We woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had made a visit to our house! He left a trail of eggs down the stairs and all the way to the fireplace where he had filled the girls' Easter baskets with all sorts of goodies and candy.
He even hid chocolate-filled eggs all over the backyard. Every time Grace found an egg, she would gasp and then immediately pick it up and shake it to make sure there was something inside.
I've been getting told a lot lately what a "hoot" Gracie is. I'm not sure if that is code for "your kid is obnoxious" or if it's a compliment. I'm choosing to believe the latter. I love Grace's personality. She is funny, outgoing, and the absolute sweetest and most polite kid I have ever met. I ought to know. After all, I am her mother. :)
Easter Mass was no exception. We arrived at church about 45 minutes early to allow plenty of time to get there and grab a good seat before all of the "Easter Lilies" showed up. Easter Lilies is a term we Catholics call those folks who only attend church on Easter and Christmas. And I'm being very hypocritical by using that term. Actually, I would love to go more often but the 2 year old and the 7 month old make it difficult. Corey is great about going and is, for now, our May family representative at Christ the King every Sunday.
But, I digress.
We walked into the Cathedral only to learn that both the main church and the parish hall were standing room only. Luckily, they had added a third Mass in the gymnasium and there was plenty of seating. Score. And the Archbishop of Atlanta himself was conducting Mass. I was really fired up because I have never been so lucky as to attend a service where the Archbishop led Mass. It would have been even better if I had gotten to pay attention to what he was saying.
Again, I digress.
We walked into the gym and had our choice of seats. Having the 2 kids with us meant last row right by the door. Score again. As soon as we sat down Grace immediately made friends with the lady saving seats for her family next to us. She introduced herself to this woman and then pointed to me and said "this is Erica May." I didn't even know she knew my first name.
After a while, it was time for Communion. When you take Communion at the Catholic church, everyone, row by row, walks single-file up to the altar and is met by the Priest, the Deacon, or a Eucharistic minister. The Priest, Deacon or Eucharistic minister then presents you with the Host and says, The Body of Christ. You are supposed to take the piece of unleavened bread, say Amen, put it in your mouth, step aside and make the sign of the cross and then return to your seat to pray to yourself while the rest of the congregation receives its Communion. After we took our turn and the girls received their blessings, we sat back down to say our silent prayers.
Remember the part where I mentioned that the Priest, Deacon or Eucharistic minister recites the Body of Christ to each person during Communion? Well, Grace's little ears heard something different. The Archbishop was wearing a microphone and every time he said the Body of Christ Gracie echoed, Bonnie Grace. Bonnie Grace. Bonnie Grace. It actually did sound like he was saying Bonnie Grace because he was reciting it kind of fast! Corey and I (and everyone sitting around us) got a good chuckle.
We spent the rest of the service trying to keep the girls happy, which was surprisingly not too difficult considering it was about a thousand degrees in that gymnasium.
After church we headed over to Mimi's and Gramps's house for more Easter fun. Poor Emma had woken up the night before with croup (and spent a couple of hours at Scottish Rite) so she wasn't able to come over and play. Gracie was absolutely beside herself. I promised over and over and over again that we would plan something special with Emma this week as soon as she's feeling better. She reluctantly agreed and has been asking ever since if Emma is better yet so that we can go see her.
Bon had an especially fun time with Mimi and Gramps because she got to have her first taste of chocolate! Gracie got to do the same thing at her first Easter party at Memaw's and Pawpaw's so it was only fair.
And, as I was getting Bonnie ready for bed tonight I discovered that her two bottom teeth have finally popped through! That totally explains why she has been so much happier lately. Now we can try moving onto to more solid foods! Maybe more chocolate!? I think we'll just stick with puffs for now.
