Easter and Spring Projects

It has been quite some time since I have posted! I got very busy with my Easter preparations, as well as finishing up my 40 bags in 40 days decluttering goal. My back had been troubling me off and on during my decluttering, then after Easter I came down with quite a bug, between that and my back I was in bed for nearly a week! Thankfully I am feeling much better today, and have finally felt up to blogging. Luckily I felt wonderful for Easter weekend, and was able to teach my Sunday school class and host my family Easter egg hunt and dinner.

I had fun setting out some simple Easter decorations, some of my favorite little figures, our old Playmobil Easter set, and a fun new Yankee candle in Peeps scent with a very pretty pastel chevron pattern glass shade. I decluttered quite of bit of my outdated decor, and was happy with the ones I kept. :)

I still made baskets for my kids even though they are older now, they had fun getting a few goodies and I had fun making the baskets. I don't think anyone is too old for a fun basket of Easter goodies, and I can imagine myself making baskets for my children and future grandchildren for many years. Of course I also make a basket for my two dogs, in the picture below you can see my very old and very sweet shepherd/lab sniffing out the dogs basket. She definitely knows the drill, for both her Easter basket and Christmas stocking, she waits patiently for the kids to be done with theirs, and then she knows it is her turn. Shepherds are such smart dogs, I just love her to pieces! She is teaching my younger dog, a very sweet and rambunctious lab, just what to do. Each dog got a dinosaur chew toy, a busy bone, and a few jelly beans which my oldest dog loves. :)

The morning of Easter we had beautiful weather, we went to church, the service was very nice, I really enjoyed the praise music, we sang a bunch of my favorite hymns. After service, the kids had an Easter egg hunt, it is always fun to watch the little ones all dressed up and so excited about Easter. After the egg hunt I taught my Sunday school class. My niece and nephew have started attending our church, and they are in my class, which I think is so wonderful, I love getting to teach them. :)

After church we headed home for our family Easter gathering. I had to work quickly to get all the food out before everyone arrived, the first thing I set out was a cheese and salami and cracker platter, with grapes. The salami was good, it was a hand crafted, all natural variety, in a few flavors, I will definitely be picking up some more for spring and summer picnics! I was too busy to snap many pictures of the food, I kept it pretty simple with my broccoli bacon salad, lime ambrosia, and ham, my mother in law brought her potato salad, and we had Hawaiian Rolls, along with lemon bars and carrot cake cupcakes for dessert.

All the candy dishes were full of pretty foil wrapped Easter candy. I am not huge on chocolate eggs, but I love how they look, the foil is so pretty! I also bought everyone a chocolate bunny to take home, I had a huge basket full of them, it was a fun party favor, the adults enjoyed it just as much as the kids!

After our Easter meal, the lights flickered a couple of times, and I realized our sunny weather was not going to last much longer, so we got right outside and hid the eggs for our Easter egg hunt. I fill them with chocolate and coins. When the kids were younger I would also hide foreign coins and pretty rocks and trinkets, but this year I kept it simpler. My sister is currently hosting an exchange student from Japan, she had never done and Easter egg hunt and was so excited to take part, it was really fun to watch everyone hunting eggs, the men hid them and they did a good job finding clever spots for the eggs. We finished just in time, it started to rain right after the hunt. I grew up doing Easter egg hunts at my grandma's every year so it always brings back fond memories. I think the Easter eggs look so pretty out in the garden!

Overall it was a wonderful Easter day. After Easter, one of the kids pointed out to me that one of my Easter tulips was a twin! I don't think I have ever seen a twin tulip before, so I had to take pictures. I am surprised I didn't notice when I first put them out! The two stems are entirely attached until just before it branches out into each flower. Tulips are my favorite flower this time of year, I like to have a fresh bunch out all though the spring!

The Saturday before Easter we got up very very early to watch the third of the lunar eclipse tetrad. It was special in that it is the shortest eclipse totality in almost five centuries. You can read about it here. Being that it was so short, we were able to watch it eclipse and then get turn back, which usually we don't see. The last one we saw was this past fall , and I hope to see the last of the four eclipses in the tetrad this coming fall. I have been very interested in astronomy since high school, and love viewing the night sky!

Lastly, we finished all 40 of the bags I wanted to declutter just in time for Easter. The last five were particularly difficult as I was unable to lift a thing due to my annoying back, so my dear hubby and kids, knowing how important the goal was to me, helped me sort through totes until I made my goal. I still plan to continue to declutter, I really love the freed up space, and know I have more spaces to organize.

We also put the finishing touches on our office space, the kids each have a desk in our office now, along with Gary and mine. I found this absolutely wonderful little turquoise cabinet to hold my favorite homemaking and art books. I was worried at first about moving my books all out of the office, since they often inspire me in my various creative pursuits, but this little cupboard holds them even better than before, so I am very pleased. The kids are both very happy with their new space as well!

Now that Easter is over I am very eager to get out to my garden. I am supposed to be taking it easy for a bit longer so my back doesn't act up again, doctor's orders, and that will be quite hard because I have so many ideas for my spring garden! I'll be patient though, and spend the time planning in my notebook. :)

How was your Easter?

Linking to:
My Week in Review
Simple & Sweet Fridays
Home Sweet Home
Flaunt it Friday