More joy...

Let me start by saying how amazing my cousin is.  She has done amazing things!  She married her high school sweetheart when she was 21.  Which in today's standards seems a bit unusual.  However I like that she did it because he is awesome and a really great guy, not just because that was the next good idea. 

I'm not sure how much schooling she has now but she seems to have done it all while raising an incredible daughter as well.  There's a university degree in there, and most recently dental hygiene school (I'm sure it has a fancier name than that).  In between school she has been a social worker, and a high school guidance councilor (I think that's what she was).  Now onto dental hygiene, maybe.  I like that she does all these interesting things and then when she doesn't find it interesting anymore, she moves on to something else.  But on to why she is amazing right now!

Most amazing of all these already great things is how much she loves my kids.  She had our whole family over to Easter Sunday supper.  Now our whole family includes her parents and brother, husband and daughter, daughters boyfriend, and my family includes my parents, brother, husband and our three children.  My father and her mother are brother and sister.  This is what we have always done, be together during the holidays and whenever.  No complications just all of us together, it's great.  So Easter Sunday, could have been like any other but my amazing cousin did it even better.

We get there and unload our gang from the van and everyone is excited to see the kids.  Everyone has a surprise for them.  But mostly it's Chantal who has transformed her, one acre country lot complete with incredible garden, rock garden and old country house stuff, to an Easter wonderland.  Bright eggs scattered all over the property, and I mean ALL over.  Carefully assembled by Chantal and labeled with initials.  J. for Jessie, S. for Simm, L. for Liam, R. for Reilly and H. for Holly.  Not just a couple each, no no!  28 eggs per child.  It doesn't stop here.  Each child (Jessie and her BF are 16) was given a basket and a hat, bunny ears for the little kids (my kids) and fancy ear hats for the big kids (Jessie and Simm).  Around the garden the kids went, only picking up the eggs with their initials on them.  Genius!  Oh if I could sing that I would.  Genius, genius, genius!  With three kids there is always the, "they got more than me".  Or, "I wanted that one".  Don't forget the "I saw it first".  That inevitably happens when there is that much of a free for all.  I know because I had experienced a bit of that with the initial Easter Bunny hunt at our house 6 hours earlier! 

This was so peaceful.  The kids figured it out after the first couple of eggs and once they knew they were all getting more than one or two eggs.  They totally got into it.  Even the grown ups were happy to see some of the interesting spots that these eggs were hidden.  Mostly we were enjoying watching the kids run around the one whole acre lot looking for eggs.  There were some hidden under a car, some in the trees, some in the massive vegetable patch (freshly tilled), some around the hot tub and all over the porch.  They were everywhere and before you know it, we had spent most of the afternoon outside.  When the kids were done, they sat on a blanket and opened up the eggs to find the many surprises hidden in them.  Candies, chocolates and lovely little trinkets.  They loved every second.  The grown ups loved every second.  It was amazing...

So thank you to my already amazing cousin for making Easter even more amazing!  Y