Easter 2026

Katherine's Hot Cross Buns

Peter and Kendall went to their church's Easter service. 

And then had lunch with Kendall's parents.

Marina and Ezra tracked down their Easter baskets first thing in the morning.

After church, they had an egg hunt in the backyard.

After our church services, we met Daniel, Heidi, and the boys for brunch.

Dean, Gavin, and Noah had two egg hunts. One in the ladies' locker room at Barrington, and one at their Grammy's house.

It was a joyous morning celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here's a link to our church service if you want to listen in.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Yesterday, Don was at a Case board meeting, so I was surprised when a dozen red roses were delivered to the front door. It was a beautiful gift for Valentine's Day.

In other celebrations, Peter took Reese to their church's Father-Daughter dance. Kendall worked very hard on all the details and decorations.

Marina and Dean had their very first school Valentine's Day parties.

 Heidi and her friend Wes were in charge of throwing Dean's class party.

Katherine put together this snack mix for Marina's class.

Big hugs and kisses go out to all my sweet Valentine's!

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Early Christmas

 

At the beginning of the day 

We celebrated Christmas yesterday because it's our "off" year with the kids. It turned out we had a White Christmas! 

I decided to dig into the back of my coat closet, where I had stored my Christmas dishes for at least 20 years and set the table with them. They are the Pfaltzgraff Winterberry pattern. I had forgotten how pretty they were. You can still buy them. Macy's also has a service for 8 in Melamine.

These three love the kids table. 

Before opening gifts, we enjoyed an amazing breakfast. Heidi made an egg casserole, Kendall made a coffee cake, Katherine made mimosas, and I cut up some fruit.

The Christmas tree with the adult gifts.

Each grandkid had a pile of gifts scattered around the room marked by a stocking with their initial. This was Gavin's pile.

It took a couple of hours for all 14 of us to open our gifts!

Ezra liked Marina's "Melissa & Doug" ice cream set - especially the chocolate topping.

After we opened presents, it was time to take the official photo of the grandkids in their Christmas PJs. Believe me when I say this was a challenge with many laughs. Someday, I will do a blooper post.

At noon we took a break and ate some appetizers. One of them was this Christmas tree veggie tray that Kendall put together. It was too pretty to eat.

Dean and Marina suited up and went outside to play for over an hour. They shoveled part of the deck and the sidewalk. Heidi captured them peeking in the window. They had a ball.

At 3:00 we had an early dinner consisting of our traditional beef tenderloin (cooked to perfection thanks to chef Peter's help), broccoli salad, roasted potatoes, and cranberry walnut bread.

Just some extra pictures:

At the end of the day

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Our Christmas Tree

 

Since Don and I were heading out of town the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we had to move quickly to put up our Christmas decorations, including the tree. Don's job is to bring the pieces parts of the tree up from the basement, assemble it, and put the lights on. My job is to put the ornaments on. It's a big tree, so it takes a while.

Don got to work while I was still cleaning up the Thanksgiving kitchen. Sweet Marina helped by handing him the branches while he was on the ladder. Soon it was her bedtime, but I promised her she could help me put ornaments on the next day.

She helped me unwrap the hundreds of ornaments I have collected over the years, stopping to admire each one.

Marina hoped to find the Mickey and Minnie Mouse ornaments as she continued to unwrap. I was impressed by her ability to focus on the task.

Along the way, she began hanging ornaments on the lower branches. She said I could do the high branches.

Occasionally she would find an ornament that intrigued her, like this one with two mittens attached by a string. The mittens fit her perfectly.

When we were finished, we admired our work.

Then we played a little game. I hid a Grinch candy kiss inside a Santa ornament from my childhood. I then hid the ornament on the tree and she had to find it. She was happy she was allowed to eat the candy kiss.

Later that night Don and I relaxed and looked at the tree. He said, "It is taking all my restraint not to move those ornaments from the bottom of the tree." And I said, "Don't you do it until Marina goes home tomorrow morning!" I'm praying she doesn't notice when she returns in a few weeks.

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