Easter 2009

Easter and the days leading up to it were busy around the Jinnette household. Between ball practices, cleaning (or attempting to while the kids were home), grocery shopping and everything else we had scheduled last week, it was surprising that we didn't pass ourselves on the road.

Hannah's friend Gracie spent Thursday night here since they were out Friday for Good Friday. The girls would not settle down until I separated them around 10:30 p.m. Like always, they were asleep in about five minutes. Gracie woke up first a few minutes before 7 a.m. and woke Hannah up. After getting a bite to eat, Gracie went running down the hall, talking in a loud voice and slammed Hannah's door shut. Hannah then went racing after her, talking loudly and knocking loudly on the door. Needless to say, they woke Andrew and Will up. I was not a happy camper because I didn't sleep well the night before. The day did get a little better and the kids got along great with minimum fighting.

While I was checking my e-mail later that day, I saw a note that Grandma sent us a e-card from Blue Mountain. I opened it thinking it was an Easter card. There was a note that said something like "sorry to hear about you hurting your hand. Hope you are better soon. Love, Grandma Loach." Confused, I scrolled upwards and saw it was addressed to Will. After he saw it, he asked if we could call Grandma Loach and thank her. (He can be such a little gentleman.) Nathan and Hannah also spoke to Grandma for a few minutes before passing the phone to me. It was nice getting to talk to her.

Friday night, the kids, Mike and I went to Baskin Robbins as is our custom. Afterwards, we came home and got the kids ready for bed. Mike and I actually went to bed ourselves about 10:30, which is VERY unusual for us (our normal bedtime is between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.). We got to sleep until 8 Saturday morning. IT WAS SOOO NICE!!! The kids were tired from their busy day and slept in. Saturday was spent cleaning house and finishing up some last minute grocery shopping.

Sunday, we went to the 9:25 service instead of Sunday school. We still had some things to do around the house and finish cooking some of the dishes before our guests came over. The early service is called a "blended" service, which is more traditional. The 11 o'clock service is a contemporary service, which is what we like with a praise band and more contemporary type worship songs. The service that morning was nice but I still prefer the second one.

We had a smaller group at our house this year. Mom came over and our friends from church, Susan and Todd with their boys David and Michael. Melanie, Nathan and his friend Coltlin came over and ate then had to leave to meet Coltlin's dad. Patti, Alyssa and Matthew didn't come over this year. Patti didn't want to be around our dog Gracy. She said she would cry about Gracy being sick and didn't want to be around her. We missed them not being there but we still had a nice time. Because it was raining outside, we had an Easter egg hunt in the living room. Susan and I hid the eggs all over, in obvious and not-so-obvious places. Susan hid some in the pile of Lego's that were in the floor, thinking that the kids would never find them. (They were some of the first to go.) Some places we thought would be easy for the kids turned out to be a little more difficult. They were hid on top of the VCR, in a candlestick on the mantle, on the floor in the entry hall closet doorway, under pillows on the couch and in Hannah's sweater on the back of the love seat. One was hid on top of the cloth medallion on the curtain covering the front door. It was in plain sight for Susan and me but the kids almost never found it. The four of them (David, Michael, Hannah and Will) had a blast looking for them. It was almost as fun as if they had been outside.

After everyone left, Mike and I finished cleaning up and got the kids into bed. I was soo tired that I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up around 11 and then Mike and I both went to bed. We were both wiped!! We did get some pictures of the five of us in our Easter outfits. I will try to download them tomorrow and post them on my blog and on Facebook. Most of them turned out great.

Well, this is all for now. I need to go and rest up because tomorrow is going to be another hectic day. All three kids have school; I have a board meeting at church; Hannah has practice at 5:30 at Horn Lake High School; and Will has a game at 7:30 at Snowden Grove (clear across town from where Hannah is practicing). I don't know how or what I am going to feed them. If I make something and have them eat at home, it will have to be around 4 or 4:30. Fun, fun, fun!!!