Happy Easter from Rhode Island

Happy Easter! We stayed home this year since no one had any time off.  We took it easy -- though I did a lot of singing with the choir -- on Maundy Thursday and at two services on Easter morning.  Because I was busy singing Easter morning we went to church together as a family on Saturday evening for the Easter Vigil Service.  It was great to sit together and worship as a family -- we don't get to do that often anymore since I am sitting with the choir.  This service started out in the dark and we all lit candles from the Pascal candle as it was brought up the aisle to the front of the church.  There were several readings and canticles before we started the actual Easter part of the service at which point the lights were turned up. 

After the service we went out for Easter Eve dinner at a local bistro in town since it was too late to make something at home and we all thought going out would be a nice Easter treat since we had no special plans for today.  The photo directly above this is of Emma dressed up for the Easter Vigil Service last night.

We have had fantastic weather all weekend with temperatures in the low 70s and lots of sunshine and breezes.  I've been doing a lot of garden clean up -- mostly getting all the leaves out of the beds and doing weeding and getting ready to mulch.  The back beds were pretty overgrown as I haven't paid much attention to them for a couple of years so this was a big project. It was so satisfying and fun though. 

Yesterday morning Emma hosted an Easter Egg lunch party for several friends.  She did all the egg stuffing and I hid the eggs.  The girls had fun finding them and then had Pizza and lemonade outside for lunch.  Chloe has been having the absolute BEST time spending all day outside with us and running around chasing kids or my rake.  She's crashed right now!

The two photos at the top are of our back yard with our new umbrella and the other is my lilac bush.  Last year it only had 3 blooms.  I pruned it according to a garden book I have that Dad recommended and this year it just had TONS of buds -- I am waiting with baited breath for them to open.

I hope all of you had a great time time this Easter.