Easter Sunday : Jude's first Communion

Yesterday was a big deal not only for the obvious reason that it was Easter Sunday, but for us it was also Jude's first communion. Fr. W always offers him the bread but he's never chosen to take it...until yesterday! I think it's so special that it happened on Easter, and I will always remember that. I know he's only 20 months old, but I believe he was aware at least to some extent of the significance of the day yesterday in church. He was really observant, more than ever before, of everything the priest and servers were doing. I intentionally seated us right next to where the Gospel reading would be, and he left the pew (something Fr. W is comfortable with) and approached Henry and Dan, looking at the thurible and touching the spoon in the boat. Usually Fr. W is not phased by this, as in the past Jude has done any number of humorous things such as running across the front of the church, trying to get to Dan and Henry in the sacristy, playing around Fr. W's feet while he's delivering the sermon...but for whatever reason, on this day Fr. W found Jude's actions to be hilarious and he was just laughing out loud. I didn't think he was going to be able to compose himself for the Gospel reading!

Obviously I wasn't able to capture Jude taking the bread for the first time on camera, but here he is hunting for eggs in the garden with Dan after the service:

Also of note was that Dan and Henry served as Thurifer and Boatbearer for the service. I wish I had a better picture of them in their cassocks, but this is the only one (thanks S!)
And here is our Easter family photo. We were all hot and tired, as you can clearly see:
This one would be great if I didn't have my eyes closed:


I can honestly say that my favorite part of the day yesterday was being at church. I felt our whole family really participated in the church community, and that makes me so happy. The rest of the stuff like having the easter egg hunt, making a fancy dinner, and all that I find a bit stressful and tiresome. Nonetheless, I did the best I could (I probably should have checked the weather forecast to see that it was going to be in the mid-80's before planning to make a beef brisket that needed to cook for 3 hours!!)

On our Easter table was the eggs Henry and I dyed together on Saturday:


Also on the table was a salad from our very own garden:


I really wanted to give the boys something handmade yesterday, so I made these little chicks in the afternoon:
I used the pattern from Handmade Beginnings and stuffed them with wool batting and a bell.
While I was making the chicks, Henry decided to make a mobile for Jude (he's been really into making mobiles ever since he learned about Alexander Calder at the National Gallery):

And Jude enjoyed playing with the extra bells:

I admit that I may have overextended myself a bit with the undertaking of this project, which resulted in dinner being late and me being cranky about that...but I'm still trying to integrate these types of creative projects into an already full life. I definitely plan to do it further ahead next time (as in not the day of!) In any case, I think they turned out pretty cute:


Here are our "Easter flowers" with one of my current favorite books and a quilt square I got in the mail last week. I think I'll make it into a pillow, but for now I'm enjoying just moving it around the house, looking at it, thinking about the person who made it...
And finally, some flowers that Henry picked for me outside:

Happy Easter, everyone!

I would love to hear from you - please post a favorite or special moment from your Easter below!