Scenes from the Weekend

A new floor went in, at long last.  There is still a section near the sink and appliances that needs to be replaced, but that will wait until the cabinetry is finished.  Speaking of cabinetry--the first 3 cabinets are visible here.  Pat made these himself from maple lumber that he purchased from a friend-of-a-friend who is in the flooring business.  Please ignore the ugly green counter top.  It is due to be replaced after the rest of the cabinets are built.

Babies and mallets?  hmmmm...


















The boys love shadowing their Dad when he's working with tools.

There was lots of baking.  Muffin recipe here.

Holly baked this cake using Alton Brown's recipe.  It was so, so good. 












Once the kids were in bed, Pat and I assembled the baskets.  I got the idea for the tags from this site. 

The girls got silly socks.  The boys each got a water pistol and a plush finger puppet something like this.  Everyone got a new spring-themed tumbler, filled with layers of candy separated by muffin tin liners.  Each basket had a fluffy baby chick on top. 







I thought we'd just do without the egg-dying this year, but that was not to be the case.  Instead, we waited until after Easter brunch to color the eggs.  Better late than never, I guess.  (Depending on who you ask!)

Thankfully, Aunt Nancy was on hand to supervise this part of the day.  The method we used allows only one person to work at a time, which is probably a very good thing.

Little hands are prone to big messes.  Thankfully, the dye stayed where it was meant to be.

Inspecting the results, almost finished.

This little guy was not involved in any way other than watching from his nearby perch.  Doesn't he look tough with his short-short hair?  My baby!  Where has he gone?















Brunch!  The waffle irons were fired up soon after we arrived home from Mass.

What you don't see are the coconut eggs, the cake, the waffles or the whipped topping.  I was too busy eating to take photos.

Why don't I make deviled eggs more often?  They are so, so yummy.

We were all stuffed to the gills afterward, and retired to the living room to watch Inception (again), and last week's episode of The Amazing Race on DVR.  The little kids watched The Incredibles on the laptop in the room next-door.

Later we met with friends for Sunday outdoor rosary at a nearby church.

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend!

Happy Easter!

by Laurel

The Bunnies

We love the bunnies.  Liam got a 1.5 oz one all to himself.  He was thrilled.

The ears are always the best part.

Here's a peek at the baskets.  Declan's just had a Peep and a rattle.  (No, he didn't get to eat the Peep!)

Easter 2009

I hope you all had a wonderful celebration! Happy Easter :)

Holly made these 3-D paper eggs last year. She made the basket, too--she's very crafty!

Chocolate Coconut Easter Candy

This is a recipe from my childhood. Mom made these at Easter only, and I remember vividly sitting perched on a kitchen stool next to the stove watching her dip them. She wasn't fond of working with melted chocolate, to say the least. I remember hearing a lot of French phrases during these candy-making sessions. That was never a good sign. But, these eggs were so good that I'm sure she thought that they were worth the effort.

The recipe couldn't be more simple.  All you need is:

The Creamy Centers
1.5 lbs powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 oz shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened--your choice)

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly by hand. It should look like this when you're done.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about two hours.

Remove from fridge and form into egg-shapes. These can be any size you wish. I used a teaspoon to try to get them uniform, but a candy mold would do a much better job.  Work quickly--this stuff will get sticky in a hurry.

Cover and return to the refrigerator while you prepare your double-broiler to melt some chocolate. Any chocolate will do. Here I am using Nestle's Toll House Morsels.  When I have it, I use Scharffen Berger dark chocolate.

Dip each egg-shaped center into the chocolate and place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet to dry.

As you can see, I'm no Jacques Torres.

Mom used to pipe frosting rosebuds and leaves onto her candies, making them even more special, but I don't like working with frosting at all so mine remain plain.

My husband, the coconut-hater, suggests replacing the coconut with oatmeal.  Maybe next year.  If you try that, let me know how it works out.

I had a watcher, too, who also likes to perch from the kitchen stool.

Egg Hunt

Our friends' daughter turned five last Sunday. For her birthday, she didn't want presents. She wanted an Egg Hunt. Sweet!

Our hostess went overboard and provided many dozens of eggs for the three little kids to find.

Liam caught on pretty quickly, with some help from Laurel. He still doesn't know there's stuff inside the eggs. That's fine by me!