easter stuff ~

easter eggs were dyed ....

easter baskets were full of fun goodies .....

and silly treats too ....

family time was extra special ....

and extra silly, too ....

the easter egg hunt has ALWAYS been a good time ....

and having the youngest cousins spend time in the 'doghouse' made all of us laugh!

sack races have ALWAYS been a big easter hit too ....

especially when grama joins in the fun ....

the kids' table looked so festive ....

bunny ears included ....

the food was delicious .....

and the sheep cake was so cute!!

so even though we had a great day,  a really great day, grampa was missed a lot -- by all of us.  our first holiday without him.  everything felt strange, a bit off.

i keep telling zoe and ella that even though our hearts hurt a lot because we really miss grampa, that's actually a really good thing -- when we love big we miss big.  we loved grampa a lot so we miss him a lot too.

and even though tom and i had to cancel dinner plans friday night to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary because ella was sick; and even though ella and i missed out on celebrating easter on saturday with the rupprechts because she still wasn't feeling well, tom and zoe still had a really nice time seeing grandma della, two of tom's brothers and their families; and even though tom missed out on celebrating easter with the mclains on sunday because he wasn't feeling great; and even though zoe missed school yesterday because she woke up super early in morning not feeling well; and even though there is a big hole in our family now with dad gone -- our easter weekend was a really nice one.  it was good to see family and just have time together.

.... and our anniversary dinner rain check?  can't wait ....