We celebrated Easter a couple of times this year. First, on actual Easter Sunday we got to listen to General Conference during the day, I always love when GC falls on Easter. Then we had a wonderful family Easter dinner. Beth decorated the table and it looked so beautiful and full of color.
Mom mad a delicious dinner, and dad made a gorgeous, spring cake.
The next day I got to enjoy another delicious box of macarons from Ruth's Bakery delivered right to my door.
She did rainbows again since they were such a hit in her St. Patricks box.
All of her flavors are so amazing, and she usually has something fun in the middle, like the carrot cake had actual pieces of cake in them, they were all so good.
Two weeks later, we had the big celebration with the kids. V could hardly wait, Beth made her a paper chain to help her count down the days. We celebrated on a Saturday and it was the most gorgeous spring day, with blue skies and perfect blossoms on the trees.
We created a trail of candy filled eggs for the kids to follow and gather in their baskets. The eggs led them to their Easter baskets!
Beth brought all her potted plants from her apartment to decorate the gazebo for spring. All her flowers looked so fun!
The kids were overjoyed when they found their baskets!
V had been asking for Calico Critters for weeks and weeks, so she was thrilled when she found a family of black cats and a family of white bunnies along with an RV and lots of accessories for them.
Monty also got a family of Calico Critters in his basket
Monty loved the candy from the eggs, his red car, and his robot
Such a happy boy!
Another thing V was hoping would be in her Easter basket was a hatchimal, she was again so excited when she saw that both her and Monty had one in their baskets! She helped hatch both of them, it was very exciting.
It was such a happy day.
V was excited to move all her calico critters inside and show them the house that she and Mimi had been making for them.
It is such a beautiful house that looked like it was straight out of a fairytale, the black kitty family moved right in and were very happy with their new home.
Beth even got gifts for me, Mom and Dad!
For me and mom, she got us these gorgeous tins filled with yummy smelling soaps and lotions, they were so fancy!
That night, Beth, Mom and I dyed eggs using natural ingredients, V popped in here and there, but she was so excited about her Easter gifts it was hard to keep her focused. We used onion skins for red and cabbage for blue. It was quite a long process that we were all figuring out together along the way, we shared a lot of laughs.
It was a fascinating process, the cabbage made the water turn a fairly bright fuchsia at one point and a deep purple at another and it was supposed to turn the eggs blue, so we had no idea what they would end up looking like, it was fun to watch.
We let them soak in their dye overnight. With the cabbage ones, we took a few eggs out at different times so we had a variety of hues. The cabbage ones were much easier and dyed the eggs a lot faster. Around midnight, the night before, when we were in the thick of they dying process, we were wondering if doing the onion skin method was even worth it, but when we took the eggs out the next morning and saw the gorgeous, deep red, we changed our tune.
We polished them with olive oil to make them nice and shiny and throughly enjoyed the beauty of our labors.
This is what the cabbage water looked like the next morning. It was a really deep, beautiful purple which is such different color than what the eggs ended up being. Science is cool.
That afternoon I made a batch of easter macarons! I want to make sure I don't forget all the tips and tricks I learned from Sydney, so I want to make sure I make them at least once a month. I also found a recipe for an amoretto filling I wanted to try out. It uses amoretto liquor and almond extract as flavoring, we all thought they were SO GOOD. Even V said they were the best cookies, she said they were much better than the last ones I made (the raspberry ones that I didn't like) and I agreed with her. I saved the recipe so I could modify it with different flavorings.
Karin had sent the Madisons a really adorable and thoughtful Easter package in which she included the ingredients and recipe for resurrection rolls. I had always wanted to make these rolls but hadn't ever had the chance. It took us a couple of weeks to have time to make them, but we were able to make them on Sunday afternoon when John was visiting.
Each step has a symbolic meaning, wrapping the marshmallows in the butter, sugar, and pastry was like preparing His body after His death. Placing them in the oven was like placing Him in the tomb.
John showed Monty pictures of his crocheted creations while the rolls baked.
When you take the rolls out of the oven, they are empty inside, just like the tomb. It's a really fun activity to teach kids about the meaning of Easter.
That night we had yet another amazing, and beautiful dinner prepared by Mom.
It was a very happy Easter season!