Easter 2010

Ok, another l o n g post with lots of pictures, but you didn't expect me to skimp on photos, now did you???  The details you can skip if you want.  Here are our baskets, ready for hiding: Savannah, Brighton, Waverly, Keaton, Irelynd, and mine.  Scott had one, too, but as it only contained candy, I didn't get a photo of it.  I was really excited to see Fablehaven 5 in it!  Man, that Bunny loves me!  We started doing our Easter baskets on Saturday morning instead of Sunday so we can focus on Christ on Easter, and I love it.  The kids even love it, too, as they finally see the benefits of it.  In our house, the Easter bunny hides our baskets and the kids have to search for them.

Easter morning...the kids popped into our room at 7am ready for hunting.  Notoriously mean, we made them all go back to bed for an hour, until 8.

Funny story about Waverly.  When we got the babies out of their cribs and told them to go find their baskets, Waverly got really excited and went running to her room.  I was curious to see where she was going at a dead run, as this is the first year that they have really been able to participate.  I followed her, with camera in hand, of course, and she promptly grabbed her book basket and started back into our room with it.  She was SO proud of herself.

Years ago, I made the girls some hooded towells; Irelynd a duck and Savannah a horse.  As they are no longer little girls, I felt they needed something girly and up-dated, so I made them new hoodies in their favorite colors: bright pink and lime green.  I love the ric rac and polka-dotted ribbon on bottom!  And, true to my book-lovin' nature, what's a holiday without a new book?

Table set for Saturday morning Conference breakfast of cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, and little smokies.

Between sessions we attended our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  I just love spring pictures!  The colors are awesome in photos!

The babies finally "got it" this year, picking up their own eggs during the hunt.  They even managed to leave the eggs in the basket until they were done, before eating the contents.

This is Keaton attempting to retreive the yellow egg in the end of the drain pipe.  Instead, he found a jelly bean to eat.  Hopefully it was recently put there.

Next we ate a potluck lunch and the kids decorated some eggs.  Then home for the pm session of Conference.

Sunday we went to Grandma's house for Easter dinner and another egg hunt.  I saw this recipe for cream-stuffed strawberries on this site (linked indirectly to Martha Stewart) and made some.  They were very disappointing.  If anyone makes them in the future, skip the cream recipe and make whipped ganache instead.  Mmmmmm...now there's an idea.  Me and ganache are well acquainted.  Does make a pretty picture, though, no?

I think Savannah ate too much, judging from her slouch.

We had yummy orange rolls along with dinner.

We enjoyed dinner from the kids' table.  It's not often that I get to sit and talk to my niece and nephew, so it was nice!

I just love this picture.  Waverly loves my mom.  She was slow to take to her, but she adores "Nammah" now.

On the hunt...my mom has a tradition that she hides one Easter egg with a $5 bill inside; this year she hid two.  And the hunt includes adults and kids alike.  It's always competitive to see who gets the money egg.  This year, even with everyone hunting, we ended up with both.  Irelynd picked up exactly 3 eggs before she switched to hunting snail shells and other oddities.  When I expressed surprise to my mom later, well, in order to protect the innocent, and not-so-innocent, we'll just say there may have been some cheatin' goin' on.

Savannah was mad that her little brother and sister found both eggs.  The next day Brighton told me that "Dad took 5 of [his] monies".  Savannah was $5 richer.

Don't you just love the look of pure strategy on his face?  Maybe there's a reason he ended up with the lucky egg...

Keaton got a hold of this egg half and found that if he held it between his lips and teeth like so, then he could do it with no hands.  Man, was he proud of himself!  Waverly demanded one too, but after one try, insisted that hers was "broke."  At least there's one thing he can do and she can't..

It was a wonderful holiday.  I love when Easter falls on General Conference.   What better way to spend it than with family and the prophet?  Perfect.

