Sunday, April 9, 2023
This was a wonderful day and I am so very thankful. This was the first holiday that I truly felt 'back'. It was something else and I loved every minute of it.
We enjoyed a wonderful church service (how grateful we are for Scott, Jennifer and Lorri). I finished up the final dishes for lunch, but had done most of the prep on Saturday. Dear Zac came a bit early and filled all the Easter eggs for us. Then when Daddy arrived they settled into the chairs on the patio and enjoyed visiting. Soon everyone else arrived... Scott and Anne had picked up Namuna and her friends for us. Brenda and Matt also joined us. Julie was out of town with Anna and Matthew and we sure missed them but were glad they could be together. Poor Hannah had covid and was unable to attend. And Jonathan was getting the crud that I had the week before... so he spent the day on his own trying to rest up and get well. Jackson, Brianna and Maverick arrived last because Brianna sang at both services at their church. They all looked so good! Mav was SO CUTE! Goodness that kid. He had gotten an adorable little kids camera at Jeremy and Shonda's the night before and was so excited to show us! I think he took a photo of my stomach first thing. :D But what a neat gift - a working camera that a kid can actually use. He and Zac used it to take a selfie together (yes, it even has a selfie mode!)
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| Zac and Maverick taking their selfie |
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| Namuna and Maverick |
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| little cutie pie! |
Love this sweet family of (almost) 4. Have had a lot of photos of our original 4 on this very same front porch. I love the full circle.
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| Jackson, Brianna, Maverick and new baby coming soon!! |
We enjoyed a wonderful meal - so many cooks! Brianna brought corn and carrots, Anne brought sweet potato casserole, Brenda brought green bean casserole and broccoli rice casserole and also some dessert and their famous homemade ice cream. Zac brought the most delicious fruit salad - I really need to get that recipe from him!! Again, it was so joy-filled to have it all work out like this. Last time was 2019. 2020 we had a very small Easter dinner - 2021 we had people but Mav was less than a year old so no hunt, etc. 2022 was so cold and it even snowed! So this year was perfect! :)
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| Loved having Namuna, JD, Sujata and Aasis join us! |
After lunch Mav changed clothes and then got Namuna to help him with his kite from his Easter basket. I did try hard to get a good kite and it turns out I succeeded! It was a fantastic kite! They were able to get it right up in the air and then Mav ran all around the yard flying it. I keep forgetting he is only 2 years old. I am so glad this was a quality kite - definitely the best one I have purchased in several years. At one point it got caught in the antenna, but Jackson easily got it out and then Mav was off again. :)
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| Namuna and Maverick |
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| I love this photo :) |
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| what a kite! |
Daddy enjoyed visiting with everyone on the patio - so glad the weather was nice for being out there. Zac helped Mav with the bubble hand glove thing. That was fun, but not as fun as the regular bubble wands we usually get. Oh well, I thought it would be fun to try something new out. But, Mav is always thrilled to do anything with 'his best friend Zac'.
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| Brenda, Daddy and Matt |
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| Maverick and 'his best friend, Zac' |
Then it was time to gather around for the Easter egg hunt. Jackson had taken all the plastic eggs that Zac filled and hid them in the front yard. He came out and gave instructions to Mav, Namuna, Aasis, JD, and Sujata - and then they were off! I only regret that I thought I was videoing with my big camera two separate times and it turns out it didn't record. So I lost a lot of video that I thought I had. But at least it took photos correctly.
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| Jackson explaining the egg hunt to all |
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Aasis, JD
Sujata, Maverick, Namuna |
Everyone had a marvelous time with the egg hunt. It is always so fun to watch the kids (big and small!) JD found all his eggs first but he had also grabbed one of each other color so that they couldn't. Ha! Sneaky!! :) Mav was second to find all his but he had quite a bit of help. :)
One thing that was cute - he had found a light blue egg (he was looking for his dark blue) right where Scott was standing. He looked up at him and said, "It was right at your shoe!" :) Then Anne pointed out it wasn't really Mav's egg... it was light blue. He was a bit confused at first, then did understand (he does know the difference between light and dark blue). He put it back and then found another dark blue egg. I love that he didn't fuss in any way.
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| "It was right at your shoe!" :D |
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| JD was the first to finish! :) |
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| Mav celebrating finding all his eggs. :) |
We got another group photo after the hunt but you could tell Mav was about to drop. It was after 2:00 pm and he had gone through 2 church services and all the activity of the day so far. He was doing so well! But I know he was tired.
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JD, Sujata, Aasis
Maverick, Namuna |
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| Brenda and Marvin |
Then we went to the barn to see the new stud colt and the other horses. I stayed a bit then came back to the house to put away food. But the kids really enjoyed looking at the horses. I wish I had some more photos of that...
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| Jackson with Brooks and Roxie |
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| Marvin getting a closer look at Brooks and Roxie |
Mav took the girls 'on a tour'. He was quite serious about it. "This is our barn." He showed them the tamper rented from Home Depot and said, "this is really loud." :D He is not wrong! He took them to see the horse trailer and wanted them to sit up on the railing next to him. They told him they were too big and I chuckled at him looking at them and thinking, no you really aren't! But he just reveled in their fussing over him. Lucky little guy. :) Then he brought them to the horse barn where we were all looking at Jo.
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| Namuna, Maverick, Sujata |
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| Jackson with Jo |
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| JD, Aasis, Sujata, Namuna, Laura, Marvin, Jackson, Brianna |
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| Zac, Daddy, Matt, Scott, Anne |
Zac and Daddy got a photo of them with their Harry Truman hats. I want to try to get a photo of the two of them and their shadows by Greenwood school - a double of the photo Zac sent to us. We will have to get Jackson to take that with a longer lens so that the photographers shadow doesn't also end up in the photo.
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| Zac and Daddy |
Everyone spent a little time opening up the eggs from the hunt and then we headed back outside. Mav showed everyone the playset. He just loved having our wonderful guests here. I love that he is growing up with the same blessing that our kids (and I) had. Finally, his parents scooped him up to take him home for a much needed nap. It was after 3:00 pm and Mav was yelling "HAPPY EASTER" at the top of his lungs while grinning madly at all. :) I sure do love this kid!
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| "Happy Easter!!!" |
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| "HAPPY EASTER!!!!!" :D |
Then we got out the egg dying stuff and set it up on the patio table. Everyone really got into the artistry of egg decorating - I think even more than they expected! Sweet Namuna made one for me and I loved it so much. It says, "Laura, the best". I sure hate that she will be moving away in May. We will miss her a lot! We loved meeting her friends, though, and look forward to more times with them.
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| Aasis, JD, Namuna and Sujata coloring the eggs |
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| Love all their eggs! |
I certainly slept well this night! Exhausted but oh so happy. Grateful for all the wonderful family and friends we spent the day with... absolutely wonderful.
You can see an entire album of photos from this day at this link... believe it or not I left most of the photos out of this post! :D
Video snippets from the day
