Easter Sunday

He is Risen! Alleluia!

Just an advance warning... there are tons of photos in this post, most of egg-hunting. So I will try to keep the words to a minimum. If you are interested in seeing what we ate for Easter dinner (as that would be the first thing I would want to see - the food! ;), then it is toward the end of this post!

We made resurrection rolls on Holy Saturday (you may have noticed there were no photos of the making process this year... it is hard to take pictures when you are supervising two children and have butter and cinnamon and bread dough-covered fingers yourself!)... if you are curious as to how to make them, you can see last year's Easter post. We make them with a basic whole wheat dough recipe, but I have heard you can use something as simple as a tube of crescent rolls. Any basic bread dough will work.

We had these for Easter morning breakfast before Mass. Cecilia remembered putting the marshmallows inside the bread dough the day before, and she was quite amazed that they were gone! Caroline was Miss Smarty-Pants and was telling Cecilia that they'd be empty before we even put them on the table... that's what big sisters who remember last year are for!

Caroline shows her "empty tomb." Note that she is wearing one of my brother's t-shirts from 1994 as a sleep shirt. Do you recognize it, Mike?

Here is our Lent calendar, completed. We counted items each day and put the pennies in a sugar bowl (since I never use sugar in the sugar bowl, or, for that matter, much at all anyway... when I sent Chris to buy sugar at 9:30 at night on Saturday since I ran out while making the lamb cake, he commented, "There's our sugar for the next year!"), and we need to deliver those to church the next time the collection goes to the poor. Caroline pasted images to the calendar of Jesus on the cross on Good Friday and of Jesus being laid in the tomb to show that he was in the tomb all day of Holy Saturday. When they awoke on Easter Sunday morning, they were surprised by the Risen Jesus image coming out of the tomb on the calendar!

We attended Easter Mass at our own parish for maybe the second time ever... my parents came up and met us at church and then came to our house for the day. It was nice to have the extra two sets of hands during Mass... I could actually sit next to my husband without a toddler all over me for part of the time ;) ah, one day I will be able to do that every time and will miss the little ones.

When we returned home, the Easter Bunny had apparently hidden baskets in Mommy's craft closet, ha ha. I didn't put the baskets out the evening before because it would have delayed our getting to Mass on time. For Easter, you have to get there early to get a seat, particularly if your husband is the lector that day and you are hoping to get enough space for six people!

Cecilia sems hgappy to have gotten some Reese's eggs in her basket!

The girls got the eggs, chocolate/marshmallow crosses, sidewalk chalk, some holy cards, a couple books, and a new Glory Stories CD in their baskets. They have been loving that 50 pack of chalk! Just $5 at Wal-Mart!!

And after emptying the baskets, it was on to... the egg hunt! We hid both the dyed eggs and the Resurrection Eggs.

This Eatser basket belonged to me as a child, and to my mother as a child before that!

No captions needed on most of these now:

getting her hands wiped off with a rag... the dye was running on the eggs due to their being refrigerated and then being put out in the warmth outside!

just thought this photo was funny... Cecilia looks grumpy and Caroline looks like she is defending her eggs from my dad or something not in the frame...

Opening the Resurrection Eggs and retelling the story of the crucifixion and resurrection

That's one happy kid!

For our dessert, I made a coconut lamb cake. I had never made a coconut cake or a lamb cake before. I used the coconut cake recipe from the King Arthur Whole Grains Baking cookbook to make a 9 x 13 inch sheet cake, and I copied a basic illustration of how to cut it into a lamb shape (freehand) found in this handy little booklet. My mom asked if I had a template, and I said I'd just wing it based on the drawing in the book... and it worked out pretty decently. So this is what it looked like before the frosting.

My mom commandeered the handheld mixer and we worked on making the frosting with some trial and error. The cookbook said to use a can of coconut milk, poured into a fine mesh strainer lined with a linen towel, and let it sit for two hours to drain all the coconut water off and then use the chunk of coconut cream. How obsessive! Luckily, I found a little package of coconut cream at the health food store the day before, so we used it - a little at a time, tasting frequently until we got the right consistency and flavor. Soooooo yummy!!! Sooooo rich!!!

The girls had changed out of their Easter dresses into play dresses. Good thing, since they licked the beaters!

Just an intense close-up to show how thick and creamy the frosting looked...

Here's the cake, all done!

Yet again, I found cake photography to not be my strong point. White on white on white didn't help, either. We sprinkled coconut over it to make it look even more wooly. The eyes are chocolate chips and the nose is a pink jelly bean... a really old one from Greenlife in Chattanooga!

Our paschal candle centerpiece along with our crown of thorns turned Easter wreath

Our table, all set and ready. One day we'll have a table that will fit both the food and the people on it, I tell myself! ;)

The dinner menu: ham glazed with a brown sugar/mustard glaze from Whole Foods (brought by my parents), roasted asparagus, potato salad made by my mom, fruit salad, and deviled eggs. We had some yummy appetizers too... a cheese spread and crackers, and a crawfish appetizer my mom makes that is excellent!

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter Sunday and that you enjoy your leftovers as much as we'll be enjoying ours!