Weekend Wrap Up & Easter!

Our Easter weekend was pretty low key and relaxing, which was just what we needed after Stephen having his wisdom teeth out on Thursday. He was able to take Thursday and Friday off work, but I only took Thursday off.  Since Thursday was a pretty eventful day, it only makes sense to start this recap there!

Thursday morning we were able to sleep in a little bit before Stephen's surgery. I felt so bad for him because it was obvious how nervous he was. When we made it to the OS (oral surgeon) office, he had the chills and could not get warmed up...I knew it was nerves. I really was not nervous at this point because I was looking forward to getting some reading done. When they called him back I stayed in my chair in the waiting room until they asked me to come back with him. At this point, I might have started getting a little nervous. Umm hello, I wanted to read my book and not be in the room while my husband has teeth cut out. Anyways, after they took all his vitals and had him hooked up they took me back to the waiting room...to wait...for an hour. When they called me back Stephen was laying on a cot in recovery and not looking good...I knew it was going to be a long day! After an hour in recovery when he felt like he could stand we hit the door and headed to CVS to pick up his narcotics...the good stuff! Next stop was for a milkshake and then home.

Thursday after noon was very long and bloody. For your sake, I will not go into details!

Friday I was able to go to work and have a relatively predictable day. Sorry there is nothing to report there!

Saturday the weather here was great. We were able to get out of the house and do some shopping in Fort Wayne. The best part? We were jacketless. Without jackets people!?! Woohoo! We also grabbed lunch a Chic-Fil-A which will always be my favorite fast food place! We had some coupons to use and I got some great purchases! I was excited to get home though because I knew I had baking to do! Our family here in IN was getting together on Easter Sunday for a big dinner and I was bringing the cake. Of course :)

Sunday morning we got up way earlier than I would have liked to attend a pie breakfast at church before the combined morning service. The service was great as was the music that my SIL picked for the day. All the songs were uplifting and so fitting for Easter Sunday. After church it was time for our shin-dig. Can you believe we did not take tons of pictures? I am going to blame it on the fact that Stephen was still not feeling 100% and may have been a little swollen. Also, it was kind of cold in the morning. Anyways, the only pictures I got were of the cake. It looked beautiful and I will admit that I was totally proud:

White Rose Cake

Beautiful and delicious? I'd have to say yes!

We had a great recovery weekend and enjoyed celebrating the resurrection of our Lord with family. The grave is empty, he isn't there. He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! Praise God!





Weekend Wrap Up & a Monday, too! :)

Allow me to explain my lack of blog posting yesterday. I was am sick. I am busy at work. And well, I just did not feel like it. So, now on Tuesday you get one super, duper long and picture heavy post. Ready. Set. Go!

Our weekend started early on Friday. I was able to escape get off work at 3pm Friday afternoon in order to head to my in-law's house and meet the hubs. He had already been there since he got off work much earlier than me. I had been looking forward to the hour drive alone to listen to some country music and wear my new Vera sunglasses. Wouldn't you know that it was raining and gloomy...so no sunglasses for me. I did sneak in some country music though! :) Once I made it, Stephen needed to shower (he could not before, because I had our overnight bag with fresh clothes in it). After getting cleaned up, we were out the door in search of dinner and gifts for the bridal shower on Saturday. We decided to eat at Outback, which is always delicious.  I had seen some commercials on television recently for their pineapple mango salsa...which they no longer carry, so strike out there. Afterwards we stopped for some baking supplies at Hobby Lobby and then went to print the wedding registries. After making our gift purchases we headed home and I was ready to bake, bake, bake...

Around 1am when I finished baking and Stephen and I finally were in bed. Let me tell you , that alarm went off way to early on Saturday...I knew I needed to get up early so I would have time before the shower to get all the decorating and icing done, but all I wanted to do was sleep! After a couple stressful hours all turned out well and beautiful! I was proud!

The rest of the morning was spent preparing for my future sister-in-law's bridal shower and getting the food together. I'll let the pictures tell you about our Saturday:

Ainsley and Emma working hard to make Robin pretty pom-poms!

Finished products!

Melissa working to make the sandwiches for the party and Stephen working to eat one :)

How cute are these? We used cookie cutters to make sea shell, sea horse, and palm tree shaped sandwiches!

Hadley posing for the camera-love her!

Food table...

Hadley providing entertainment, as always :)

Ainsley too :)

Fruit pizza that was SO good!

Cake table...

...again

They looked so pretty :)

White butter cake, topped with homemade vanilla buttercream and Belgian chocolate shells...btw, have you had those? They are so good!

The bride arrived right on time. Of course, anytime she arrived would have been right on time since it is her party! Robin's Mom was able to be there too and of course we took advantage of the photo opportunities:

The beautiful bride Robin who is getting married in Mexico at a destination wedding in June with her Mom and soon to be mother-in-law :)

Mother Daughter shot :)

After playing some fun shower games thanks to my creative SIL, Melissa, eating the yummy food, and Robin opening her gifts it was finally time to cut the cake. I was excited to see the layers inside and also get reactions from people as they tasted it. The cake was beautiful and delicious, though a bit hard to serve!

The kids at church on Palm Sunday waved Palms and it was so precious. Pastor Kelly preached a great message and we really enjoyed it :) After church we all headed to our favorite Mexican place before...going back to the Vera show!!

