Making Easter Breakfast for Our Church

This post is going to be picture heavy.

S4 was given the camera.

He took nearly NINETY photos.

These are just the highlights.

You have been warned.

A request went out in our Sunday School class (before we started teaching our 3rd ad 4th grade class) to have volunteers to make Easter breakfast.  For some reason we volunteered.

So, at some time around four in the morning, my husband got up on Easter morning and woke up his two oldest boys to get ready to go to church and make breakfast.

Jake checking to make sure we were working as he ate bacon.

 I know this may be hard to believe, but he was uber annoying this morning.  He flipped on the lights in the bedroom, blinding me at the early hour that it was.  He poked me the ribs, hauled the blankets off of me, asked me a million questions but mostly it was, "You gonna get up? Huh? Huh? Huh? You gonna get up? You're lovin me right now, aren't you?"

S1 and Brock on eggs or bacon duty.

 I was glad when he left.  I need coffee before dealing with him like that.  Because I was making pancakes and I would be bringing the little ones, we made a decision I would show up a little later.

Fruit kabobs.

 When I showed up, I was wearing jeans and my favorite slip on shoes because I was working in the kitchen.  My hair was piled up in a wet bun on the top of my head.  This was tough for me, and I am just going to admit that.  I like to super dress up for Easter.  It's been my "thing" for forever.

Morg's blueberry and chocolate chip scones.

 But the fun we had in the kitchen this morning, WAY more fun and WAY more worth it!

AMAZING cinnamon rolls.

 We were joking and laughing and flipping pancakes, spearing fruit, frying bacon, mixing coffee.  Did I mention the joking and laughing?

A pretty flower arrangement.

 Curt mentioned it was like the New Covenant church...to which I asked, "Where is that at?" and he rolled his eyes as Emily nearly died laughing.  "In Acts?" he answered me, sarcastically.  Oh, I get it now...like when the church first started.  Those first Christians musta had a lot of fun then because we sure did!

Morgan

 We could not have pulled it off without Link and Kate Pape who just stepped in and stepped up to make sure we had all the sausage links, bacon, cinnamon rolls, pans, pots and probably a zillion other things I didn't even know they did.

S2 and Curt working on pancakes.

I was on pancake duty and Curt, I found out, is the pancake master.  He was keeping a close eye on us to make sure that we made the pancakes properly.

Curt who is apparently a pancake professional.

I wasn't worried we would mess them up.  I mean, I've been making pancakes for YEARS.

Moma and S2 making pancakes.

And I was right.  S2 and I did a great job making the pancakes that Curt mixed up and plopped on griddles for us.  We were a good team, I think even Curt agreed.

Kate and Link Pape. They totally rock and MADE this morning!

All the time we were in the kitchen cooking up a storm. S4 kept walking around taking photos.  Like I told you, there were over ninety that he took.

S1 and Brock making eggs.

It was fun to see the boys helping so much.  Not so much the little ones, of course, but S1 and S2 cooked the entire time we were there.

My handsome man and Link (who would like to add he's pretty good lookin too, I am sure!)

And as crowded as we were in that kitchen, as sleep deprived as we were, we all just kept laughing.

Em, who is a hoot and I love to pieces, and me.

It helped that my husband was dispensing advice on how to be romantic and how weeding the garden is really a date and how he is so romantic that we don't need dates.  (Um, hon, we do!)

Super blurry me and Morg.

I am really blessed to have this group in my life, in my family's life. We were all part of the Sunday School Bill had started and we have grown so close.

S1 and S4, awwwwww!

We made such a great team and made such yummy food that I am rather certain this is going to become an annual thing for us.

You should have heard all he had to say, Hubs NEEDED the spatula to the head!

Which I knew as soon as I walked into that kitchen and caught the look in my husband's eyes.  He was having way too much fun doing this.

The cappuccino maker kept us caffeinated, including the kiddos like S3.

We all pitched in to clean up and in no time flat all the dishes were washed and dried and we began the process of reloading all the things we had hauled into the kitchen to make the food.

