Easter Weekend

This is a unique time.  The coronavirus has now been confirmed in 1.85 million people.  114,000+ people have passed away (Italy is close to 20,000 of those deaths... New York City is close to 7,000 of those.)

We had "Easter Service" from our living room....
I wonder about the people (possibly the elderly) who normally go to church / it's been such a big part of their lives... but are not technologically savvy to stream the service at their church -- or even if their church is able to stream!?  I am sure - much like the new online educational system - there is a lot of people that are not staying connected.

Our church, about a year ago, held a capital campaign to raise money for broadcasting services.  Little did they know back then how vital this campaign would be for our church and feeling connected.  Our church's services have even evolved over the past month.  At first - there were a handful of choir members stationed about 6' apart....now there is no choir at all.  Elders performing some of the processional duties - but again - no longer present.  As mandates require fewer and fewer people can gather, the services have dwindled down to just the individual pastors recording (separately) their parts.   We are grateful to be able to connect to our pastoral staff who offer messages of hope.

Here is the usual image of Easter services in Italy at the Vatican.   

And now...  

Here is Notre Dame in Paris -- a year after the fire.  According to the website that hosts this image, in this limited service the priests and a handful of musicians are dressed in hazmat suits (because of dangers of lead from the fire) + hard hats. 




The crown of thorns relic is front and foremost in this service.  

There are certainly some striking images this Easter from around the world. 

There are still churches around the US that were holding services despite orders for separation.  It was definitely not the same... but... at the same token this thing won't end if people are still passing the disease back-and-forth to one another, so I appreciate that our church did not hold in-person services.  Last Sunday, I picked up a "kit" that the children's pastor put together called Holy Week in a Box.  There were passages, prayers and instructions each night.  They also emailed out the typical bulletin so the kids are familiar with it and could color during the service as if it were an in-person event.  







Isabella and I didn't even get out of our pajamas today.  It was rainy and we did not go out.   The kids went through their Easter baskets before we watched church on TV.  
























Mercer wrote the Easter Bunny a note about the TINY carrots that we left out.  (They came from our garden - obviously pulled before they were ready!)

I ended up doing a bit of work after church because "Spring Break" is over tomorrow / school starts back.    

We came together to have a traditional Easter dinner (We have been trying to patronize local restaurants about once a week -- honestly -- it's similar to what we were doing pre-covid social distancing.  Instead of cooking, we purchased an Easter package from a local caterer.)  After dinner, the kids decorated eggs in a unique way -- rolling it around in a food safe "whip" with dye.  They had fun and the results were pretty cool.

It was very low-key.












Yesterday, was a much much busier day.  The weather was gorgeous.

We went "out" as a family... participating in a drive-by birthday parade for a classmate of Isabella's.  (This is actually the school superintendent's daughter.)  It was sweet to see how happy the little girl was, but what was really fun -- is when (after the initial drive-by took place and all of the cars were turning around, one-by-one, Isabella got to see all of her classmates and teacher "in person." 

   














Todd (and Mercer for awhile) did some yard work.  Isabella (for awhile) and I oiled the table we sanded earlier in the week.  

THEN, the real fun started....   Several of the butterflies emerged from their chrysalises Thursday and Friday. This is actually a project for Mercer's Boy Scouts however he wants absolutely nothing to do with the butterflies. He admitted to me that he's petrified of them!  Isabella, however, just wanted to hold each one and interact.  She was filled with joy through this whole process!

The process is a little gross - there's butterfly fluid (red like blood?) all over the cage.   The butterflies have fluid in the chrysalis.  They get darker hours before they are about to emerge.  (Maybe this is the fluid?)   They are a little crunched up for a short time until the blood can get pumping through their wings. They start to move their wings, building up strength, then they take a little practice run with a short flight in the cage.

We "released" them into the garden Saturday!  The photos are so so sweet!  Isabella named each butterfly and she spoke to each one before the release.  

Most of the butterflies flew through the fence to the neighboring schoolyard.  One came back, though, and Isabella hung out with that particular butterfly off and on for about half an hour!  This is the one on her nose.  (She may have put it there!!)  :) 

Unfortunately, there was one butterfly that was stuck in it's chrysalis for over a day - so while we were at the garden - we realized that it's wings had not fully formed.  They were only about 1/4 the size that they should have been.  She put it on a flower and we laid it on the ground under the picnic table.

I stuck around to finish cleaning out the over-winter carrots and weeds then planted our summer crop.



We had an egg hunt in our yard for the kids -- which worked out better for Mercer because he has "aged out" of the neighborhood egg hunt.   Then we played some games in the back yard with lights and glow-sticks.   

We had a bonfire a couple of days before and roasted peeps from Easter 2019.  Since we couldn't travel, we tried to buy some extra yard games and do things that we wouldn't normally do during the week.

Mercer is tall but he's still just a kid at heart!

 I wanted to end with a couple of my favorite butterfly shots!

Trying to stay sane during break....

I, admittedly, socially distanced myself from the kids for awhile a couple of days this week.  I de-weeded a flower bed in the front yard that I haven't tackled in a couple of years... mulched... and planted flowers.  I also sanded our table out back. Isabella wanted to help with the sanding a little bit.   Then she wanted to use the blower. She liked using the power tools!

While she was doing that, Mercer was trimming limbs in / around the tree house with a saw.   We installed a ninja ropes course that wraps around the fort - using the arbor as framework.  

We also bought some yard games.... just trying to keep them active and change up the environment a bit each day! 

The kids have been practicing baseball using a new net that Todd bought.  Mercer can practice pitching from far away.  Both he and Isabella can hit off of the tee... but it is a little low for him.

(Sadly, our garage is leaning -- a lot -- towards the neighbor's fence.... supposedly the "out building" is older than our house.  Todd re-built one wall, but not sure if the other wall can be fixed ?!)

Our caterpillars are nearing the end of their metamorphosis.  (2 emerged from their chrysalises today!)  There are 6 more that I feel pretty good about.  There is 1 that never made a chrysalis...and then there's one that fell off of the lid early on and it laid in the bottom of the cup. Instructions on the website of the company said to use a plastic spoon to scoop it out of the cup / put on a paper towel.  

While I had it out of the habitat... I took some photos of the chrysalis.  It's quite beautiful (it has gold, browns,spiky things on top, etc.  Very interesting!!)

We also had a "nailed it" bake-off....inspired by the Netflix show that is a lot of fun to watch.  Todd was the judge (but honestly - it was very hard for him to pick a winner!) 

Isabella used her cake decorating kit that she received as a gift a couple of years ago.  She figured out how to use the nozzles in the piping bag all on her own. So impressive!





















Mercer wanted to do something with cotton candy.  (we learned that if you stick it on the cake... it absorbs the moisture and gets hard!)  It was so weird.  Also - in Mercer's defense... the cake totally fell apart when we took it out of the pan.

Isabella's inspiration was a flower cupcake that she saw... but she couldn't make the petals so she swirled icing on top.

Neither one looked like the original thought / image... but... they had fun making it... and eating it.

And - they each presented their confections to Todd when he came home at lunch.  













Here are the latest numbers....  :(

Here's a pretty picture of a pot of tulips Todd picked up at the grocery.