Easter

Easter ~ here it is again. This will be our second Easter with our precious baby girl ~ only she is not such a baby anymore. She is a toddler moving on to an adult!! She is so grown up ~ she helps pick up her toys, she wipes up any thing she spills, she MUST go down the steps by herself, she MUST put on her boots by herself and all kinds of other things by herself. She is Miss independant. I love that and it's also a little sad.

I was thinking last night about all the wonderful memories of Easter I have from my own childhood. I remember going to my grandmother's for Easter dinner, the whole family would come, we would get to hunt Easter eggs, and there were always a lot of kids to play with. Sometimes we would go to the beach with my Great Aunt & Uncle, and my grandparents, they had a little place at the beach, and we'd spend our Easter there. The Easter bunny always knew where to find us. Easter always evokes renewed hope and feelings of everything is going to be alright. It always sunny and happy in my memories!! The word Easter brings up visions of church, bright colors, and sunshine, and this wonderful feeling of Resurrection. Flowers and trees are blooming after a gloomy winter, and things seem new again. I want my daughter to have wonderful Easter memories like I do. However, I've got to create our own new traditions because my grandmother has passed away and my family is spreading out and getting thinner. I'll admit I probably went overboard on the Easter basket this year, but I have a weakness for bright colored anything and candy goodies.! Is it overkill if she gets a chocolate bunny, a chocolate cross, and a chocolate duck?? I'm asking you ~ how do I decide which one?? I can't...it's a major weakness of mine..... maybe I need therapy....I want EVERY color of flower suckers there are, I want EVERY color of egg there is to have........I know she probably wouldn't know the difference, but I would. I can't help myself.... I just love a colorful, happy, sunny, Easter basket filled with beautiful, colorful, delights. I love the feeling it creates when you first look at it. It's delight, surprise, and excitement of new things all wrapped into one. I know Easter isn't about the candy and colors ....it's about Jesus, and she will know that. But I want to know ....is it wrong to associate Jesus with new, exciting, colorful, wonderful,
and family? I think not, you just have to make sure they understand that without Jesus ..... none of this would be possible.

Planting Time

Today my niece, my daughter and I planted some vegetable seeds for our container garden, that we hope to start in a couple of weeks. Every year I say I'm going to do this, and this year we actually got it started. Now ~ wish me luck in getting them to grow!! My grandmother's green thumb I did not get, but I'm hoping with age and a little luck, I can do this!! One ~ I think a vegetable garden in containers will be gorgeous on our back deck, and give my nieces and my daughter a chance to see where the vegetables in the grocery store actually come from. When I was younger we had to help my dad in the garden and when I went to my cousins house I had to help them in the garden, something I never enjoyed!! I am now wanting to know how to can veggies, and learn more how to raise our own and have them through the winter through freezing and canning. We are also planting a large garden, but I really want a container garden on our back deck also. The way prices are going up in the grocery stores for fresh vegetables that usually rot within' a few days, I feel like this is something we need to take on!! Wish us luck and I will keep you informed of how our veggies grow!!