Brock loading up on caffeine.

I had grabbed a black skirt to wear that I had just picked up at Goodwill.  The black skirt is all flirty twisty poofy.

S4 would like you to know this is a good picture, it shows the whole table.

It was super windy out and when we went to get our annual family photo taken I was quite sure it was going to give someone a good show.  I should have just kept the jeans on.

I'm hungry again just looking at these photos!

But after my husband suggested us getting our photo taken against the white polebarn siding of our church and Morg and I nearly shouting "NO!" we stood behind some green bushes and had some phtotos taken.

Tables laden with breakfast food.

In that moment, with the wind whipping around us as we laughed and tried to snap some good photos, it hit me.

Yup, that is my handsome man adding the eggs to the table.

This is probably my most favorite Easter ever.

And we were now ready to eat!

When Sunday school started, I won the snack contest because I had actually brought a snack for the class while Curt had not - haha!

The food...

After Sunday school the sleepiness was hitting us.  Our group was found in the kitchen chugging orange juice and coffee to stay awake.

All our kids were the first ones in line to get food!

At church we watched our kids choir of nearly all boys sing.  I was thankful the hole in S4's knee didn't show too much.

Kate and I loading up on coffee in our new church mugs. I drank a LOT of coffee!

When we returned home that afternoon, we crashed.  Hubs and I fell into our bed and fell asleep.

The people who came to eat our amazing breakfast.

The boys zoned in front of the tv and folded socks.

The coffee table, I loved this. A joker (ahem, KEVIN!) had to show off his food though. Guess he thought it was THAT good...and it was! :) 

Later when Jake grilled cheeseburgers for our non traditional Easter meal, when we bowed our heads to pray, we thanked God for the gift of Easter.  

The coffee table. Sigh of love for the beauty of it. Oh, and who drinks decaf coffee in the morning? Curt and I agree they must be losers!

We also thanked God for the gift of Friendship.

New coffee mugs with Easter eggs.

And the blessing of making breakfast.

So grateful for this man, Bill.  Here he was helping S1 tie his tie.

Morg came over tonight to have a cheeseburger we had saved for her.

S1 picked out this whole outfit at Goodwill and he is as proud as can be to have a suit and tie!

And she agreed too, this was a great day.

Lilacs and other flowers that decorated the tables everyone ate at.

 We have been laughing at the 90 plus photos taken today.  Sheesh! S4 with a camera is a scary thing!  But how fun to record our special Easter day!

Family Photo

Because these are the memories I do believe they will treasure for a long time to come.

Kids Choir, there are a LOT of boys at our church!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Husband Disregarded the Warning

I gave my husband fair warning.  

He completely disregarded it.

He likes to live dangerously, I suppose.

Let's begin by stating the fact that it is spring break.  And there is now a fridge on my front porch...filled with worms.  

MovingRightAlong.

Wednesday I woke early and had my coffee slowly, watching the sun rise as I cleaned my kitchen.  I was the only one awake and it was a rather lovely time.  When S4 stumbled down the steps he greeted me with the sweetest, "Good Morning, Mama".  You know when they say something in such a way that makes your heart melt? It was that sort of greeting.

My nephew's have been staying with us on Wednesday's and I wanted to have the house cleaned before they arrived.  L is nearly three and H is about nine months.  At nine months he crawls and I have realized our house is FAR from being baby proofed.  On this day I decided I needed to mop our floors.

I asked the boys to pick up their stuff.  The fighting began. "That's not mine."  "Yes, it is." "No, it is not." "Yes, it is." "Mama, so and so is not helping!" 

And somehow cleaning turned to wrestling.

Wrestling makes mama shove them all outdoors.

S1, who I realize all the time is a huge huge huge help to me, was helping Daddy at work so it was the three youngest.  Three is not a good number when it comes to brothers, I'm thinking.

Anyhow, I went to mop the floor.  I had *this* itty bitty much of lysol left so I dumped some bleach in there to make it extra powerful clean.  I turned the water on as hot as it would go.  I dropped my amazing tornado mop in the bucket, thankful Renee persuaded me to buy a mop so that I no longer had to scrub the floor on my knees - that was honestly my thought, I can not make it up - as my mop handle literally rusted right in half.

