Easter Part 2 - a birthday, a baptism, and my own Easter basket

If you missed Part 1 you can find it here.

The primary focus of this past weekend was the celebration of my little cousin's first birthday. I'm not posting any pics of her on my blog out of respect for her parents, especially her dad, who is concerned about internet safety issues. Instead, behold her birthday cake.

Her great aunt, (her mom's aunt, and my honorary one... sister of my mom's bro-in-law) made it. She is SO talented. It tasted even better than it looked. It was sweet without being over the top sweet. Our family has always had a thing for Winnie the Pooh, which is why she went for that theme with the cake.

We had the party on Saturday afternoon. Since the whole family was there, we did a big spread with turkey and ham. Then we had turkey again on Monday at my mom's. Both meals were great, though I'm partial to the second one solely because Monday I got to take leftovers home. Yummo, as Rachael Ray would say!

The party when long, which is normal for our family. People came around 1pm and I swear it was 6pm before they were all gone. My wonderful aunt (the grandma of the birthday girl, my mom's sister) had the party here, in my building's common room, to make it easier for me. Her house is just not super wheelchair friendly, and with my brother out of town for work right now, it's doubly hard because he's not here to help get me in their house.

Even though I was a little tired, I went to the early show that night with a friend. We went to see Arthur. I do not get the criticisms of this movie. The original just wasn't that good. This version was not any worse, and in many ways I liked it better, because the ending was such that there's no need for a sequel. Now, I say all this as someone who loves Russell Brand and Greta Gerwig, while I have never cared all that much for Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli.

We went to the early show because the movie is long, and I wanted to be up for our church's sunrise service on Easter Sunday. I have never experienced it before and it was well worth it.

A shot of the sun rising over the bay, around 6:45 a.m.

One of the two baptisms that were held that morning.

After the service we went inside for hot chocolate/coffee/tea, hot cross buns and fellowship. I was home by 8:00 a.m. And around 8:10, the trouble started.

I was feeling really, really tired. Like, tired enough that I was concerned about driving, even the short distance to church. So I though, 'ok, I have time. I'll take a 20 minute power nap.'

HA. HA. HA.

I slept until about 12:30ish, thus misisng both regular services. Although I was initially embarassed and felt badly about it, in the end, I still attended a service, as that evening I went to watch my friend's two oldest children sing at their church's evening service. The majority of it was a musical performance. It was absolutely beautiful and moving and I felt the Holy Spirit. Between that and the amazing Good Friday evening service we had at our church, I truly felt connected to my Saviour and the meaning of Easter.

On a lighter note....

As my friend's hubby and the kids were helping me to my car Sunday night, they gave me a lovely basket of Easter treats. The little basket had the bunny sucker and 5? of the I Love Hockey suckers. I can't remember... I just know I have eaten 2 of the hockey ones and the bunny so far. Once I realized I'd have to unwrap Mr. Bunny to get a decent picture, and then his ear and his foot fell off, I figured I should probably just put him out his misery. LOL

I got a huge giggle out of the hockey ones... I missed the end of Game 6 of the Canucks/Hawks game so I could go watch the kids sing. As much as I love hockey, I do love the honor and privilege of being a part of the lives of these young people even more. I am truly blessed.