Easter Spectacular and Fun Fun Fun!

Am I really this far behind? Yes. Yes I am. But I am determined to catch up and still post the big events in our life, because, after all, if I don't then who will? This is a kind of journal of sorts for me, so I apologize for the occasional post that is really not very interesting unless you are myself or a grandparent to our spunky boy. At any rate, here's what we were up to during Easter this year.



We started things off by attending an Easter party a friend of mine threw for some of the kids around Aubin's age in our ward. We dyed eggs, ate yummy cupcakes, ate yummy fresh berries, and the kids played to their hearts delight. It was really nice for Aubin to have some playtime with other kids his age and for me to have some other momma's to talk to! Aubs and I had tons of fun!

All dressed and ready to go.
I asked him if he was ready, and he responded with a very enthusiastic "redl-dee!"

Focusing hard on his dying skills. Using the whisks to hold the eggs was a total hit! I never thought of it before, but I hardly had to help Aubin at all!

The finished products.

Very carefully placing his stickers.

Enjoying every bite of his fun cupcake. I'm pretty sure he had two... and a half. ;)

Friday night before Easter, one of the families in our ward was putting on a flashlight Easter egg hunt. Such a fun idea! We of course had to go, and they didn't have an egg hunt for the ward, so I was glad this family was willing to take on the challenge. I've never had more fun at an egg hunt in my life. There were only about 7-10 families that showed up, but we all brought 10 or more eggs filled with treats, and the family throwing it brought a whopping 300!!!!! Needless to say, there were MORE than enough eggs to go around to our little tykes. There was a blown up Easter Bunny, people brought food to share. It was really great. Aubin was really unsure as to why we were there sitting around in the dark, and once the egg hunt started he still wasn't really getting it. He would pick up eggs, look at them, and then set them back down. Finally Chris had the idea to show him what was inside... That got his engine running! After that he was off as fast as our flashlights could show the way. The funniest part was that he seemed to know if eggs weren't filled with candy. If they weren't, he wouldn't even bother picking them up. There were a few that he picked up, and I guess he could tell they were too light to be full of candy, because he set those back down too. Chris and I were cracking up. When all was said and done, we were all a bit wet (it had rained for an hour or two before we started), a bit cold, and all full of laughter. Each kid had a basket absolutely overflowing with goodies. I told Chris that next year, we shouldn't plan on buying so many things ourselves for Aubin's Easter basket, because with the egg hunt he had PLENTY! When I told my parents about the flashlight theme, they couldn't believe they had never known anyone who had done one before. I loved it and think it is an absolutely brilliant idea.

I didn't get any pictures because mostly I filmed it... and to be honest they are kind of uninteresting and long (unless you are the gushing parents!), so I'll just leave it at my description.

Saturday afternoon, between conference sessions, we had several of our friends come over for the tip off of our "Easter Spectacular!" We had a lovely brunch, and everyone brought something to share. There was coffee cake, stuffed french toast, eggs fantastic (sausage, egg, cheese, etc... bake), juice and all kinds of fruit. Delicious and lovely. I wish I could say I got pictures, but we were too hungry to wait for pictures! So I stole one off of my friends blog showcasing her lovely coffee cake.

Later that night we got together to dye some more eggs! Aubin got to use his new spin and color thing-a-majig (however the heck you spell that!), and in addition to the classic techniques we tried using old silk ties and nylons with leafs. Very festive, and Aubin thoroughly enjoyed himself!

The eggs demonstrating the silk tie method. I saved the superman tie especially for the boys' use. They dug it.

All my pretty eggs all in a row!

Aubin's eggs (mostly, I think 1 or two were Quinta's). Pretty cool that he did them all by himself.

Aubin using his egg spinner to dye his eggs.

The whole layout. We were just a little excited about the whole dying thing ;p

This isn't the best picture, but I had to have some kind of a record of how perfectly spherical this egg was! I've never seen an egg like it.... I thought it was cool... I know, I'm a dork!

Next came the actual day of celebratoriness (yes, I made that up). Easter morning! Chris and I woke up to the usual shout of "help-ee" coming from Aubin, who opens his door to find a gate blocking his way. We eagerly let him out and were amazed when he somehow knew there was something waiting for him in the front room. There, for his eyes to behold, was an Easter basket filled with goodies. Not that he really needed one after the egg hunt, but Chris and I foolishly bought 13 different bags of candy (we wanted to try them all!), so an Easter basket he would get! He was of course delighted, and most of all loved his light up egg. I have to say holidays are way super fun with kids! More expensive, but also more fun ;p

We ate breakfast, listened to some of conference, but mostly I was preparing for Easter dinner with our friends. The second half of our "Easter Spectacular." My contributions included punch, yummy mango salad (a jello salad of course), toppings for the cheesecake (for dessert, not dinner), and the main event.... the lamb roast! I was so nervous about making the lamb and had for weeks read through several different recipes and techniques. I finally settled on two that I liked and sort of combined what I thought were the best ideas from each. I encountered a few speed bumps along the way (including my meat thermometer breaking), but luckily was able to weather the storm and it turned out great! I actually really thought it was good, and apparently it was cooked just perfect (so I was told by others who had actually had lamb roast before). Take that stupid meat thermometer!

(another picture I stole from Lo. I was too frazzled to even bring a camera!. PS- ignore my crazy face in that one picture! But DO notice Aubin's rad headphones.)

When I finally arrived at the dinner locale, roast in hand, there truly was a feast to behold! There were h'ordeuvres, pasta salad, green salad, mashed potatoes, fresh rolls, lemonade, punch, etc... Needless to say, we all showed our appreciation for our Savior by stuffing our faces. It was delicious. Combined with conference, I really think it was one of my favorite Easter Sunday's ever. My friend Quinta made homemade cheesecake for dessert, and it was divine. Good friends, good food, wonderful blessings to remember and be thankful for. It really doesn't get any better. Hope you all had a fabulous holiday too, and thanks to our friends for celebrating with us!