I did not even know it was rusty!

I couldn't dump the water out because it was all the soap I had so I poured in some cold and began scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees.

The boys had been warned to stay outside but suddenly S4 burst into the door and was rattling off his emergency so fast I had a hard time making out his words.  S3 just stood there dramatically sobbing loudly.

S2 had thought it would be a great idea to let the bunnies have exercise.  Spot the bunny had decided that hopping was so great he managed to hop himself to the middle of the road.

So, I am standing there in pj shorts...ones that cover what need to be covered but nothing to be seen in. I had on no bra and an old t-shirt.  

But a bunny was on the brink of death. 

I pulled my husband's sweatshirt, slipped on my shoes, and ran for the road.  The bunny had made it safely back to our yard and we had the tricky job of catching him.

Thankfully, the hop had wore the little thing out and S2 scooped him up.

S3 put Spot back in the cage to rest.  He was pretty sure he had had enough exercise. We all concurred with that idea.

I finished scrubbing the floor, jumped in the shower to wash off the mud of the floors (I will spare you their gross state) and when dressed I was feeling all could be right with the world again I saw this.....

Granted, you may not know what THIS is.  It is mud.  The boys had decided to make mud to smooth out some bumps in the driveway.  Were there bumps in the driveway?  None that I knew of!  And know they were sinking in mud that covered their shoes.

What is that step?  Oh, just the first step onto our porch to enter our house.

I may have turned into mean mom then.  I made them all take their shoes off before they entered the house...but really, I knew my hour mopping the floors was going to prove naught by the end of the day.

The boys picked a flower to apologize.

So I wrote this to my husband on Facebook....

Dearest husband, before 10am I had cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, folded and took care of said laundry, bandaged wounds, stopped quarrels, mopped all floors on my hands and knees cuz the mop broke, saved Spot the bunny from certain death and only had 2 cups of coffee. All this BEFORE my nephews arrive. By the time you get home the house will be trashed and at this rate I will be an exhausted mumbling crazed woman. Be extra nice to me and bringing a gift home may be a wise move. You have been warned.


He called about this time to say as the route would have him go he would be driving by the house so we took ourselves out to the road to wave hello to him. (I may super love this photo)

My nephews arrived and the fun began.  I had, by this time, recuperated from the morning and had began to fill up on coffee.  I had clothes on the line and the managed to pick up enough bb's and air soft balls to cause me to wonder if they had a mini war in the house while I was sleeping.

When H woke up, he was all grins and smiles and cuteness for me, as usual.

Dinner was done and the dishwasher was loaded.

I kept busy all afternoon with H and L.  The boys had a blast but there were cookies to dispense and milk to be poured and just the natural hub bub of five boys...one of who was just crawling.

When my husband called to tell me he was on his way home, he was surprised to hear our nephews there.  "Didn't you read what I tagged you in on facebook?" I asked.

"I started too," he admitted, "But it was too long.  Hey, what are we having for dinner?"

I. Did. Not. Scream.

When my husband pulled in, the table was set and the food was on the plates.

Was I exhausted and running on the fumes of coffee? You bet.

As we were eating the lasagna, my husband told me how great it was (brownie points to get him out of his hole!) and then he said, "Hey, did you make this with sausage?"

"Mmhmm," I grinned, "It adds a nice flavor, don't you think?"

He cut up a piece of the sausage.  "Did you cook it until it was done?"

Silently fuming.  "Yes."

"Are you sure? I mean, did you use the my meat thermometer to make sure?" He caught the look in my eye.  "I, um, am, um, sure it is fine or, uh, done."  When he didn't think I was looking he cut another piece of sausage up to check for pinkness.  He saw I had seen him and quickly ate the piece of sausage telling me how good it was.

S1 laughed.  "Daddy, I think you just dug yourself in a hole."

