Gloria in Excelsis Deo: Easter 2015

And by the end of yesterday, illness had decidedly set in with our two little ones. Mother-friends and I joke about how the sunny weather in the 70s with spring zephyrs lulls us into thinking that the illness season is over, but inevitably there is a new plague spread right before Easter. Our family has missed at least two Easters in recent years and this year we had to keep half the children home from Mass (here are beautiful photos of what they missed). It could be worse--they're contagious, yucky, and feverish, but they're mostly calm and happy.

Decorations finished before Sunday morning

The plastic eggs filled with candy and ready to be hidden, the crown of thorns denuded by the children's good actions, and krispy cereal treats shaped like Easter eggs

Baskets with gifts wrapped and ready for children to wake in the morning

My night owl herself--speak to her in the mornings at your own peril!--was awake by 5:30 a.m. and the rest of the kids woke soon thereafter so baskets could be opened.

This summer's new water guns

The children received religious sticker books and coloring books, some wonderful old-fashioned reprinted books from the likes of Yesterday's Classics and TAN books, new scapulars, and items which get refreshed each summer anyway: water guns, blowing bubbles, and bouncy balls.

In the inexplicable behavior of a two-year-old, Joseph shredded his favorite book, "I Love Trains," the book which we have to read before every nap and every bedtime, the text whose mere recitation aloud by his mother calms down his tears. So, he's gone a month without his book, but received a new copy in his Easter basket.

Margaret's first scapular

"The Adventures of Sister Regina Marie"--absolutely darling!

I sewed the girls new Easter skirts . . .

The best Easter portrait I could get this year!
Ages: 2, 6, 4, and 8

Mama is a bit of an Easter egg herself . . .

Chris cooked a lovely breakfast, even if the two sick kids are barely eating anything.

Eggs on the lawn for the toddler

I hid about 75 eggs outdoors, which Chris mistakenly thought was far too many. The whole jolly hunt took all of five minutes or less, then the kids went indoors and hid all the empty eggs again just to do it over! (At one point while hiding eggs, I spotted four tots spying from an upstairs window, watching me so they'd know where I hid the difficult-to-find eggs. I had to march in and banish them to another part of the house.)

Running with glee

Eggs were balanced on the climbing dome.

The children are forever making rope creations in our yard,
so I hid some eggs balanced precariously on the ropes.

Chris did hide one plastic egg and it was the best hiding place ever. He hid the egg in our carpenter bee trap, which contains live bees!

"If you take my egg, I will sting you."

The menu I planned was already simple since we weren't going anywhere or having guests over, and it turns out that was a good thing since we had two sick folks not eating much food anyway.