Post Bunny Recap

Whew. What a weekend. I almost have no words to describe how awesome it feels to be sitting on the couch, windows open, in my "lounge-ware" with the TV entertainment in full swing. It was a hectic, long, family weekend but it was nice to see everyone and the food was GREAT!

Tatum, T and I decorated eggs on Friday. After Tay went to bed post-movie night, T and I hid the eggs and filled her basket. We also made her a card and added a few dollars for good measure and put it in her makeshift mailbox that she and I made together months ago. Saturday morning she was super excited to find the eggs that the easter bunny hid and loved her basket. Success!

We got rain on Saturday mixed with some thunder claps. Having the windows open and smelling the creosote smell of desert rain made the house smell incredible. We were glad that we were able to get a bike ride in on Friday because we wouldn't have been able to dodge the ginormous drops falling from the deep gray sky. I spent a lot of the day trying to make a baking item to bring with me to the pending dinners. Alas, once again, I realize I am a COOK not a BAKER!! I found a recipe for carrot cake and decided I would make them into cupcakes with some cream cheese/sour cream icing. WELLLLLL, I suppose the recipe was for a sheet cake because the cake didn't rise per se. It actually CAVED in the center. I thought...hmmm...maybe if I add the icing on top that would help. Well, not really. The icing didn't turn out as I had anticipated and it would have had to been chilled for a while before it would have been stiff enough to make a nice swirl on top of the cakes. The whole thing - after about 3 hours working on it - was a bust. Oh, and part of the 3 hours was spent hand grating 3 cups of carrots. I would have used my food processor grater however the part to hold that grater plate in place is missing. Ugh! Good intentions...in the trash. Happy easter!

Towards the end of the disaster, Tay decided she wanted to cut out her cookies that we made (and I froze) last weekend. T had to help me because I had carrot cake batter all over the place and I was starting to get frustrated with my spontaneous, disastrous project! She had a good time making the cookies and that was something she could do to keep her busy while I cleaned up my mess. No sooner I had my mess cleaned up, I had to make another in order to make lunch for the fam.

We headed out to the other side of town to visit with T's Dad and SMom. We were able to take Tay for the first hour. Their house is very interesting with lots of conversation pieces. T's SMom has two salt water fish tanks with some absolutely beautiful fish, shrimp and other strange critters. They also have a lizard - Mr Izzy - that (literally) hangs out on his perch over the couch. He (they think it may actually be a she) is about a foot or so long and is bright green. While we were there with Tay, he/she came down from his/her perch and wandered across the living room floor. He/she finally dashed off quickly behind a shelf unit where his/her potty area lies. It was so cool to see him/her run because their legs almost look bowed. Tatum's eyes were just glued to the spectacle.

We had to take her back to her Mom's around 5:30 and then we made our way back to their house for dinner - hamburgers, salad and some incredible jalapenos that I will have to put the recipe on my linked blog so that you can try them. Incredible!!

Today we had some limited time at home before we headed to BevMo - a wine, beer, spirit store - so that T could get more of a wine he really likes while it was still on an amazing sale. After that we headed to his Mom's for lunch. It was tasty - fried chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, green beans and the much required deviled eggs!! Again, tasty!! Thank you Christians for such a great eating holiday! =]

Now we are home and are settled in for the evening viewing of whatever might pop up on the tube. Funny I call it the boob tube...TV's used to have tubes (some people still have those) and here we are looking at a flat screen LCD. Anyway, I digress...

A reflection - it was nice this morning to sit outside on the patio with Kizzy on my lap and Jack at my feet looking at our plants and trees. There was a time...not too long ago....when we thought our trees were goners but the spring has really brought them back to life - 10 fold! I looked at all of the beauty in the yard and the hummingbirds drinking from the feeder and thought that THIS kind of resurrection I can wrap my head around. Spring brings new life to plants, trees, birds, bees, even the house with the windows open. It all feels new and clean! No wonder people get into spring cleaning. It is fresh, new and a "resurrection" from the winter. Again - my religion...nature.

As much as I would love to write more and be so creative and controversial that I blow your mind, I am falling into comfort zone and it sounds like T and I will be sitting outside soon by the chiminea. A nice way to wrap up a hectic but fulFILLING weekend! I hope you all had a nice easter holiday and that you were fulfilled in whatever way this day does for you.

Some pics for the close:
Garage fun - Daddy and Tay on the plasma car going through the "tunnel"



Tay planted her sunflower seeds that Grandma Carolyn and Papa John sent her for Easter



Pure concentration - egg decorating time



Must be perfect!



Tay wondering, "why does the paparazzi follow me everywhere?"



Final product



The egg basket



Post Easter Bunny visit the night before the reveal



The bunny did gooooooooddddd



Gotta find the hidden eggs



Tricky bunny!!



The boys were very interested in the egg hunt




Eggth? Vut eggth??



Cookie time!




Enjoy!! Will blog tomorrow!!