Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Here is a peek at our day today.

Our church services were a little different than what we usually get on an Easter Sunday. We had regional conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake and we got to watch it in our own building. It was very special. The conference included 61 stakes from 8 different states. It was like a mini general conference. Among those who spoke to us were Elder Oaks and our prophet, President Monson. 

Grant went down for his nap shortly after we got home from church. When he woke (that is to say, when I rudely woke him), the festivities began. Instead of putting out baskets we did a treasure hunt. We talked to the kids about how living with Heavenly Father again is the biggest treasure we could hope for, and how he has given us clues or directions to help us find our way home to Him. Then we made clues that led them to different places in the house where their gifts were placed. For example, the clue 'pray always' led them to the foot of Gracie's bed where we usually have our family prayers. Their dyed eggs were hidden all along the way. The kids carried their basket around and filled it as they found their treasures. It was really a lot of fun. I think we'll do this again next year.

Cori and the kids coming home from the walk I sent them on so I could get everything set up

the clue 'exercise faith' led to surprises on the tread mill

The final clue 'feast on the word' led to our Easter feast. And, yeah, if it looks to you like we should have invited at least 10 people over to help us eat all that stuff, you're right.

Grace: post-feast 

Grant being his usual jovial self

In other Easter news, we had a couple of miracles this last week that are worth mentioning. 

I went to the temple on Tuesday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly miraculous. But the way the whole day came together felt like a miracle to me. Sarah, my friend in Rockford, watched the kids for me. After dropping them off I made it to the Chicago temple without a single wrong turn. I had never been there before and negotiated the northern suburbs of the windy city all on my lonesome. Those of you who really know me can appreciate how unbelievable this is. I made it just in time for the session I needed to get into. Being there by myself lead to special contemplation and inspiration. I even made it back in time to return a fraction of the favor done for me by my friend. Sarah had to run to a doctor's appointment and I watched her little guy until her husband came home. The day was my Easter miracle.

Grace had a miracle of her own. Last weekend, we transplanted some of our seedlings into our patio garden. The garden has holes to grow certain things upside down. It is supposed to be really great for tomatoes. We put our cucumbers and peas in two of the four holes. The hanging plants were a little too tempting for Gracie and she plucked out a cucumber seedling. Her response to Cori's reprimands was that if we put it back into the hole and prayed for it that Jesus would help it grow back. What else could he do? Cori poked the seedling back in with its comrads and he and Grace said a prayer. The plant looked pretty darn dead for the better part of the week. Cori thought he would turn this into a different kind of lesson for Grace: there are some things that can't be put all the way right- so it is better not to do them at all... etc. etc. But then, the shriveled stem produced a new leaf. Pictured in the upper left of the picture above. The plant had NO ROOTS when Cori stuck it back in there. Our Heavenly Father is so kind to give her this special and simple answer to her prayer.

Good Friday

Tonight marked the first annual Jerusalem Dinner at the L* house. I've tried to spend some time every day talking with the kids about the different parts of the Easter week. Tonight was really fun. I had originally planned to do a simple Seder dinner- real passover style stuff. I love the symbolism of all the foods and the reading of the Haggadah. And I really like charoset- this apple, nut and dried fruit salad that symbolizes the mortar and bricks used by the enslaved Israelites to build the pharaohs' cities. I got a book from the library about the passover dinner and had it all planned out. Sadly, access to Yiddish pantry items is very minimal in the middle of northern Illinois. I combed three stores for matzo meal. Though there are plenty of things I could have made for a passover dinner without the matzo meal, I just wasn't willing unless I could have chicken soup with kneildlach (matzo balls). Kinda silly, but true.

So instead I planned a Jerusalem Dinner. I found a list of foods that were eaten in the time and place of Christ and built a little menu. We had flat bread lamb tacos with a bulgur wheat pilaf. (Eating lamb on Good Friday is pretty symbolic... Paschal Lamb, right?) We ate on the floor just like Jesus would have eaten. We even shared a cup. Well, Grant got his own. He leaves floaties.

