Happy Easter Eve!

That's how Joe greeted me first thing this morning. My kids are always soooooo excited about holidays! And this, of course, is probably the most important of all. Naturally, the kids have a hard time balancing out the TRUE glory of Easter... and the fun and yummy glory of it all! Ha! James always has a little bowl of Peeps (those things are terrible--don't know how the kids eat 'em!) and other candies sitting out for each kid when they wake up Easter morning, along with a Bible coloring page or something like that. And after church he hides eggs outside and they lo-o-o-o-o-ove to hunt them. I remember when Katie and Joe were 3 and 4 years old. They enjoyed the Easter egg hunt so much that they spent the next several weeks hiding the eggs themselves, then going to find them over and over again. (Only the plastic ones, of course!)

James has been working on his office the past few days. I needed him the other day and walked out to the office and found him installing insulation. I was so thrilled that's where he was! I said, "James!!! This is so cool!!! You're here--in your office--where you belong! Isn't it so great now that the house is done and everything finally has its proper place?! A spot where it goes. Here you are--in your spot! This is where you belong! In your office!!!!" :-) I hesitate to post things like that because I never know who all might be reading my blog and people who don't really know me might be offended when I say things like that. So for clarification purposes only: I LOVE MY HUSBAND. But I'm really glad he has a spot now. :-) A place to put him to get him out of the way. You know: a closet is to shoes as James is to the office. The cupboard is to dishes as James is to the office. The hamper is to smelly socks as James is to the office. HA! I'm KIDDING--JUST KIDDING. But I'm still glad he's got a spot. ;-) (Aren't you glad I went on to clarify things... my explanation really made things better, hu?! HA!)

Anyway, James got the insulation up and installed the air conditioner that Brother Daryl donated, then yesterday we started putting the ceiling in. James decided that since the office is so small the extra cost would be minimal to do a tongue-and-groove wood ceiling instead of sheetrock. Besides, this way he won't have to mess with taping and mudding and sanding and texturing and painting and all the other messiness that goes along with sheetrock, not to mention renting the lift to hold the peices up to the ceiling. With the tongue-and-groove all he needed was assistance from his wife. :-) Not that I was much help. I had a terrible time banging my side of the wood into the groove and most of the time James would have to get down from his ladder and come over to mine and do what I couldn't do. What's that all about?! I've always prided myself (mistake #1! Ha!) in being a pretty tough girl and able to handle most jobs pretty well. But I just couldn't get this one down! Of course, we were working with a defective rubber mallet who's head kept twisting with each blow and would occassionally leave the handle entirely and make a frighteningly speedy trip across the room to who knows where. Crazy. Anyway, James needs to pick up a few more peices of wood (and a new mallet, Dear!) and we'll be able to get it finished up. Probably Monday, I would guess. I'm all for it. Gotta get that little building finished up so James can have a nice spot and might spend more time there. ;-)

Back to Easter Eve... When we woke up this morning it was snowing again! Wa-Hoo! The kids were a mite restless during devotions, anxious to go out and play before things started melting. It snowed steadily until after noon, I think, but we never got more than about an inch and a half. It never seems to deter the kids, however. They can make snowmen out of the measliest snowfalls!

I was thrilled with the weather and it just felt like one of those wonderful days to sit around and sip hot chocolate and put together a puzzle or curl up with a good book. I started with the hot chocolate for breakfast, but that's as far as my plans got. I had too many other plans that superceeded the Snow Day plans!

The kids helped me to make strawberry jam today; our annual 5 batches of it.

Hardly a Snow Day activity, but we had found the strawberries on sale a few days ago and needed to do it before they started to go bad. It takes a while to make the jam and it is SUCH a mess. But it's sooooo worth it! Yum!!!

James was affected by the weather as well and decided to make some truly scrumptious oatmeal raisin cookies. I was glad at the moment that he was in the kitchen instead of his spot. ;-) I can't remember what all I did today, but I know I spent 90% of the day in the kitchen! After I finally got the jam and all of it's mess cleaned up I started baking. I made hot rolls and cinnamon rolls and then, since we had a whole lot more strawberries left over than I thought we would (!), I made a strawberry cream roll (like a pumpkin roll sort of a thing) for tomorrow's dessert and... Hhmmm. Can't remember what else. We had poppyseed chicken casserole for dinner and scraped the pan clean--no left-overs this time!

I had Katie take a bath early this afternoon so I could get her hair in some little foam rollers. Hopefully by morning she'll have some really great curls. That's what she was wanting for Easter. I usually don't take the time for such things! We watched a George Younce video while I worked on Katie's hair and the kids LOVED it. :-) I ironed her adorable Easter dress from Grandma Vicki tonight, so she should be all set for tomorrow. Then, just before bed, we did the egg thing. It's amazing how much excitement and anticipation goes into something that is over and done with in a matter of minutes! Ha!

Once we got the kids to bed I worked on the church calendar for May (James is in high Choleric gear tonight, apparently! Ha!) and my song sheet for tomorrow. For some reason, we seemed to sing all of the usual Easter songs last week so since I'm on to lead songs tomorrow I wanted to do some different songs. And I just can't do that "up from the grave He arose" song--it has a wonderful message... but it's sooooo not Church of God style and it drives me a little batty! Ha! So tomorrow we're going to sing Because He Lives, then I Live, then Changed in the Twinkling of an Eye. :-) I don't know if any of these folks know the last two, but they will by tomorrow!

Hhmmm. Guess that's it. I rambled, didn't I? ~sigh~ Been trying not to do that so much. I'll call it quits for the night.

HAPPY EASTER!!!