Spring Picture Share

 Hello,

Happy Easter Octave!! (first 8 days)

We had a lovely Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday)! We opted to go to the Easter Vigil again this year on Holy Saturday. It is the most amazing liturgy. The congregation starts outside with the Easter fire. A bonfire is light, the new Easter candle is initiated (I don't know all the correct wording), and we all go in the dark church lighting each other's candles as we do so from the original light of the Easter candle. The first part of the liturgy is by candlelight. Then as the liturgy continues with readings from the Old Testament all the way to the New Testament, the church lights up. During the liturgy there were also three baptisms and eleven confirmations. After Mass (about 11pm), we headed over to the rectory to a huge party. We ended up leaving about 1am. Traditional Catholics=pray hard, party hard. :)  

Sunday morning we all slept in and Doug made a late breakfast. Late breakfast, Easter basket finding, stroll in the sunshine, kite flying (Mace got a kite in his basket), Easter egg hunt (two kids hid them and Doug and I joined in the finding), and a lovely lamb dinner. Dinner: roasted lamb, Hasselback potatoes, roasted asparagus, spring salad with strawberries, Resurrection rolls, and baklava. 

Once again I didn't think to take pictures of the family before or after Mass. The kids were all so good-looking! The boys in suits and Nutmeg in her lovely new dress (and haircut). How did they all grow up so quickly!!?? 

Here is what I did manage to capture. Gracias, I just remembered I didn't even get pictures of the egg-dyeing. I guess I'm getting old! 

Mace and I continued our tradition of talking through the last week of Jesus's life.
Each day we talk through what we know that he did on that day. We use Scripture
references, a homemade map, and some peg dolls for visuals. I found it helpful for myself as well. 

Mace got some seeds and soil in his basket. 

More I could share I suppose. Mace, Nutmeg, and I are taking this week much lighter lesson-wise. Mace and I did some more kite-flying, visited our neighbors to see how they do gardening here, we've visited two families who have farms (Mace is interested in perhaps being a farmer someday), and will probably do a few more fun and restful things before the week is out. 

Here a couple more random pics. 

Luke went to another dance (Soda Pop Dance) with a group. 

Homeschool mom tend to get a little burnt out at times, myself included. My introvert
self can get bogged down because I really don't get much down-time by myself to recharge. I took a weekend off by myself to the town of Livingston. Nice town right next to Yellowstone. Problem was, I got snowed in!!! So instead of driving down Paradise Valley, I spent my time shoveling. Blah! But fortunately, I had thrown the snowshoes in the car, so I did a little snowshoeing by the river. 

Oops, almost forgot some pictures of Doug when he took the two youngest skiing.