbow Jello (another Pinterest find).

The Rainbow Jello looked pretty neat even after it was cut up for storage!

The cross suckers were a big hit too! (This idea was from Catholic Icing.)

Everyone left around 5pm and we relaxed by watching one of the kids' Easter gifts, Winnie-the-Pooh, and then The Muppets. I dozed off, woke up, did a bit of laundry, and went back to bed. I have so many leftovers I won't have to cook for a week!

I hope you all had a very blessed Easter, and big congrats to Kara's husband, Kyle, on his baptism on Saturday night!