Easter 2011

This picture cracks me up. I have one thing to say about this vision of egg-dying: My sweet husband handled the whole thing. I boiled the eggs, but I had nothing to do with the decorating, which I am grateful for this year. I wanted the kids to have a good time doing it, but I was weary and it would have been pretty hard for me to carry it out. Looks like a lot of fun though.

Good, creative fun. :)

Will is using a sponge to add a second, mottled color over the top of the original color.

Cal is in consternation. "Millie is using all the stickers." :/

Easter morning surprises. Amelia found a play ring in an egg.

Cecily is telling me she got a ring like "dister's".

Sorting candy

The boys got some candy and a kite. The girls got some candy and some small gifts (plate, bowl, coloring book, play jewelry) in a basket.

Millie's pretty egg that she ate for Easter breakfast.

Our amazing, healthy, homemade breakfast was...Frootloops.

They ate a hard-boiled Easter egg, so it wasn't all bad. :)

Speckled egg made by Sam.

Littlest one, ready for church.

We didn't manage to get a family photo with everyone in it this year. But I took some of the kids and Peter.

Boys.

Girls.

I managed to get a couple of pictures of the girls alone. I planned to come back out later in the afternoon for an egg hunt and take more then, but it rained and it didn't happen. My mom made the beautiful, matching dresses. They needed to be photographed!

She's definitely at that age when it's tricky to get a genuine smile from her.

The dresses were so fun to wear! Aren't they sweet?

Whoops. This is out of order. Dessert first. I made a coconut layer cake.

Ham, Garlic-Parmesan Potatoes.

Whole wheat Challah. That was really fun to make.

And that's all, folks. Easter was very meaningful, a wonderful remembrance of what's important. You can't see that so much in what we did to celebrate in these pictures. On Good Friday we managed to read aloud each of the gospel accounts of the crucifixion throughout the day. That was a wonderful way to prepare and have our minds meditating on the sacrifice made. This is our 4th year of fasting on that day. We don't fully fast, because of the children and me, who's usually pregnant or nursing. We eat plain bread and water. Actually, it's a church-wide fast and we all come together in the evening for a Good Friday service and a meal following, that breaks the fast.

This tradition has made the festivities of Easter day appreciated even more after having gone without and felt hunger. It's a great contrast between the fasting of Friday and the feasting of Sunday, that emphasizes the magnificence of the Resurrection.

And That's My Boy

Wishing Happy Birthday now to my 8 year old son. Birthdays are so great for taking time to enjoy a person individually and consider the progress they've made over a year's time. Ben, as a little boy, is fading. Ben, as a big boy, is emerging. These realizations are always bitter-sweet for me. :) Looking into the year ahead for him is exciting, though, as I can see so many doors opening for him for the first time and how much he will enjoy each one with his natural zeal and enthusiasm. Love you, Ben.

That's My Girl

Wishing Happy Birthday to my daughter who turned 4 yesterday. Can't believe how tall, how smart and how beautiful she is becoming. A developing young lady, it is such a pleasure and privilege to watch.

Homemade Gifts and Pictures of Elijah

Elijah received some very sweet homemade gifts that I wanted to share.I love knit things and it's been fun to dress him in baby blue. The hat and booties were knit by a friend and the blanket by another friend.

The blanket has a unique star shape. Isn't it lovely? I just love to use things that people have made for him.

And now I thought I'd just post the recent pictures of Elijah.

He is getting very focused on interacting with us. He coos and smiles and follows us with his eyes as we walk around a room.

The kids sort of always want to hold him. He gets overstimulated pretty fast, so I let them, but carefully and fairly briefly.

He makes this face a lot.

He loves to look at the camera. :) That's actually the reason that almost every picture of him he has this same serious look on his face. He's very interested in looking at this new, interesting object.

In the swing.

I guess one of his distinctive traits is his very bright eyes. People seem to comment on them.

I can almost get him to smile if I move the camera out of his range of vision.

His newest accomplishment: he can put his hands in his mouth now. He's so happy to have them to suck on.

I guess that's enough of baby...for a little while.

Good Eats

The older kids recently took their annual assessment tests. It takes three days and the moms of the kids at the test center always bring cookies to enjoy on the last day. Peter and I stayed up and decorated these together the night before and it was FUN! No kids. Just us. Decorating cookies. :)

Do you own a pot big enough for two 5 lb. birds? This pot is pretty great. It ended in the biggest pot of chicken noodle soup I've ever made. These hens are the ones Peter helped to butcher that were grown on our friends' property.

This is a not-very-good picture of a very, very good dinner and evening with friends. This lovely couple from church said they wanted to have us over for dinner, but since their house isn't designed to accomodate our size of a group(!), they brought the food over to our house instead. We enjoyed corned beef and cabbage, potatoes and beer bread. In the picture, we were cutting into the apple pie. We really enjoyed someone else's cooking!

Chicken and Spinach Calzone

San Francisco Salad: dried cranberries, feta cheese and sugared pecans

Chili Colorado with Beans served on Rice. Spicy. But the pork was so tender.

Zucchini Bread. Used a recipe from my new whole grain baking book and some of that zucchini I squirreled away in my freezer last fall.

Just root beer floats. Haven't done that in a while, and boy was it good. This is Amelia's first root beer float. She was impressed. Ice cream AND soda!

One of our favorite new things. Breakfast cookies. They don't look amazing in this picuture, but we think they taste great.

Another new breakfast. Chicken Apple Sausage Boats. There's an egg cooked in the center.

You knew I liked to cook, right? I guess it's my outlet. My family doesn't mind.