High-Flying

I know it's not the first time I've said it, but I really, really appreciate the big back yard that we have. Really.

Because it's not everyone who has a yard big enough to fly a kite in it.

So, one of the items left by our Easter Bunny for Emma was a kite. Of course, since it's Emma, it was a princess kite. Not very manly, but Brandon didn't seem to mind at all. He was really good about taking Emma out to get the kite flying, even though the wind that day wasn't on its best behavior. (The following day was much better, and the kite went flying again)

Run with the kite! Run! Run!!

Emma was thrilled to hold the kite all by herself.

 As evidenced by her big smile:

.... and then the attention span lagged. I will graciously accept any dandelion flower my child gathers for me. Oh look, honey -- there's more! Go get 'em!

And then my attention span lagged, too. Childlike qualities? These are the peach blossoms on our trees right now. I didn't get a shot of the cherry blossoms, although they're blooming too.

That blurred background almost makes me look like a real photographer.

Almost.

Egg-cellent!

Although I'm a bit late (so what else is new?), here's a few scenes from our Easter Sunday for you. Enjoy!!

Alyssa did a few specialty eggs: a grassy scene, a rainbow egg, and....

... what else? A softball egg!

The Easter Bunny came, and Emma made out like a bandit:

After church, we hunted eggs and had our Egg-Cracking Contest. Emma loved that part, too ....

(Darcie had to record it on her iPod)

Finding eggs was a blast -- pardon my blurriness....

They searched everywhere [in the living room].  They were stumped for the last two eggs. Emma says, "hmmmmm....."

One of the egg-cracking contenders:

Emma was a little cold that morning, so she snuggled in one of her blankets:

Peeps? When you think about it, they're nothing but sugar-coated sugar. Not all the kids are fans, but they're very traditional.

Emma looks so sweet in her new Easter dress. She was trying not to shiver, because it was still pretty cold before church.

And I actually did make the Hot Cross Buns, which we ate for breakfast. Alyssa helped with the icing....

We decided that they taste pretty good, but needed a bit more icing than the cross on top provided. But if you put more icing on, then it's not a cross anymore -- which defeats the purpose. For that reason we're undecided on whether to make them again next Easter.

We had a pretty traditional dinner, with the biggest ham we've ever smoked:

Todd cooked that baby on the Traeger grill, and it was sooo juicy and flavorful and,  .... YUM!!

Our Easter menu looked like this:

Smoked Whole Ham

Creamed Peas and New Potatoes

Springtime (Jello) Salad

Fresh Veggies & Dip

Homemade Rolls (White or Wheat) with

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Devilled Easter Eggs

Dessert Choices were:

Hot Apple Pie a la mode

Key Lime Pie

Easter Bunny Cake (courtesty of Grandma Huffaker)

The Creamed Peas & New Potatoes isn't any special recipe, just baby red potatoes (cut to big-bite size), frozen peas, and a medium-thick white sauce. The Honey Butter is the Texas Roadhouse recipe that's crawling all over Pinterest right now. (I have to smile at it, because when we set the table, we put two plates of butter on, but nobody used any butter for their meal at all! The Cinnamon Honey Butter ruled the day!)   And of course, since we crack all our Easter Eggs at once in our Cracking Contest, we devil them all for dinner. Sometimes there are leftovers, but that's pretty rare at our house. We loved devilled eggs!

Easter Again!

Today I am experimenting with a possible new Easter tradition..... Hot Cross Buns.

Ok, well they're not exactly new. Just new to me.

I know you're thinking that Hot Cross Buns only exist in your Grade 1 Piano book. Not so! My sister bakes them every year for Easter morning breakfast. I feel obligated to point out that this same sister routinely makes gluten-free bread, (in addition to regular bread), numerous basic items from scratch, and has even made homemade mayonnaise. She is the original Earth Mother, and polar opposite from me.