Yep, that's right! We went back to the Vera show! Emma really wanted to go and we all gave in. Okay, okay- I really wanted to go too, even though I was already feeling a little icky. Regardless, we had a great time. Throughout the show they mark prices down on certain items, so by Sunday most of the stuff is really cheap! I was actually surprised at exactly how cheap. I added it up, and on Sunday I bought 5 things that would retail for $354.00 and I paid $42.00. Holy cow that is a lot of savings! I am considering only going on Sunday next year...we did not have to wait in line or anything!

 

Pretty blue sky in Indiana!

So excited to be driving to the Vera show!!!

Some of our purchases...

Emma and her shopping bags-note her Vera purse :)

Cool kids in the back of the van!

That concluded our Sunday for the most part. Stephen and I did make a few other stops before beading home, but I really was not feeling good. I was home and in bed (after a bubble bath) by around 7pm and I was still tired on Monday!

Speaking of Monday...look what we got in the mail from my parents in Florida:

Our Easter baskets via US Mail :) This made my evening brighter and made me feel better. Gotta love having a Mom who still thinks it is important to give her grown and married children Easter gifts! Inside our "baskets" were: 3 movies, PJ's for me, Polo for The Mr., 3 movies, Heaven is For Real (can't wait to read it), hand sanitizer and a super cute bracelet. Thanks Mom! We loved it!

What do you think we had after dinner on Monday? You guessed it...

CUPCAKES!



Resurrection Cookies

I found this awesome recipe on Michele's blog this week while I was doing my daily blog reading. I just loved what the cookies represented and the story that goes along with making them. I am intrigued to try this for myself, even though we do not have children yet. It could be a great experience for people of all ages!

via

Ingredients needed:

-1 cup whole pecans or 1 cup chocolate chips

-1 teaspoon vinegar

-3 egg whites

-pinch of salt

-1 cup sugar

-Ziploc bag

-wooden spoon

-tape

-Bible

1. Pre-heat oven too 300*F.
2. Place pecans or mini chocolate chips in a bag and let kids beat them with a wooden spoon to break them into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, the Roman soldiers beat him. (Read John 19:1-3)
3. Let each child smell the vinegar before putting it into the mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty of the cross, he was given vinegar to drink. (Read John 19:28-30)
4. Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. (Read John 10:10-11)
5. Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the mixing bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers and the bitterness of our own sin. (Read Like 23:27)
6. Add sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know him and belong to him. (Read Psalm 38:8 and John 3:16)
7. Beat egg white mixture with mixer on high for 12-15 minutes or until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. (Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3)
8. Fold in broken nuts or chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. (Read Matthew 27:57-60)
9. Put the cookie sheet n the over, close the door and turn OFF the oven. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. (Read Matthew 27:65-66)
10. Go to bed. Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers felt despair when the tomb was sealed too. (Read John 16:20-22)
11. On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookie is hollow! On this first Easter morning, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb empty. He is risen! He is risen indeed! (Read Matthew 28:1-9)

I think this is a wonderful way to teach children the real meaning of Easter and take the fame and glory away from the Easter bunny. Not that I don't think little fluffy bunnies are not cute, I just think it is important for children all of us to remember the real reason for the season and these cookies illustrate it perfectly! How wonderful it is that we serve a God who is not dead!

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay." Matthew 28:6

 

I spy Easter decor!

Honestly, I think I got the Easter decorations out the day after St. Patrick's Day...don't judge me please! You know the people who have decorations for every holiday and have them boxed accordingly? Whether the boxes are labeled or colored for each season? Well, I am on of those people. To say the least, I was beyond excited to get my pink Easter and Spring box down and start splashing the house with painted eggs and flowers!

When you come up to our apartment you will see our wreath but NOT a welcome mat since apparently having one of those violates our lease. Don't get me started on that! Anyways, these wreaths weer used as centerpieces at our wedding and now they are getting used again :) For awhile the wreath hanger was bright red (a Christmas one) but it was driving me crazy so I spray painted it in our kitchen sink. I like it much better now that it is more neutral!

These are my favorite Easter salt & pepper shakers. I have a few more but don't really have anywhere to display them this year so they stayed in the box.

Love this handkerchief that I believe my Great Grandmother embroidered. Am I right Gram or Mom?

Doesn't our shelf look Eastery? I totally just made up that word! I asked The Mr. if we could paint the red wall to match each season because I loved it red for Christmas, but not so much for Easter...he said no. So I am going to try and embrace the red wall :)

I love this Easter tree that I found at Hobby Lobby last weekend. AND, it was 50% off and broken so I asked and got it for under $4!! I came home and had it fixed in 2 minutes with the hot glue gun :)

Pink, Pink, Pink :) I love Spring!

I got a little creative with some pearl Mardi Gra beads I picked up on Fat Tuesday. I totally like that they are useful!

I would like to get more Easter decor and might look into doing so after Easter when everything will be on sale. Also, at our current apartment there is just not too much area to decorate. Maybe one day I can get more creative :)

Oh, I am making Easter themed cupcakes tonight for a co-workers birthday tomorrow. I have a vision in my head and hope I can pull it off. I will let you know how it goes!

Lastly, Happy Thursday...it is almost the weekend!!!