Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter celebration today. The Easter bunny visited us, we had a yummy breakfast, we went to church and then we ate too much food with some good friends.

But first, we had to prepare. On Friday night we decorated Easter eggs. Ava was especially excited to decorate eggs and made some beautiful ones. Dan showed Drew how to make a multicolored egg and he did a great job making a green and blue one with his name on it. I like to make sure that the kids know the real reasons we celebrate, not just focus on candy and gifts. So, after the eggs were all dyed, we all snuggled on the couch and watched an animated movie about Easter. It told the story of the Passion in a kid appropriate way. On Saturday we made sugar cookies in the shape of a cross and homemade carrot cake, also in the shape of a cross.

Easter Sunday finally arrived and as soon as he opened his eyes Drew said "It's Easter!" The kids came out and saw their baskets full of goodies and then got right to looking for Easter eggs the bunny had hidden around the house. I made special Easter breakfast for us including creme brulee baked french toast (YUM), fruit and sausage with mimosas for the adults. Then we all got ready for church. I love having church at 10:30. It makes holidays (and Sundays in general) so much less stressful.

After having a great sermon from Pastor Rick at church, we had an Easter egg hunt despite the cold and windy weather. What happened to our 70 degree days from last week? The kids didn't seem to be bothered by it and ran around the grass collecting more eggs with their friends.











Since it was just going to be us and Uncle Scott for dinner, our good friends the Quayles invited us over to their house. We already had all the fixings for our dinner, so we brought it over there and had one giant Easter dinner. We brought ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus and carrot cake. They had pork tenderloin, cheesey potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli casserole, raspberry lemonade jello and three kinds of dessert. Needless to say, we ate too much!

We had such a wonderful Easter celebrating Jesus, our risen Lord, and we hope you did too!

Easter Fun

We had two Easter celebrations this year. One last weekend in Southern California with my family, and one this past weekend at home with Dan's family. Last weekend we met my mom's whole side of the family at Grandpa Oddone and GiGi's house for an Italian Easter feast! They also put on an egg hunt for the kids. It was wonderful to have the whole family together and the dinner was delicious! My grandma sure does know how to cook! We started off with lots of appetizers--cheese, bread, olives, and salami. Then we had stuffed shells with homemade sauce, meatballs and sausages. Then the second course of chicken marsala and pork medalions with sauteed mushrooms. And finally homemade cream puffs, coffee and an assortment of liquers. We were all stuffed!

The kids at the kid table

The whole family!

Me and my cute husband

Our whole family

Then, this past weekend we had our second celebration. Grandma Kathy joined us on Saturday and we all colored Easter eggs. The kids had so much fun and we went through our 18 eggs so quickly the kids were asking for more to dye. Sunday morning we woke up to see that the Easter Bunny came and brought baskets for the kids and hid eggs all around the house. They were both really excited finding all the eggs this year. I made a special Easter breakfast, but it took much longer to cook than we anticipated and we ate it right before we headed out the door to church. At church we heard a nice sermon, the kids went up on stage to tell the Easter story, and then they had another egg hunt outside on the lawn. When we got home, Uncle Scott came over and he and Grandma Kathy played with the kids outside, while Dan and I prepared our Easter dinner. It was yummy and we had a nice time together. And my pie turned out pretty good! I hope everyone had a nice Easter!

Drew and Ava with their eggs

The Easter Bunny's gifts

Ava with her basket

Drew with his basket

Easter breakfast (at least it looked pretty)

Drew at the church egg hunt (Ava wouldn't let me take her picture)

Easter Dinner

Lemon Supreme Pie

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

I hope you are with people you love, enjoying this beautiful day. I made an attempt at a lovely Easter breakfast (didn't turn out exactly as I intended) and the kids loved their Easter baskets and finding the eggs the bunny hid. Then Grandma Kathy joined us at church where the kids found MORE eggs! Uncle Scott just got here and we are going to have a delicious dinner of ham, asparagus, twice baked potatoes and, unfazed by my earlier failure, I am now attempting a lemony cheesecake--cheesecake on the bottom, with the lemon gel stuff from a lemon meringue pie on top.

We are so glad to be home to celebrate with the ones we love. Thank you to everyone who has been with us on our journey of life. Christ is risen!

Easter Party

So I decided to take Drew to a toddler Easter party, despite our Dr.'s orders to avoid groups of children. About half the party was outside, so that lessens the chance of infection, right? Even as I sit and write this Ava is coughing in his face, so why bother limiting our fun when she will probably get him sick just in time for Easter Sunday anyway.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun although I was constantly evaluating the other party-goers for runny noses or coughing and making a mental note of which children to avoid getting too close to. Drew colored about 3 of the eggs I brought and I had fun decorating the rest. There was also a duck craft which I convinced him to try, plus a yummy lunch and Easter egg hunt. He was so glad to be reunited with some of his friends and really enjoyed playing outside with them.

We left the possibly infectious, possibly allergenic Ava Baby at home with Daddy. Despite not feeling well she looks pretty adorable in the bunny ears that Grandma sent. I am hoping to be able to put both kids in their Easter clothes and take some cute pictures today, but we'll have to see how everyone is feeling.