What a day!

Easter weekend started with a sleepy little Easter Bunny. He forgot to make a visit during the night, and so the kids had to stay in their rooms until their baskets were set up. Poor bunny just wanted to go to bed, instead of making his visit!

The kids had a lot of fun digging into their easter baskets. The stash included: chocolate bunnies, a jump-rope for Oren and Nathan, and a stuffed monkey for William, and some fun temporary tattooes. Needless to say, they were a bit wound for the rest of the morning!

We were going to Mom and Dad's for Easter dinner, held Saturday so Janelle could be there, and I had lots to do. I baked the layers for a german chocolate cake the night before, so the frosting needed prepared. That was also made from scratch, so I was at the stove for a good long while stirring the simmering milk and sugar combination. Good frosting is worth the effort though. I was also bringing a pasta salad, so I boiled up the tricolor rotini and chilled that, then mixed the sauce/dressing together. We used a ranch dressing mixture, tomatoes, crispy bacon, olives, onions, and peas. Yumm! That sat in the fridge while we got ready to go.

Dinner was lots of fun, we did some catching up, a little movie watching, and a lot of laughing! There are always stories to tell, and of course, pictures of nieces and nephews to take.

Zaylee is too cute! I love having such an adorable niece. I have to stop myself from buying all the cute springy dresses I see at the store. Her eyes are just gorgeous! Like her momma's.

We came home rather late, but Mark and I needed some time together, so we watched "I am Legend" that Mark got for Easter. Good, if a little "thrilling" for me. Then it was up early for church the next morning. I just got called as the Relief Society Chorister. It was so nice to sit and listen to the lesson. I didn't have to deal with anyone elses kids. Mine are enough thank you.

We had signed up to feed the missionaries that night, and my house was kind of a disaster. It was just fine for basic living, but not for feeding people! So I spent a good 4 hours after church cleaning. Swept, mopped, vacummed, dishes, counters, more counters, table, computer desk, entertainment center... Lots of cleaning. All things that have been bothering me for a while, but hadn't actually cleaned. I like things really neat. I know Sunday isn't the best day for doing all this, it isn't exactly resting, but I feel so much better now. And I wasn't stressing about it, I just wanted to get in and do it. Dinner was great, I did up a huge (almost 6 pound) roasted chicken, roasted asparagus, leftover pasta salad (it gets better as it sits) and mashed potatoes with gravy. It was so good! And for some reason, about 10 pm, I really wanted chocolate chip cookies. So I made some! Warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven with nice cold milk is a great bedtime treat!

I was still on a baking kick, after not doing a whole lot of cooking the last few weeks I am enjoying it again. So this morning I made Scots Baps. It is a roll like thing that is big and yummy, and tastes so good with jam! I think it is tradition Scottish bread. Anyway, the recipe and pictures are here, on my food blog. I love making bread, it takes lots of love to make a great loaf of bread! Mark took the kids down to the park this morning, so the house was nice and quiet. He also took Nathan down to town to sell our old car to the junkyard. We got $75 for the beater. Not bad...

So this weekend was fun, and we are looking forward to a nice, relaxing Spring Break!