Grant hardly ever cleans his plate like this. A little Easter miracle. I'm really excited for this to be a tradition in our family every year. I found it highly transportive. As I labored over my gas stove and my oven I kept thinking how did they do this back then? The muttony and minty smells from our kitchen made our home feel like it was in an entirely different country. In a very temporal way, it felt like turning our home into a place that would have felt like home for the Savior. 

easter eggs

Blessings

Palm Sunday Wasn't this weekend a perfect beginning to the Easter week ahead? Conference weekends are always great. This weekend felt particularly special to me. I am grateful for inspired messages of hope, important truths of and from our Savior, and lots of family time. We are looking forward to fun food and activities with the kids over the next 7 days to teach them more about the Easter week.

A careful budget that brings peace and freedom into our lives.

Simple pleasures Life is great. It isn't anything glamorous or exciting. But I'm so happy living it. I'm grateful for the work that is mine to do. And I'm grateful for the energy to do it everyday. 

a day off

Cori has been working his very attractive tukus off these last few months. He has 3-4 hours that he puts in on Saturdays pretty regularly. And he's had a very time consuming project this last month. Tuesdays, he has the fewest scheduled meetings. We decided to take advantage of that this week and he took yesterday off. We talked about a lot of different plans for our day. We wanted to stay overnight somewhere like Chicago, or in Madison or the Dells in Wisconsin. But then we remembered that we don't have spare cash to throw at such an outing. So we packed a pick-nick lunch and headed to Rockford for the day. 

We went to the Rockford Discovery Museum in the morning. The kids loved it more than I thought they would. We ate our pick-nick in the museum's little eating area because it was raining outside. Then Cori hung out in the car with his blackberry (he can never really take the day off after all) and a sleeping Grant while I took Grace to see the animals inside a Petco. Free entertainment for her. Then we hung out at Marshalls for a little while. Very cheap entertainment for me. After Grant woke up from his nap, Cori picked me and Gracie up and we headed to Sam's Club. We love warehouse shopping. Once we had filled our cart with food storage restocks, hundreds of diapers and an upside down patio garden we had a decision to make. Our original plan was to end the day with a finale dinner at Red Lobster. But we decided to put a few more things in our cart and food court it for dinner instead. We got home and unloaded just around PJ time. And, minus our Sam's Club purchases, we enjoyed a lovely family holiday for under $45.

These are some pictures from the museum. 

separation anxiety

Our bishopric rocks. We got to Church yesterday morning and there was much talk about Grant's first day of nursery. And aside from my little post last week, I had not said a word to any one about Grant's eligibility. Though there is not a leader called yet, the bishopric and the primary presidency got it covered. After Sacrament meeting Cori dropped Grant off in the nursery room and the crying began.

He cried all through the second hour and nearly all the way through the third. Cori had a really hard time staying away. It is a tough call to make- go in and risk being very unhelpful while trying to help, or subject a poor volunteer to your sobbing child for two hours in hopes that the kid will relax after a little while. And it is not fun listening to your baby cry. Yes. We could hear him nearly everywhere in the church building.

This was not an issue at all with Gracie. I was more of a mess that day. When I dropped her off on her first day of nursery, she gave me a kiss, I waved bye-bye and she ran off to play. No problems. She was used to flying solo. Nursery wasn't her first experience being without her family.

Grant is just fine when we leave the kids with baby sitters. But yesterday was the first time he's ever been without Gracie. Poor guy. 

These are pictures that Cori took on Saturday night. The kids took in some popcorn and March madness with us before bed. Every time Grant asked for something to drink, Grace lovingly doted on him. They are becoming good friends and it makes me so happy. Grace complains when Grant has to go down for a nap. Grant wants to be everywhere she is. 

snow day

Our consolation is that it has snowed other places in the US today. Despite the weather, it has been a wonderful Saturday. We went to the library. We got a greenhouse lid that will accommodate our overachieving cucumber seedlings. Grant and I took a nap. Cori got some work done. I finished prep for my Sunday school lesson tomorrow. Did some laundry. And Cori built a cozy fort in which we will be eating our dinner. Only a couple more hours until bed time for the kiddos, and then maybe Cori will want a Scrabble rematch. We love Saturdays, or 'family days' as Gracie calls them.