Easter weekend 2014

Why hello! I'm alive! It would seem I've been a blog slacker lately. It happened quite unintentionally, the result of a boring, nothing-to-report week, followed by a full, too-busy-to-report weekend.

Followed by an unplanned, return trip to the doctor yesterday for a child with a broken arm.

Can you see it?

It was a hard, emotional time. OR NOT.

Blake injured his arm playing basketball 9 days ago, but didn't show signs of an injury (no bruising or major swelling or lack of mobility). Even so, we took him in last Tuesday to get xrays just in case, even though he didn't act like it was bothering him, because remember when that happened to Cooper just over a year ago? And it was broken? And we felt like terrible parents???

After x-rays of his wrist and hand showed nothing, the doctor concluded it was a light sprain. Over the weekend though, Russ and I noticed Blake favoring his arm more and more and his hand was swelling so I took him back in because, PARENT INTUITION, and asked for an xray of his whole forearm. And sure enough, there it was.

Conclusion: don't always go by what a kid says ("it doesn't hurt!") because sometimes they have their daddy's high pain tolerance and can't be trusted.

Back to the weekend! Let's recap, shall we?

Friday night: chili feed and egg dying at Grandma Tracy's with 21 or so children.  And their egg-dying mothers. We couldn't help ourselves... the eggs just called ;)

Saturday afternoon my Mum took the kids to the pool for an Easter egg swim - a fun and creative idea!

With the help of his siblings, Cooper won himself a free swim with this haul.

Later that afternoon Russ and I attended our dear friends wedding vow renewal ceremony, which was a beautiful and meaningful event. They eloped ten years ago so this was the wedding they never had and it was simply gorgeous! 

Happy honeymooning, Beth and Andy!

Easter morning, Russ surprised Kendall and I with roses before church. I love that man.

Church. Kids choirs. Music specials. Balloons with candy. Worshipping Jesus and celebrating the resurrection of the King. Hallelujah! Part of our service was watching this adorable little video clip and darn it all if it didn't make me cry, stick figure animation and all! 

And what's a special church service without a group family shot? I LOVE MY FAMILY. (Cast of characters: my sister Kelly with her husband, Dave, and two kids, my brother Jay with his girlfriend, Christine, my parents, Nanna and and Papa Duke, and  us.

 

Egg hunt in almost 70 degree weather! We celebrated with Russ's side of the family and played outside most of the time, which was glorious. 

I have no idea. I asked the girls to gather for a shot and this is what I got. Looks violent!

We left Russ's sister's house around 5 pm to go to the egg hunt up the road at Grandma Tracy's, and were on our way home for the night around 7:30 pm when we realized the Blazer playoff game was on and we were about to pass Tim and Cara's again. So we pulled back in unannounced and ended our night with a Blazer victory and some major celebrating. 

It was the best Easter ever.