A friend of mine who blogs, recently posted a list of worldwide Easter traditions. Hot Cross Buns are on that list. Actually, they're a Good Friday tradition, and I'm just twisting this to Easter morning to suit my own interests. Furthermore, traditionally, the buns are each supposed to have eleven raisins in them.... signifying the 11 disciples -- minus Judas.

I have decided that I am not going to the trouble of counting out 11 raisins-per-bun until I figure out if the recipe I'm using is any good. NEXT year, I might consider it. I could enlist Emma to count raisins for me -- although it is certainly within her realm of abilities now.

I'll let you know how the Hot Cross Buns turn out. I'm using Pioneer Woman's recipe. In the mean time, you can check out our regular tradition of our Annual Egg-Cracking Contest. We'll be doing that one for sure again and again.

Obsessed

The other day, I was reading this post on my friend Breezi's blog, and I started thinking about what's in my kitchen. We do seem to have a theme that is hard to miss. I might even go so far as to say we're a bit, well .........

....... obsessed.

I had to take a picture to back me up:

The label on the front of the drawer says, "Deli Fresh".

Don't be deceived. The actual use for the drawer is for only one kind of food.

Cheese.

(Only you have to draw out the vowel sound: Cheeeeeeeeeeeese.)

We may have gone a bit overboard, especially lately, but we do love our cheese. I justify it by telling myself that it's really our major calcium source, since most of us have cut our milk consumption way back. Then I started counting. In the drawer and shelves above, we have:

1. Basic Medium Cheddar (we prefer sharp, but cave to the lower price point)
2. Kraft Singles (American -- not fancy, but sandwich-worthy)
3. Cream Cheese
4. Pepper Jack
5. XXX Sharp White Cheddar
6. Jarlsberg (a Swiss relative)
7. Smoked somethingorother (I've forgotten, but it's really yummy)
8. Farmhouse Cheddar (I just know it's from Hickory Farms)
9. Snack Cheeses: Babybel, Cheddar sticks and Colby-Jack sticks
10. Pre-Shredded Medium Cheddar
11. Pre-Shredded Mozzarella
12. Shredded Parmesano Reggiano (can you see a pattern here?)

Now add in the ones we have downstairs in the "spare" fridge:

1. more of the XXX White Cheddar
2. String Cheese
3. Yancy's Fancy Bergenost (a mild white cheese with a green rind!)
4. Yancy's Fancy Hot Buffalo Wing Cheese
5. a "Mexican Blend" of pre-shredded cheese -- finely grated

Now add in the other cheese products, like the cheese-in-a-cans and Emma's favorite "sprinkle cheese" (which is actually Kraft Grated Parmesan), and we're at about 20 different kinds of cheeses at our house.

I don't know, do you think we're over-doing it?

Maybe a little more justification. How about,

• There are a lot of essential nutrients in cheese: protein, calcium, phosphorous, zinc, vitamin A, riboflavin, and vitamin B12.
• Cheese is good for your teeth (remember all that calcium, and it keeps your mouth cleaner by making you produce more saliva.) -- actually helping prevent cavities.
• Cheese is even better for your bones (back to the calcium thing, and it might help prevent osteoporosis)
• Cheese can reduce problems with PMS, and make your pregnancy go smoother
• Cheese may be good for your skin: those B vitamins (who knew?)
• Cheese might prevent cancer, especially colon cancer
• Cheese can boost your immune system

I'm starting to feel better and better about this.....

P.S. I feel obligated to disclose that not all of us are cheeseheads. Alyssa maintains that she's not a big fan of snacking on cheese. And that's ok. All the more for the rest of us!

Talents

So, just a few more pictures for you, of Alyssa's activities in March. First comes her Jazz Concert, and singing with Gold Voices. All six feet of her are standing on the back row, far right:

And then, two more pictures of her group from Distinguished Young Women... first, in their fitness routine. This is the end of the routine. Alyssa did great during this part of the program.

And lastly, her group in their poise dresses. Pretty girls, and pretty talented, too. #1 on the far left is the girl that won the program, and #5 is the girl that won the talent portion.