Easterpalooza Day Two: The Big Show

So Sunday wasn't too much different. The same conditions: no sleep, tardiness and the Great Wardrobe Wars left this mama in another grouchy state. Because nothing says "Hallelujah He is risen" like a crabby mother. :0)

We woke the girls up to find their Easter baskets, they ate a few little treats out of them, then proceeded to take only one-two bites of their oatmeal for breakfast, only to proclaim all of a sudden that they were done.

I said a silent prayer right there and then for their Sunday School teachers...I knew they'd have their hands full with these two hungry girls!

Secretly, I was OK with the abbreviated breakfast. Maybe just maybe we could get dressed and out the door on time that way!

I was worried initially about the weather, but God was gracious to us and allowed the downpour to happen while we were getting ready. It was only misting when we arrived at church, and we park in the preggy parking anyway, so I was only a few short steps from the church entrance!

But back to dressing...M gave me the same fight. A few days ago while we were getting our final Easter outfit together, M declared that she was not going to wear a bow. She wanted to wear her hat. Fine with me. Easter morning comes, and she was having neither. What she did have was a big ol' meltdown right before it was time to leave. Go figure.

In an effort to reverse psychology the situation in my favor, J helped me out by stating that he'd be wearing the hat:
That worked for a short time. But in the end she won. No bow. No hat. I was lucky to get a barrette in her hair to keep the bangs out of her face that we're trying to grow out.

We made it to church on time somehow. The service was great! Great music, great message. Packed house, full of faces I've never seen. Easter's funny like that! We didn't have Sunday School that day, so it was nice to pick up the girls early from their classes. J's mom went with me to pick up Rosie.

Here are she and M outside the church after service. Note M's not in a sweater. She wouldn't wear that, either. It made me so cold looking at her!

J and Rosie. Who is holding M's cast-off sweater.

We went to early service because J's whole family would be there, and we knew we all wanted to go out to eat afterward. So we decided to go somewhere kid-friendly, wallet-friendly, crowd-friendly...

...Cici's Pizza!

It was truly an Easter miracle...neither of the girls left there with so much as a spot on their dresses! And they both ate like champs. Guess it was the lack of breakfast!

Rosie was having a ball swiping everyone's breadsticks within her reach. She's my carb baby!

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Then we went over to J's grandmother's house for Mama Landa's birthday cake and more Easter baskets for the girls.

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(All in all, that makes TEN baskets between the girls. Not counting my mother's that we'll get this week! Crazy...)

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The girls love to go to their Mamaw's house! It is absolute Toy Central! There are five great-grandchildren that they love to provide for there.

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Rosie enjoyed walking around and around. She's really gotten good on her feet! She's getting faster and more confident every day.

Since I really can't get a nice photo of M lately--she won't pose for me and throws a fit when I get out the camera these days--this is one of the only shots I have of her in her dress.

And y'all know I have some weird photo tendencies: I love to snap pictures of people from behind while they're walking away, I love to get close-ups of my girls' hands when they're making things, etc. Well, I also love shots of the backs of my girls' dresses. I don't know why...even some of my favorite bridal shots are of the back of my dress, too!

I just think it's sweet! I may crop this one, make it black and white, and then frame it as part of our Easter 2010 decor.

Here's the only photo I have of both of the girls together from Easter. M simply won't stand for it! And wouldn't you know she'd be harrassing her sister...

I found these dresses several weeks ago, and I really had mixed feelings about them not matching. The dresses are significant--daisies and roses are "their" flowers--but it seemed to wrong to not match them while I can! And especially since this is my last Easter as a purely "girl mom". Not that I still can't match the girls when Baby Boy arrives, but... Anyway, it was something I had to let go of.

No cute family shot of the four of us, either. I was too defeated to even try it. I'm a "Big Expectations" kind of girl. Always have been. Looks like with children I need to re-think that!

Another Easter miracle? The girls stayed awake all the way home from Mamaw's, thanks to their Cici's balloons that they played with. We all enjoyed a two-hour Easter nap when we got back home!

Now that deserves a Hallelujah!