Easter morning came early for us this year.  In order to make it to mass on time (7:30 am) with all six of us dressed in our Easter finery, my alarm went off just a tad before 5:30 am.  I longed to hit the snooze button just one more time (I had already pressed it 4 times) but I manged to get myself out of bed to start the day.  The kids were wonderfully chipper and got ready without incident.  If there’s one perk to attending the “early” mass on Easter, it’s being able to arrive at the church 10 minutes prior to mass beginning and still get a front row pew.  And we had all the space we needed, which comes in handy now that Shecklet #4 is a wiggler/mover.

After mass, the kids searched for their Easter baskets and were treated to some new duds, flip-flops, gum, Holy Heroes cd’s and a few chalk activities for the driveway.

A little while later, we packed up and headed to Jake’s grandparents’ house to have brunch with family and friends.  The weather was gorgeous – we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.

Once we returned home, we let the older kids break out the sidewalk chalk paint.  (We have yet to bust open the new box of chalk.  I don’t know who is more excited – me or the kids!)

I was hoping to snap a few more photos today, but instead chose to just enjoy the moment and conversations taking place around me.  I did capture a few pictures of relatives we don’t get to see very often as well as one of Lincoln with Uncle Mark.  They were sporting similar hair styles 🙂