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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Easter Hunt Rewind

As promised, here I am again with some new(ish) photos from Easter... Go me! They mostly feature the infamous egg-toy-candy-junk hunt since this was only the second time (the other was last year's Easter) that I've hosted a holiday at my house, and I spent most of the weekend in the kitchen prepping, cooking, and creating a meal for the fam rather than taking pics. Last year was smaller, too, so I was a little worried about my ability to pull this off at all... but thankfully, everything went well, everyone had fun (or else they're lying to me... hehe) and none of the food was undercooked, overcooked, or burnt! YAY! Also, nobody got sick. woot woot! I had this weird fear that people would get sick after, and if they did, they would be afraid to eat my food forevermore. lol. Here's what was on our delectable menu:

APPETIZERS

* Chips/ dip
* Crudite/ dip
* Deviled eggs (of course!)
* Bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers (soooo good! These were a hit with everyone, and the guys were pretty much fighting over them. I admit, we made them for dinner one night after this... tee hee)
* Veggie pizza deal-io... Not sure what it's called, but it's good! You roll out some crescent dough, bake it, spread with a mixture of cream cheese and dressing, and top with assorted veggies. Yum.

MEAL

* Ham with citrus honey glaze. Nom nom nom...
* Lasagna
* Rosemary buttered dinner rolls
* Green bean casserole
* Roasted cauliflower
* Loaded mashed potatoes (with bacon, chives, sour cream...)

DESSERT

--notation: this was the one area I was bummed about... I just never got around to making the other dessert I had planned, which would have involved fresh fruit deliciousness... But, alas, the main meal comes first I'm afraid! :) So instead I only made...

* These adorable easter chick and lamb cupcakes!!!! Found from Betty Crocker (please excuse the photo, it's a cell phone one and I didn't take it, but I wanted to keep it real and show the actual cupcakes we- my Mom and I- made, mistakes and all... not the purty presentation cupcake pictures from the recipes)


Aren't they cute?! And really, not all that hard, either. Although after hours of cooking and hiding and wrapping and visiting and fun, I wouldn't say they were thrilling to make. But they did add a touch of whimsy and fun to the meal... which is sort of what I was going for :)

Here's a recap of what else I captured from that morning. Which wasn't a whole lot. I didn't really get ANY photos of our lovely guests, aside from the one at the end with Illy and her cousin Alli... but what can I say, it was a busy day for me! Enjoy! :D




The beginning of the hunt! It starts at the top of our stairs and winds down into the living room...

Where lots of goodies left by that big ol' bunny are to be found. Here, Illy poses with a new My Little Pony. On the head. Yes, typical pose.

Owen looks less than fully awake and entirely THRILLED to be hunting, don't you think?

But it didn't take him long to locate his basket o' goodies and start digging through. Chips, candy, gifts, and THIS cool new tee shirt, perfect for the occasion:

You can't see it fully here, but it says "Hanging with my Peeps" and has a picture of that infamous easter marshmallow candy ;)

It wasn't long before the hunt moved outside... Being that is was a nice, warm morning, we really couldn't have expected that Bunny to keep all the eggs cooped in the house, could we?!

He hid them in all sorts of funny places... By the bushes in the mulch:


In the corners of the deck:

and ALL over the yard... Here's Illy running around to make sure she hasn't missed any!

We finished up the hunt with a nice little soak in the sun...

Side note- I love this picture of my brother, the lighting is great and he looks so OLD. When the heck did he get to be so grown up?!

And a quick count of candy-booty acquired.


Look at all those eggs! She's been sneaking candy ever since this very day... lol.

And then it was off to the kitchen for me for pretty much the rest of the day, although I did get a few nice breaks to chat with everyone and enjoy their company. It was really a great time, and as much work as it is, I'm looking forward to hosting again next year (hopefully!). We are truly blessed to have a wonderful, fun family that we love spending time with. And I won't get all sappy and say much more, other than, thank you all who came. It was a blast :)

And two more quick snapshots for the road!

Illy and Alli, hamming it up!


Candy overload?

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Spring Is Finally Here!

For some reason, this winter seemed to drag on, even though we didn't have that much horrible weather... I think maybe it had to do with the bad economy, it was just too much, too overwhelming to think about combined with the dreary, cold, gray weather. We're thanking our lucky stars the sun is BACK and enjoying it as much as we can right now! Here are some new photos from the end of winter/ early springtime~


March- Starting her own fashion trend?

All the COOL kids are doing it...

Well, I guess if it makes you happy! And yes, we went out in public like this. Don't judge ;)


I love this next set of pictures but I figure I should give credit where credit is due... I had no part in the taking of these adorable photos, it was one of those (blessed!) nights when hubby offers to cook the meat on the grill, saving me time and energy... So they were outside playing and grilling, and I was inside doing sides and washing dishes, but he stuck his head into the window and told me to hand him out the camera because she was having such a good time... All of these ones were taken on 5/4/10.


Peek a boo!


In deep concentration...


Those croc boots are her absolute favorite shoes lately. I know a lot of people aren't big fans of the Croc brand, but I love them because she can put them on herself, they are easy to clean, and they have all different styles now! It doesn't hurt that I always find super deals on them, either ;) I believe I paid $7.99 for those boots, with shipping? Pretty awesome. I just got her a pair of Croc maryjanes for the spring and summer- I figured her feet would get pretty sweaty running around in rainboots once it gets up into the 80's and 90's, but you have to admit, they look pretty adorable even with shorts :)

I do have a few more posts in mind that are coming up. And yes, I know I haven't been keeping to my 2-posts-a-week goal since I posted it... I also know excuses are just that and aren't worth anything, but I am working on it! Between planning her party, having her party, Mother's Day, visiting, and then me feeling like crap-ola these past two days (horrible cold!! ugh!) and barely being able to think straight, I haven't gotten to it. But I will! Easter pics and Ilyana's 3rd Birthday post coming up soon... <3 ~Mama Rugg
 
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This work by Jaden Brulotte is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.