Thank you for visiting my blog! If you are visiting because you have experienced a pregnancy or infant loss, let me say that I am so very sorry. I started this blog shortly after our Baby Grady was stillborn on November 12, 2008. Please visit the sidebar below called "Labels" to find the topic in which you are interested, or just read as your heart desires.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Easter 2010

Playing a bit of catch-up on my blog! This year we spent Easter with just our family of four. It was rather nice to be on our own time schedule and do whatever we wanted.

We started the day by finding out what was in the girls' Easter baskets.




Then headed to church.





My girls, especially Jessica, no longer like to dress up much. I don't fight the battle anymore. I choose outfits that look cute and that they can wear again. We go to a very casual church where you come as you are. It's not about the clothes you wear...it's about your heart. People do get all decked out on Easter. Maybe I have the wrong attitude, but we go to church on a regular basis. Easter is a very special celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, it's not an occasion that I will spend tons of money on to make an impression on others. I really don't believe God cares what you wear. Within reason that is...

Once home we boiled eggs and the girls had a blast dying them. This year I got them 18 eggs each. Emma Grace was a bit less patient in letting the colors soak in, but they all turned out beautifully.




I forgot to take pictures with their eggs earlier in the day, so these were taken at bedtime after showers. Poor Jess had poison ivy all over her face. :(




Gib headed out to hide the plastic eggs that we've collected over the years. I'll have to blog some day about how he threw them out once, and I made him dig through the trash to get them. (Sorry Gib, I'll never let you live that one down!) The girls had a great time hunting them but the day warmed up much more than I expected. It was rather warm out.







While they finished dying their eggs, I baked a strawberry cake. We made our first bunny cake. The recipe called for just a plain white cake, but I thought strawberry would be more exciting and yummy. I would love to make a resurrection cake one year, but the pictures I saw looked like more than I wanted to take on this year.

Start with two round cakes. Using a rounded edge, cut off the two sides of one to make the ears. What is left is the bow-tie for the bunny. Using the whole round cake as the bunny's head, assemble bunny with cut cake parts.




I did not make my own butter cream frosting like I did with Grady's first birthday rainbow cake. Instead I took the easy way out and bought two containers of Betty Crocker butter cream frosting and let the girls have at it. They pretty much frosted this cake all by themselves.






We used spice drop candies for the eyes and nose, red licorice for the mouth and Starburst jelly beans for the bow-tie. Gib had to help me with the mouth because I was getting extremely frustrated. At times he has the patience of Job. I'm so thankful for that in him!



Here's our finished product.




(Note the left side of the bunny's bow-tie...Emma Grace decided to do a pattern of red and purple jelly beans)

For Easter dinner, I was going to attempt leg of lamb. However, someone told me as I was on the way to the store that it has a "gamey" flavor to it. I re-evaluated my dinner selection and settled on a ham. Safe bet in my house. So for dinner we had ham, green beans, lima beans, corn and rolls. I completely forgot to cook the carrots. Oh well. There was plenty without them. And our bunny cake was delicious for dessert!

After dinner, it was my turn to hide the eggs again for the girls. It was much nicer to be outside because the weather had cooled off considerably. Again, they had a blast.




However, the most fun part of their day, reported by both of them at bedtime, was hiding the eggs for me and Daddy to find. I told Gib he couldn't run around to get his because I couldn't keep up with him being pregnant. He was a good sport, but I had two little helpers named Jessica and Emma Grace who kept telling me where to look. Emma Grace even went as far as to pick some of them up and bring them to my basket. I ended up with more eggs than Gib, but it wasn't a fair-and-square distribution. It was 3-1 egg hunting. It was tons of fun watching their faces light up and hearing their squeals as they cheered us on.




I have to say that the day was absolutely wonderful, and I spent it with my three most favorite people in the world. However, I can't end this post without telling you how very much I missed Grady on Easter this year. I always thought the "first" of everything was the hardest. But I can honestly say that wasn't the case with Easter. This year was harder than last. This year he would have been walking. I couldn't help but picture him with a basket, probably bigger than his head, toddling and trying to run to find eggs. Trying his best to keep up with his big sisters. Or maybe he would have gotten one and just sat down to inspect and explore it, not caring how many more there were to be found.

I remember the chaplain from the hospital telling me that moments you aren't prepared for can often hit you the hardest. (This was after I broke down into sobs at midnight on New Year's Eve the year Grady died) I was definitely caught off guard by the depth of my sadness over Grady this year at Easter. I still enjoyed a beautiful day with my girls and hubby. I cherish the time we spent together as a family. But I missed my baby boy more and felt more sadness over him not being here than I have in a while. I miss him every day...but you know what I mean...

And as I was loading pictures, I forgot a major jam session during the day consisting of some very loud music, dancing and pretend guitar playing. Jessica seriously cracks me up!








Hope you enjoyed the pictures. They tell the story of a great, fun day of making memories together! That's what it's all about to us.

Love,
Tonya

6 comments:

  1. Oh Tonya,
    What a beautiful day you all had... I love that the kids actually hide the eggs for you guys. That is a great idea. I think we may need to steal that one for next year.

    Thanks for the comment on my blog... it encouraged me, and I needed that.

    I hear you on missing the boys more this year. In church we sang on Easter we sang, "I know my Redeemer Lives" the old hymn. That was the only hymn we had at Samuel's memorial service... we sang it as our whole family processed into the church. It was REALLY hard to sing it on Easter.... sigh... I pray for that ache to lessen for all of us grieving mamas.

    Well, I am going to go chill out. I spent most of the day in bed with a migrane. Oh, you are so sweet to say what you did about my Louis. Seeing Jessica and her air guitar made me just smile and think that they would make quite a pair... I am all for arranged marriages:) wink wink:)

    Praying for you sweet friend. Love you!
    Sara

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  2. I love these pictures! You're so creative to make a bunny cake. How cute! I'm so glad you had a good day as a family. I agree about the second Easter... last year was really really hard for me. I didn't expect it either. This year was considerably easier, but still- the missing is always there.

    love you friend,
    ebe

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  3. Loved the pics! I didn't know y'all made a bunny cake. How creative! It looked yummy, too. Thanks for sharing these with us :))

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  4. Tonya, your girls are beautiful! You are such a great mom - I never even thought of having the boys hide eggs for me and Tom to find. We will have to try that next year.
    I know that you wish that Grady was there with you. I'm sorry that he wasn't.
    I saw a baby in church yesterday that was born just a few days before David ... AHHHH!! It was awful, and I just wanted to run out of the sanctuary.
    I just finished Holding on to Hope. It was a great book. Thanks for recommending it.

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  5. Growing up we made the bunny cake with my parents and they now make it with my kids! Glad you had a great day and thanks for all the posts lately. You will have to help me get mine up and going:)

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  6. My mom made a bunny cake just like that for my 2nd birthday! :)

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