Easter weekend

Our Easter celebrations started this past weekend.  Micah is at grandpa and grandma's farm so Grace, JJ and I spent the weekend with my family.  One of my sisters turned thirty on Saturday and I was able to talk to her for a little while.  She lives really far away, maybe we can see her next year.  My other sister and her family were busy moving all weekend.  They have been living about an hour away from our new farm but her husband got a great new job in another town so they are moving almost two hours farther away.  I'm glad we could spend Easter with them though.  Five of the six kids in our family were represented for brunch Sunday.  There were so many fun moments over the weekend but one that really made the weekend was being able to go church Sunday as a family. It was actually just Mom, Dad, one of my brothers, another brother's new wife, two of my kids and me.  I used to be kind of a hymn snob, I only liked singing hymns in church.  That has changed, I have learned to embrace other styles of worship.  But there is something about the great Easter hymns, I just can't celebrate Jesus rising from the dead until we sing "He Lives" or "Christ Arose."   We sang both of them! 

Brunch was after church and Dad made his signature Sunday dish: waffles. All the food was so good!  Grace and JJ searched for eggs while we were putting the finishing touches on the meal.  It was JJ's first time.  He ran into the room with his little basket, picked up the first egg he saw, popped it open and ate the contents.  I don't think he picked up any other eggs.  Grace had a great time running around the room and finding all the hidden eggs, her basket was full in no time.  Later in the afternoon Dad made homemade ice cream with Grace and one of her cousins.   Dad even let them take turns with the hand mixer while he added some of the ingredients.  They all had a lot of fun. 

The kids and I ended up staying over Sunday instead of heading home.  One of my brothers had never been out to our place so we decided to all go together in the morning.  We got ready pretty quickly Monday morning but when I looked for my keys to go warm up the car they were no where to be found.  I looked everywhere, even unpacking my bags and boxes just in case they got dropped in by accident.  No keys.  I looked through the windows of the car but couldn't see them.  My brother looked out there after I went back inside and saw them lying on a back seat.  We ended up calling a locksmith to get them out.  Ready to go at last, it is probably 9am by now.  Just a quick run to the gas station for gas and a little air for a low tire.  We both got gas but the air did not work at that gas station or the next two places we tried.   I finally found a working air pump and filled the tire.  My brother noticed a crack in the sidewall where it was leaking pretty bad.  After some discussion we decided to repair it since he had a tire repair kit in his car.  Two unsuccessful repair tries later we checked out the spare tire.  It is a full sized tire and rim!  Then it was back to Mom's house to change the tire.  No one was there and the house was locked up.  (I had made sure my brother locked the door when we left earlier)  He got started on the tire change and my little brother came home an hour later with his house key to let us in.  Later we remembered where the key is hidden outside, oh well, next time.  Tire changed, lunch eaten and kids packed back into the SUV and we took off for the second time that day.  By now it is after 1pm.  But we were able to convince my little brother to come with us out to the farm. 

My brothers spent the rest of the afternoon with us and ate supper at the farm.  They even stuck around a little while and played a couple of games with Grace and I.  It is so fun to spend some time with my family.  We did not see much of my family at our place in ND and I am excited to be able to have them out more now that we are back in MN.  Next we are off to celebrate Easter with Eric's family and after that out to ND to visit him for a while.  I am so excited to see my husband!