April Fool's Day 2010

My kids were excited for this holiday this year; I guess they remembered the fun we had with it last year.  They begged me to do our fun dinner again this year; I admit I forgot pieces of it, as I was still in my "twin haze".  I made them fun lunches this year.  I put Sprite in their water bottles, a gummy worm in their apples, {attempted} to glue the baggies shut but that didn't work {darn it!}, and mixed up their chips--Doritos in the Cheetos bag, and vice versa.  They loved it.

Here's the table set for our dinner tonight.

Instead of making each person their own menu, I made one family menu, and let each person choose which entree came next, starting with the youngest (Brighton),and going to the oldest (Scott).  I was happy with the order they chose.

First we had eyeball delight; strawberry jello with banana eyeballs and gummy worms.

Here's looking at you kid!

Golden pot was our drink: rainbow sherbet with Sprite.  Scott wanted to know if we were going to blow a few rounds with the kids.  I was more going for the rainbow thing when I named it, but maybe I should pay more attention to details like that when I'm naming dishes:)

Jack Sprat's dish was our veggies.

Below is Bessie's specialty, meatloaf cupcakes.  They look extremely disgusting here, but were'nt too bad.  Would have been better, but while attending to the twins, Brighton "helped" me and added some more dried mustard to the bowl...like the entire bottle.  It wasn't retrievable, because he then proceeded to mix it up.  They were'nt too bad, considering, but the leftovers got fed to Molly today.  She didn't seem to mind the extra mustard.  Those are pink mashed potatoes on top, by the way, not ham steaks.  Yuck, it really looks gross, doesn't it?  Good thing this isn't a recipe blog!

Last was our dessert, angel food cake "grilled cheese sandwiches."  The recipe comes from Family Fun Magazine.  They really looked like bread and cheese! 

Here's my girls awaiting dinner.  Notice the mark on Irelynd's nose?  That was the remainder of what we did to them last night while they slept.  She chose to leave that last one on; Savannah washed off her mustache and tatoo on her arm reading "I love my Mommy!"  I actually woke her up while writing it from giggling too hard. 

Place settings:  Scott's, mine, and Brighton's                         

Because no one else wanted it, somehow I ended up with the pasta spoon.  It was really hard to eat with this!  Try it sometime!  You have to have good sucking power!  Especially with the jello!

Ok, funny story with the jello.  My twins used to LOVE this stuff.  Apparently it's been too long since I've made it.  When we dished it onto Waverly's tray, she sat looking at it for a while.  Then she kicked her tray with her leg, realizing it made the jello jiggle, just for entertainment's sake.  She kicked, paused for the jiggle, and then kicked again.  Then came the smear.

Looks like grilled cheese...doesn't tast like grilled cheese...

It's cake and frosting!

Easter Decor and crafts

This is something Brighton and I made, using directions from here.

We made the bunny painting with directions from here, after seeing it on here.

We have tulips blooming in our house, thanks to my sister-in-law and friend, Sallie.  I'm so excited to see them bloom, and discover what colors they will be.  It's so nice to have a shot of spring in the house.  We have a lot of Dutch tulips planted outside, but it seems like I miss them every year.  So thank you for the plant, Sallie! 

The above picture is some of our Easter decor.  I got it up late this year, due to St Patrick's Day.  I only get to enjoy it for a few short weeks.  Hmmm...what to decorate for next, as the string of holidays are now at an end?  How does one decorate for Memorial Day?  Do I pull out the cardboard tombstones from Halloween?

You know your kids need more sleep when...

...they fall asleep like this.

I finally finished it!

I started this tablecloth for my UVMOM cupcake party last month, but didn't complete it in time.  In the process, I finally learned how to properly applique, and was able to complete it.  Now I have to come up with another reason to use it.  Cupcake party, anyone?  Hmmm...Savannah has a birthday coming up!  Throwing a party with supplies I already own wouldn't be breaking my vow not to throw her a big birthday party this year, will it?