Preparations for Pascha

We have been very busy as of late, but wanted to update the blog with some of the events from the past week.

Last Sunday, Grammy and Papa came to town. We have had a wonderful time seeing them and get to enjoy there company for one more week!

On Tuesday, I got go to go church ALL BY MYSELF. I love taking Luke, but once in a while it is nice not to have my Mr. Wiggly, Mr. Talkative toddler sitting/standing next to me. The Orthodox Services for Sunday- Tuesday night of Holy Week are called the Bridegroom Matins. The theme of these services is watchfulness- we are reminded that the "Bridegroom (Christ) comes in the middle of the night," and our lamps should be lit. These have long been some of my most favorite services to attend.

Wednesday, we dyed eggs with Grammy, Aunt Bethany, Clara and the Hemati's. Luke loved coloring the eggs with a white crayon and watching the eggs go in and out of the dye.We made some for our egg hunt on Sunday afternoon and some for our Pascha basket. Here we all are:
Our red Pascha egg:
All of our dyed eggs. Notice Luke's artwork on the blue egg in the middle? He can even say blue, green and purple (bu, green, and pupple) now.The pascha (easter) basket traditionally includes red eggs, cheese, a sweet bread, and several other items and is taken to church and blessed at the Easter service.

Yesterday and today, Luke and I went to more services. We also made kulich-a traditional Easter bread. Kulich is a traditional Easter bread that will also go in our pascha basket. Luke received a little table and chair set from his godparents and has already logged many hours sitting at it. Here he is with Daddy, playing with some plastic eggs that we will also use for our Sunday hunt. I am not sure yet if I will put any candy in them- he seems to like them enough as they are. Also, he and grammy have been pretending that they are cups and have been drinking juice out of them. :)

The egg tea party:
Video at the little table with Daddy: