Happy Easter!

Last year, we spent Easter night in the ER with Tony and his gallbladder. This year was supremely better! We had a wonderful Easter weekend, although not everything went as planned. Holy Saturday was supposed to be jam-packed, with TaeKwonDo, an Easter egg hunt, and opening day at the ballpark. I sent Andrew and Tony off to TKD, only to discover that there were no classes. They came home, and Tony and the boys went to get haircuts while Mom and I ran to the store with Sophie. While we were there, it started raining, cancelling the egg hunt and delaying the ball games. Eventually, the ball games were cancelled altogether. That was fine with me - it gave me time for cleaning, naps, cooking, and dyeing eggs before church. Here's Miss Sophie with an outfit from Aunt Connie and ears from grandma. She loves shoes and headpieces.After good long naps for everyone in the house, it was time to dye eggs. Sophie really wasn't interested. She kept calling the egg a ball and trying to throw it.

The boys, on the other hand, were very serious egg colorers.

The Easter Vigil Mass was at 8:30, so we got all dressed up in our Easter best and headed out.

Unfortunately, we don't have a good family picture. None of them turned out well of everyone. I'm hoping to get to Sears soon and have a nice one taken while Sophie's dress still fits.

Easter Mass ended about 11:15, and was followed by a reception for the newly initiated. The kids were all very good during the LONG Mass. Even though it's lengthy, it's a favorite of Tony's and mine, and even the boys. After we got them in bed, the Easter bunny came.

Andrew was up at 7:00, but we managed to convince him to stay in bed and read until 8. Then we let him wake up Aidan while we got Sophie up. The advantage to attending Easter Vigil service is sleeping in a little on Easter Sunday. Here are the boys racing to an egg:

Look mommy- I found one under the table!

This year, Easter for the Courtney side of the family was at Aunt Linda's. Here are six of the seven great grandchildren - so far! The other two grandkids are now engaged, so we may be growing again in the next few years.

The weather today was gorgeous - sunny and 80. The kids had a great time hunting eggs, playing baseball, and blowing bubbles.

While we were at Aunt Linda's, I noticed that Sophie was developing a rash. She had been running a fever Friday night (all through Good Friday services, bless her heart) and Saturday. I was a little concerned that this new rash could be strep, so I dropped Tony and the boys off at home and Sophie and spent an hour at the Urgent Care. Her diagnosis was Fifth's Disease, which is a rashy type virus that kids pass around and usually only get once. The boys have both had it, so I guess that's why Sophie's the only sick one in the house. The rash isn't really itchy, and there's nothing we can do but give her some tylenol and wait. She's been a trooper, though. We came home from the doctor and put her dress back on because Tony's mom was coming over for dinner. Here's Sophie loving on a big pink bunny from Aunt Erin:

After we cleaned up, we played outside until bedtime. I wish we didn't have to go back to school tomorrow, but I'm glad summer is on it's way! We had a very blessed Easter Sunday!