Rebirth? Kinda Feels Like It

I’m not even kidding. I woke up Easter morning and thought to myself, He’s alive and so am I! A little feeling of “Rebirth” with my pal Jesus if you will.

I was looking forward to an Easter tradition and I was feeling rested and good.

Mike and I spend Easter with his side of the family almost every year. At least, I don’t feel like we’ve missed too many years of this tradition.

Mike’s mom is one of nine children (three girls, six boys) and every Easter the entire family (four generations now, unless it’s five and I’m missing that?) gathers for a Pot Luck. It’s always fun to see the family continue to grow with new babies and new fiancés and watch the little ones fill their baskets after dinner.

This is Mike’s mom on the far right. These are her two beautiful sisters.

Mike’s mom is going to be 80 years young this year and she has the energy of a……hmmmm…..the energy of the Energizer Bunny! That’s it!! She is the human version of the Energizer Bunny with heart of gold. (You guys, she reads the blog, but I’m not trying to suck up. I swear. hee hee. She’s just that awesome.)

We spent Palm Sunday at her house where not only did she make all of the food for the 20+ of us that came to dinner, she also filled plastic eggs for our 8 grandchildren and had everything for the kids to color hard boiled eggs while the Easter Bunny hid the plastic eggs outside.

She (along with my father-in-law of course) is responsible for this guy.

I posted this on Instagram yesterday, but I’m feeling kinda mushy, so I’ll post it here too.

“My husband. My best friend. This guy knows when I need a hug, knows when I need to be alone, knows when he needs to make me laugh, knows when I need girl time. He may know me better than I know myself at times. I’m grateful for the compassion and tenderness he has shown me these last eight months as my body changes after being diagnosed with breast cancer. I wanted him included in all of my decisions because I wanted him to be comfortable with looking at my body after breast cancer. He assured me that the decisions were all mine and he would always be there for me. Cancer has brought an awareness to me about many of the relationships in my life and I’ve never felt more loved by my husband than I do now.”

Our kids (like, our grown children!) are terrified of this Easter Bunny (I guess it’s like a clown thing?) so we were anxious to take a picture with the Easter Bunny and send the picture to the kids! We think we’re hilarious sometimes.

It’s so hard for me to remember which of Mikes cousins belong to which of his Aunts or Uncles, or which cousins are siblings to one another, or whose new little ones belong to who, but what’s not hard is always having a good time watching Mike catch up and watching his mom enjoy this annual tradition. I make the rounds as much I can and try each year to talk to someone that I’ve never talked to before. There’s so many to pick from!

This year, I’ve become Facebook friends with one of his cousins, and after this past weekend, I’m now Facebook friends with a few more! Like…why didn’t I do this before? Looking at family pictures of them on Facebook is not only going to help me get to know a little bit more about them, but I’m totally going to be able to figure out who goes with who!! Ha ha!

I remember going to the family farm where Mikes mom grew up for Easter Sunday early in our relationship. The family outgrew gathering at the farm house and started meeting at a city park where we all now gather in the community center.

Everyone brings a dish, his cousin Cindy says a beautiful prayer, kids fill their plates first while parents assist, we all rave about how good everything taste when someone else makes it (TRUTH!) I dive into the Coconut Cake and the Easter Bunny comes after dinner. All of the little ones hunt candy outside in the grassy field.

This year, that grassy field had snow on it!

Here was a peek outside while we were eating…..

It was a great Easter Sunday, well except for the frightening drive home. The drive is typically about an hour and a half. It took a tad longer on Sunday.

I must say though, it was pretty.

We only stopped once.

I ate a small breakfast that was high in protein (1 cup Plain nonfat Greek Yogurt = 22 g of Protein) so I wouldn’t be starving when we got there.

Breakfast

1 Cup of Plain Nonfat Greek yogurt with Vanilla Stevia Drops and Cinnamon mixed in, topped with Blueberries and 1 T. Mixed Nut Butter.

Easter Lunch

I picked mostly meat with a few sides, then a dessert plate with a small variety.

Dinner

For dinner we had a big chopped salad drizzled with a little Olive Oil

It was fun to share our Easter with you! It’s one of those holidays that feels very old fashioned to me and I love it! The only thing that would make it better would be all of our kids and grandkids being able to make it their with us one day. One day it will happen.

I hope those of you that celebrate Easter had a wonderful day celebrating!

To all of my readers, I hope you have a wonderful week and I’m so happy to be back!

2018 Goals
Make time each week to Meal Plan
Drink 100 ounces of water each day
Exercise 5 days a week
Eat three meals and one snack daily
Fitbit 10,000 Daily Steps