Easter: Day 1!

I LOVE that Easter is an Octave!  We had a great first day today.  I must say that it was a difficult day in some ways... I forced myself to just sit back and view and enjoy the day, and not be concerned about documenting it with my camera.  I know that my husband enjoys it when a camera isn't flashing all the time, and when I actually sit back and reflect on it... I enjoy things more when I am just "being" in the moment, instead of "doing" with my camera, being concerned about getting a good shot to show others what was currently happening.

So... there were moments today when I wanted to run and get my camera, but I chose not to, and it was so enjoyable!  Joe and a fellow Catholic OC, Joseph Garrero (sorry, I probably spelled that wrong!) were here just after 9am for a quick Easter brunch at the apartment before heading to 10:30 Mass at St. Anne's.  The brunch was a great success, even though I basically just created the meal out of what was currently in my fridge and pantry, plus a nice fruit salad that I bought special for the occasion.  The kids had a lot of the fruit salad, as well as the few pieces of candy that were at their spots when they woke up, so they were a little (meaning a lot) more of a handful at Mass.  Luckily, they weren't so bad that we had to leave the room.

Since I didn't even get one bad picture of us all dressed up for Easter, I'll just let you know that Therese wore her flower girl dress from Nancy's wedding, I wore my new pink and gold dress, and David wore his green plaid dress shirt with brown pants... we were looking pretty great for Easter, if you can imagine it!

We dropped our OC guest back at post after Mass, and then daddy was able to come back to the apartment for a few hours, which was very nice.  You just can't keep David off of Joe when he is here, and Therese loves to be doing whatever dad is doing.  They stretched together and had some story time while mom got a few things done in the kitchen this afternoon.

We had to wake the kids up a few minutes early from their nap in order to get Dad back to post in time, but thankfully they didn't wake up cranky.

 And once again, goodbyes were not bad at all.  The kids didn't cry or whine in the least.  It is great being down here next to Joe!

 When we got home, Therese was under the impression that we needed to go outside so that she could find some more candy.  She was adamant, and even though I was concerned that she would only be let down, we went out to see what we could find.  And David found something very cool, which we brought inside and I'm sure will become a constant during our outings:  His first walking stick/staff!  It is the perfect height and weight!  I like it... and so does the boy!

We didn't find any candy at the first jungle gym area, but Therese was convinced that we would at the 2nd...

 And she did!  We happened to get to the other play area right as a group of young kids were finishing their easter egg hunt, and they missed a few of their plastic eggs.  The kids had run off, obviously overflowing with eggs and candy, so I asked the parent that was in charge whether Therese could hunt out the few remaining plastic eggs.  They gave her the thumbs-up, and then she found her candy!

 We decided not to eat the candy today, but to enjoy it throughout Easter.  They, of course, had great fun with the eggs, though.

The kids went to bed great, the candy-hiding mommy has already filled the eggs and has hid them in order to be found on the 2nd day of Easter!  And... I just got finished writing/creating songs that Joe and I want to start singing before and after meals as a tradition at our table here in Librandi territory!  God is good!

Happy Easter!  Christ is Risen, Alleluia!