Monday 9 April 2012

Happy Easter Monday....

Wow, what a busy weekend we had!  Not only was it the long Easter weekend, but our oldest son, Ryan, had his 37th birthday on Easter Saturday!  Can I possibly be old enough to have a 37 year old?  I guess I am LOL!  Thankfully, I don't feel old enough to have a 37 year old....hehehe!
 

We had such fun times with our 3 grandkids that live close to us.  Friday they all came over and we spent hours outside, working in the yard, playing hide n seek,going to the park after supper and most importantly, coloring eggs!!  I decided to give them their main Easter gift on Friday as Easter morning they would be so overwhelmed with all the goodies the Easter Bunny left at home and here, that their gifts would just add to the confusion LOL!
 
Yes, that's Ms. Hannah with her purse always close at hand LOL!
She's such a girlie girl/tom boy mix :)
 

Big sister Hailee is wondering why she can't hang
upside down by her knees without touching the ground
like she used too....hehehe!
  
Cade and grandpa cleaning up the yard!
Cade would stay outside 24/7 if he could LOL!
 
Yes, grandma managed to climb in and out of this "jeep"
without hurting herself LOL!
 
And the best way to color eggs....why with your
hands of course LOL!  Don't worry, it will come
off in the bath :)
      
Little Cade like golf...imagine, 3 1/2 years old and he likes golf already LOL....so we bought him a little golf set. Yes, an actualy golf set, with a golf bag that even has a stand on it. You should see the size of the driver!!  Of course his sisters couldn't resist so they spent some time digging up our dead lawn (we haven't had rain in weeks), trying to perfect their golf swings :)

Sad as it is these days, the name Bench in clothing seems to be the "in" thing, and our young GDs are not immune to the pressure at school to have all the name brands.  Mom has already bought them a few tshirts etc, so while Easter shopping a few weeks ago we came across the cuteset Bench jackets at a specialty clothing store for kids.  This grandma couldn't resist those darn jackets either....hehehe....so Hailee and Hannah each have a Bench jacket....different ones of course. So they're happy and grandma is happy LOL....and grandpa is happy too to see them happy, but he didn't see the bill for them...hehehe!
 

 
 
Saturday grandma and grandpa went over to the gk's house to celebrate daddy's birthday. We had a delicious supper and I made two loaves of bread in the bread machine to bring over. Ryan loves home made bread. My mom (Baba) used to bake bread, cinnamon buns, everything etc from scratch, so the boys developed a love for all things yeasty as they were growing up, and especially while she lived with us for 9 years after my dad passed away...hehehe!  She'd get up at 4:00 in the morning to make sure the buns were ready before the boys went to school :) Great memories.  Thankfully, Ryan doesn't mind bread machine bread, so was almost as happy with it as he used to be with Baba's bread :) He'd better enjoy it because it's the closet thing to scratch bread that he's going to see from me LOL!
 


Poor Hailee gave her slice of bread to grandpa and told him she didn't want to hurt grandma's feelings, but that she didn't really like the bread....hehehe! Too cute :) I only wish I didn't like it!

We weren't having a big Easter dinner celebration like we usually do, so I wasn't too worried about getting dinner ready on Sunday....which was nice for me as I was starting to feel very tired.  Ham, salmon, mashed potatoes with Boursin cheese (yummy), coleslaw and lots of veggies. NO homemade bread LOL!

When the kids arrived I had their Easter pails on the back steps so they could start hunting immediately after taking their shoes off....and it didn't take long for big sister Hailee to start finding candies in all the places the Easter Bunny always leaves them...hehehe! It didn't take long however for Hannah and Cade to get into the act :)

Once "most" of the candies were found it was time to decorate their Easter cake.  I say "most" because grandpa always holds some back and puts them out once the kids are gone so they can continue to find them for weeks and months afterwards.  He loves hearing their enjoyment when a few months after Easter, they come across a chocolate. They'll come running to me saying "grandma, grandma, the Easter bunny left another egg, look." :))  It's the little things that make life worth living :)

Everyone was stuffed after supper and cake. I packed up lots of food for our neighbor to take home and he left happy :)  He loves to eat and I know how difficult it would be for a widower in his 70's to make good meals for himself.  He loves coming here and says it's just like family :)

   
The kids and grandpa went outside for a bit but they didn't stay too long as it was cold....brrrrrr.  Mind you, this was still the nicest weather we've had for an Easter weekend in many years. So what if we needed winter jackets! LOL!

Mom wasn't planning on the kids staying long enough for baths, but thankfully she always comes prepared.  Pjs are always close at hand :)  Around 8:00 they all packed into the van to head home and our neighbor took his food and walked across the street, happy to know he doesn't have to worry about what he's going to eat today :)

This grandma is usually a night owl.  I may go to bed early but I lay there and watch tv.  Last night, I was exhausted and lights were out by 10:45 and I was out cold a few seconds later.  I hate to even say what time I crawled out of bed this morning....hehehe....but suffice it to say it was almost a 12 hour night!  Poor Sparkles was all tuckered out too and hadn't moved a inch all night. She is SO much like me and didn't get up until I did LOL!

Today is a nice quiet day. In fact I'm writing this in mid afternoon and still in my nightie.  Grandpa did a bunch more yard work earlier and my flower beds are starting to look clear.  All we need now is some much needed rain!

All in all, a great long weekend. Family, friends, good food...what more could we ask for :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo