Spring!

It's really looking and feeeling like spring here in Idaho.

My tulips are blooming.....
It's staying light later in the evenings, which makes my girls less anxious to go to bed....

The older ones have to get up at 6:30 for school, so they are pretty easy to convince, but the little ones have been reading themselves to sleep.

It's also a great time of year to begin those outdoor activities. I'm itching to camp out....haven't found time for that yet, but my husband and dad have been out riding 4-wheelers in the hills.

It's warming up enough to go on walks with the family in the evening. Many times, we get little spring showers--the kids love watching for the rainbow that follows the storm. I love the sound and smell of the gentle spring rains. We have beautiful walking paths beginning just yards from our door. Kammy loves seeing the horses along our walk. We all enjoy the spring flowers and budding trees.

Happy Spring!!!

The Gospel According to a Tea Bag

Rather than posting the same thing twice, I am posting a link to the Children's Easter Program review. Make sure you hop on over and check it out. I know I really LOVE to get ideas like this from other people! It might not sound like Easter, but I think you'll agree that it indeed is, once you take the time to read it. This also works best with girls, although you could certainly adapt and dramatize ti your hearts content with boys. We only had a few, and they served as butlers well. =)

"The Gospel According to a Tea Bag"

http://www.freewebs.com/treasurevalleypnc/apps/blog/show/13995626-the-gospel-according-to-a-tea-bag

Easter Sunday

Don't you just love the excitement of Easter? Next to Christmas, it's my favorite holiday--better in some ways, actually!
Here are the easter baskets we gave the girls this year. I was fortunate to find these awesome storage boxes on clearance at TJ Maxx for $3.00! We try to make Easter baskets a little more practical. One year I made the girls new pillow cases and used them as "easter bags." Another year, they had asked for bike baskets, and we used those. Also, we aren't real big on candy, so we usually just put in a few pieces of that and more things like new crayons, and bubbles--things that are fun but not so bad for them. =)

We made resurrection cinnamon rolls which turned out really fun. The girls found it pretty cool that the "tomb" was empty after it baked.

Our easter dessert was Pink Lemonade Cake from pinterest. Well, that and the peanut butter eggs and nests we made earlier in the week. We also had smoked ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams (my mother made), pineapple casserole (mom), lettuce salad (mom), deviled eggs, jello eggs, and bunny shaped hot rolls. Our ham--given to us by Loomis, was fully cooked so I didn't have a source of gravy. On a whim, I combined chicken broth and a bit of pineapple juice thickened with flour and seasoned with tonys for color and salt flavor. It worked! Everyone commented on how good the gravy was! Yay!

Me and the honey of the house.

Easter is one of two times of year that everyone gets new clothing. I found Rick's shirt at Kohl's for $4.00, the blazer (which he needed) at Macey's clearance for (I think) around $45. He already had the pants, and the tie.....I paid full price for. LOL. My dress came from Target. It as too long (what else is new) and the neck was way too low, so you can figure out how I fixed that problem. I had a terrible time finding a red bolero though....my Mom finally picked this one up for me at Dress Barn. Aren't moms wonderful!?!?

Speaking of mom....my dad, mom, and the grand girls. Usually I try to mix up their outfits a little so that when passing down for kid to kid, we don't get sick of the same thing. Nautical clothes are pretty timeless tho---everyone needs one, right? You might know that Kammy does not like to dress up in fancy clothes. She is SUCH. A. TOMBOY. I convinced her though, and even got her to wear a hat. The secret was that I sewed tiny little horseshoes on it. =) Oh, and the hats??? Dollar section at Target...add a little ribbon and it's all good!

We had company for Easter dinner and an egg hunt for the kids while dinner was getting finished up.

I used my roll recipe, but shaped them into "bunnies backsides." (Pinterest.)

Here is Kaite chasing some of the bubbles out of her Easter basket.

I bought new red shoes for Easter, and Kaite wanted some too. As you can see, red shoes come with attitude! =)

I have more pics--and a re-cap of the children's Easter program, but that's another day! Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter worshipping our Risen Lord!