Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Weekend

This weekend has been rather busy! Friday afternoon Ron and I did as much as we could to tidy up the basement bedroom and bathroom for Kelly and Heath... despite a disastrous night before:
  • about to install sink cabinet base, screw into the same old hole, right?
  • wrong! old hole now results in screwing into copper pipe
  • leak behind wall, won't stop because there is no shut-off valve for that room
  • shut off water to entire house
  • hmm... Lowe's isn't open at 1 AM, try epoxy patch
  • epoxy patch not given adequate cure time, therefore not effective.
  • plumbing fixed properly next morning
So, be thankful next time you wash your face, make a pot of coffee, flush the toilet, rinse the coating of grout off your hands... water is truly precious. It made me realize, to be without water (without warning) for 1 night, how much I take it for granted. There are people in the world who never get fresh water. We are relatively conservative with our water use, but we definitely are accustomed to having it whenever needed.

The deck boards are all on, and look great. Now we need railings, steps, and the pergola.

Saturday was my sister's bridal shower lunch. We ate at the Blue Water Grill on Northland in Grand Rapids. Wow, the food was awesome! The music playing was as if Kelly or I made a mix tape of stuff we love, and the atmosphere of the restaurant was perfect for the occasion. It was a great turnout, too, with only a couple people unable to come. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. I brought a paper cake from DAiSYS & dots that had reds, teals, oranges, and greens... I highly recommend getting one for any party occasion. We filled the slices with Hershey's Kisses. Instead of cake, my mom picked up some cupcakes from D&W she ordered,decorated to have similar tropical colored flowers and palm leaves, because Kelly and Heath are getting married in Mexico.

Later in the afternoon Ron, Kelly, Heath, and I went downtown and took some engagement photos, before heading over to my parents' house for pizza.

Sunday was of course Easter. In the morning Lucy woke us up carrying a small bag of M&M's, saying "open this". Awww, she found her Easter basket. I got up and went to the living room to find that she had already eaten the entire sleeve of Pez I had loaded into the bunny dispenser for her. All the items in her basket and Henry's were mixed up. So, by 7:30 AM she was well on her way to her sugar quota. We went to my parents' house and Lucy found eggs all over their yard, putting them into a basket. She was so excited, and it was really fun to watch her running all over yelling, "there's one! there's another one!" She got so excited to spot one tucked into a tree trunk she didn't pay attention to where she was stepping and took a big spill... Amazing how excited a toddler gets over a bunch of empty plastic eggs (although there were coins hidden in some of them!).

In the afternoon we went to my grandparents' for my Grandma Myrt's 80th Birthday which was actually on Easter Sunday this year. She is an amazing grandma (and great-grandma), and has been consistently loving, selfless, supportive. She is patient and kind, and everyone who knows her loves her. She definitely does not act 80, as she is still buzzing around all over town, and taking care of her family like she has done for over 50 years. Grandma and Grandpa have always hosted holiday parties, birthdays, anniversaries, and just generally had an open door to anyone who wanted to stop by. They do their best to always attend their grandchildrens' recitals, sporting events, plays, concerts, etc., and they are so connected with their community, they know people everywhere they go. She and my grandpa have lived in the same house in Grandville since the 1960's (they moved there from their previous house, about a block away) and it is still the headquarters for all our family get-togethers, like the one we had today. However, this time she reluctantly gave up control and let her daughters plan, cook, and clean up. I know she appreciated it... although I think it threw her off a little, letting others do the work.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to process a good portion of the 5 million pictures I took over the past couple of days, and add some here. But for now - time for bed!

No comments: