He Is Risen Indeed!

I love that traditional church Easter greeting:
Person 1:"He is risen!"
Person 2: "He is risen, indeed!"
It's how my mom woke us up every Easter morning and it's how I wake up my kids on Easter morning too. When Emma went to bed last night, she asked me not to forget to say it in the morning. I assured her I wouldn't forget.
It was nice that the kids got to go to bed last night, because I pretty much did not.
I don't know why I am compelled to continue thinking and behaving as though I were a stay-at-home mom who has time to make things. I guess I am reluctant to let my life's circumstances steal the things that bring me joy. So I insist on having them, even though I don't have time for them. My husband lectured me about that this past week, which is big. He doesn't ever say things to me like, "You worry me when..." or "I don't think it's a good idea if you...." but he did this time. He told me I need to sleep sometimes. And he's right, but I just didn't obey last night. I had an Easter dress in mind for myself and for Emma, salad to cut up and blackberry biscuits to put together, and life didn't give me time to get to it until late in the day yesterday. And since I didn't purchase back-up dresses and we don't regularly attend a church that requires much more than pajamas on a Sunday morning (so we don't have church dresses in our closets), I had to buckle down and make the dresses. All in all, I'm glad I did. It was a real exercise in creativity for me.
I made Emma's dress out of an old dress shirt of my brother's and a yard of half-priced quilting cotton.

I kept the button placket and let it run down the back of the dress, inspired by one I'd seen on a crafting site. There are lots of other cute ways to do the same type of trick, like this and this.

I really liked the little ruffle I added on the sleeve. The Little Miss was pleased, and that's what counts.
And mine? Well, I made it out of a thrifted sheet. That seems to be a really great way to get a bunch of soft cotton in pretty prints at a really great price. It was a big hit at church this morning - all the girls I know all came up to me and asked me breathlessly if I'd made it. I breathlessly told them that, yes, I had. And one girl said I shouldn't tell everybody it was made out of a sheet, that they'd never know if I didn't say anything. But that's a little problem I have - I say everything to everybody.
So, hey. Guess what? I made my Easter dress out of an old sheet with pretty bluebirds on it! Mindy took some pictures for me so I could show you the dress, and I can't decide which one I like best, so I'm going to show them all to you, 'k?



We went to my grandma's church this morning with the whole family - my parents, my sisters in law and one of my brothers (the other one's on tour with his band right now). That was really nice (The rest of our own church spent the mornings with their own families. I love that doing church the way we do allows for that sort of thing). I was doing just fine and enjoying the worship until the choir started singing and I very suddenly missed my grandpa terribly. He sang in the choir for so many years and his exuberant baritone was easily recognizeable over the rest of the singers. I cried. There are still moments when the loss of my grandpa is so fresh.
We followed up the church service with a really nice lunch (ham, homemade bread, strawberry, asparagus, and pecan salad, lots of fresh fruits and veggies) and a little egg hunt.

Andrew's a little big for that now, so we let him hide the eggs. I'm not sure what we'll do next year. It's odd that our kids are old enough that our celebrations and traditions need to start changing. Sigh. It really does go by so fast.
This is how we do egg-huntin' in Polk County:

The Redneck Easter Bunny likes to hide eggs in pickup trucks.
One more thing. I finished my aunt's shawl! I blocked it Saturday and unpinned it in time to take a picture or two before I send it north to her. My husband is going to be on the road again for the next couple of weeks, but he'll be stopping in at my aunt and uncle's house, making it very convenient for him to deliver the shawl in person. I'm really pleased with how it came out.

Do you remember the fiasco this project was at first? I'm so glad I switched patterns. This one has tiny beads throughout - just a little bit of glamour, just like my Aunt. Click on the photos for bigger images, if you want, and you will be able to see the beads.

And I'm including this picture because of the face I'm making in it. I smirk a lot, but I don't think I've ever seen an actual picture of it. My Wii Me has a smirk. And I look just a little bit like, "Yeah that's right. I made this. In your face."

For those of you, my friends, who are Believers, I hope you had a joy-filled weekend of remembrance and celebration. And for those of you, my friends, who are not, I hope you at least got some chocolate eggs!