After dinner, I told the boys to clear the table and make sure that everything was picked up because it had been earlier today and I wanted it that way when we went to bed.

"I did not mop these floors for the house to look trashed," I said, standing up from the dinner table to make yet more coffee.

"Hey, did you mop the floors?" My husband looked at the floors.  "Hey, you did!  Wow, they look great!'

I smiled, tilted my head and said, "You would know this if you had read my too long message to you."

He grinned.  Swatted my butt as I walked away. "You can't stay mad at me, baby."

And he's right, I just can't.

Because what are clean floors compared to this?

The joy of my boys' faces on a good day playing outside, catching snakes in the sunshine.

But did I curl up in my husband's arms that night and fall immediately asleep?  You better believe it.

Grocery Shopping With Four Boys

I survived.

Barely.

Monday was the only day that really worked best for us to grocery shop.  I have been planning on going since we are in charge of making all the pancakes for the Sunrise Breakfast at our church (THAT will be a blog post!) on Easter.

That doesn't mean I wanted to go.

I despise grocery shopping. Some people love it and rave over their deals.  My plan of attack is to get in, get what we need, get out.

It rarely goes that way.

We loaded up the suburban and headed into the cement city.  Imagine my surprise when I looked in my rear view mirror to see this....

 He made it unable to forget I had four boys in tow.

I had S1 snap the picture.

When we arrived at Sam's Club, I had all the boys stop and pray with me.  Am I the only mom who does this?  I pray we make right choices, that we find what we need, that we stay safe and then I repeat that we need help making wise choices.  It's so hard to get just what you NEED when you are out of everything.

The boys did awesome.

We filled two carts, loaded the suburban and filled the cooler we had brought with us.  Then we tootled on over to the Goodwill store.

Sometimes you go to Goodwill and find NOTHING.  Sometimes you go and find amazing things.  Today we found amazing things.

I looked at S1 and said, "Whatever you find I will get you.  You need clothes.  Now, go look in the men's section and see what you can find."

I then went and hid in the little kids section so he would not see how sad I was that he had to shop in men's.  The poor boy has nearly outgrown everything and there isn't a soul who can help us with hand me downs for the boy - er, young man -.  He found shorts, dress shirts, a suit - yes, a SUIT - and pants. He was beaming.

S2 scored on a pile of shorts that we actually had to limit.  S3 got a pair of beach shoes.  S4 got himself a summer's worth of shorts.

I found skirts (no dresses, hahaha!), workout pants (in case I ever plan to work out) and jeans.

We also found brand new water boots for my niece and an adorable purse for her...which was some debate because mama wanted the fancy spancy one for R but the boys were adamant we get the nice, filled with pockets not super fancy one.

Boys.

Checking out took us FOREVER.  But after spending nearly an hour there, we needed these clothes.  But checking out proved - tough.  They couldn't figure out how to check us out and it took a good 15 minutes or more before we could walk out of there. As frustrating as that was, the boys were still great.

We had to stop at another store for detergent and a few other things and melt down began.

It was proving to be a long day for them.

While they were doing okay, they were reaching the breaking point and I was worried about them enough to forget to pick up the blonde roast coffee from Starbucks I have been waiting so long to try and had planned to celebrate (or use for coping through) spring break.

We arrived home (finally, with S2 and S4 zonking out for the back roads trip) and they helped me unload groceries.

 They were ever so helpful, were they not?

I got busy taking care of groceries and the boys started digging through our goodwill bag.

I think I received no less than ten hugs thanking me for the clothes I bought.  Unbeknownst to me, S2 has been teased at school about his shorts being too short and he didn't want me to feel bad that he didn't have any more so he hadn't said anything.

S1 is beaming to have a few things that actually fit him.  The fact that he has a suit makes him feel all grown up.

S3 wants to wear his beach shoes to bed.

S4 thinks his shorts are just great, just so great and not too fancy and just great.

So, really, it was a great day.

Exhausting, but great.

Not so exhausting that they were too tired to move the fridge to the front porch and put worms in it (trying not to think about that as I type) but great just the same.